We receive a log of questions about bed bugs, such as what is a bed bug, where do they come from, are they dangerous, etc.. We have taken the most popular questions and posted them here with their corresponding answers.
What is a bed bug?
Picture of a bedbug
A bed bug is a small nocturnal insect of the family Cimicidae that lives by hematophagy (or in other words by feeding on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded hosts). Bed Bugs can be found all over the world, generally in human inhabited environments. The reason bed bugs are normally found in these areas is because they feed off the blood of humans.
Bed Bugs are fairly small; an adult may grow to be the size of 4-7mm. They are a reddish-brown color and their shape is flat and oval.
Although misconceptions have led people to believe that they are not visible to the eye, they are in fact visible and easy to spot because of their slow movements.
Where do Bed Bugs come from?
Bed Bugs can come from a variety of places. But typically one of the most common forms of infestation is through contacts with infested furniture in hotels, motels, and other places of temporary accommodation. Bed Bugs can be passed on from used clothing or furniture. Cleanliness does not arrest the spread of infestation directly. The idea that dirt causes Bed Bugs infestations is a misconception. However cleanliness, by depriving the bed bugs some of their hiding places, does slow down the infestation. Apartment complexes often have Bed Bugs because they can get from apartment to apartment easily.
What are the feeding habits of Bed Bugs?
As previously mentioned Bed Bugs feed on the blood of humans. When a bed bug bites a human it injects two hollow tubes into the skin. With one tube the bed bug injects a anti-coagulant, anesthetic and with the other tube it steals your blood. Generally a bed bug will feed for about five minutes before returning to its hiding place. Also, Bed Bugs typically are active only at night (they start appearing at dusk) because they are nocturnal, but can be seen anytime especially if a chance to feed occurs. An important bit of information to know about the feeding habits of Bed Bugs is that they can survive for up to eighteen months without feeding even though they seek blood every five to ten days. A hungry bed bug looks slightly different from one that's just been fed. A hungry bed bug typically flat with a circular shaped abdomen while a blood fed bed bug is elongated with a tapered abdomen.
Are bed bug bites dangerous?
Typically one can't feel a bed bug bite until minutes or hours later. The bite may look like a flat welt or a raised, red bump and are often times very itchy. Luckily their bites aren't dangerous but rather annoying. They can cause skin irritation or rashes if bit frequently so it's a wise idea to get rid of them as soon as possible. If you end up itching or your skin gets irritated you may be allergic to bed bug bites due to the chemical they release when they bite you. However, doctors often misdiagnosis bed bug bites due to the fact they look like other skin conditions. The bites may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to go away on their own.
How do I stop the itching from bed bug bites?
One that will help out is anti-itching cream for insect bites. You can usually find these at a drug store over-the-counter. Other people say that taking Benadryl or using calamine lotion will help with it. It's important to remember that even though these methods may help reduce itchiness they will not get rid of the Bed Bugs, so it's important that you seek help to get rid of the Bed Bugs or they will still find and bite you. Our Bed Bug Treatment section has a list of all treatments that worked for our visitors.
How can I tell if I have Bed Bugs?
Check out our Bed Bug Checklist for a comprehensive list of ways in which you can check for bedbugs - generally, the first thing you may notice is a peculiar pungent odor, this odor is often times very familiar to building inspectors and tenement dwellers. If you think you may have Bed Bugs it's a good idea to visually check your bed, as Bed Bugs can often be spotted. Other things you may notice are blood spots, fecal stains or cast exoskeleton skins. Take extra care in checking the mattress itself and the corners of bed nets. Bed Bugs typically will hide in old furniture, behind peeling paint, wooden floorboards as well as seems and folds in a mattress, bed frames and bed springs. Remember, just because they are called Bed Bugs doesn't mean they are only in your bed. Although in most cases Bed Bugs are in a small, concentrated area and usually within 10-20 feet of where you sleep. Make sure to look at our Bed Bug Checklist for more information on this!
What do I need to know if I have Bed Bugs?
If you think you may have Bed Bugs don't bring anything else into the contaminated room because it may become contaminated. Also remember not to start sleeping in a different bed, the sofa or with another family member or friend because there is a chance that the Bed Bugs may follow you to the new location and therefore contaminate another area. Don't throw anything out, try to get rid of the Bed Bugs yourself or try and treat yourself, wait and seek help from a professional. Make sure you don't bag anything unless it has been washed in hot water and dried on hot for one to two hours. Remember, if you bag up clothing or bedding that has not been washed and they contain Bed Bugs when you open the bag the Bed Bugs may contaminate your living space again as they can live up to 18 months without feeding. To be safe just assume everything in that room is infested; also, make sure to review our bed bug treatment section.
How do you get rid of Bed Bugs?
Check out our Bed Bug Treatment section for exact details and methods - it's a good idea to get rid of Bed Bugs as soon as possible because each individual bed bug can lay four to five eggs a day, so if you do the math that's a lot of Bed Bugs you don't want around (Consider this: in a room that is around 70 degrees and there are 40 bugs six months later there would be 5,905 bugs!). Consider the help of a pest control company as they have much experience in dealing with Bed Bugs. If you decide to go that route save any Bed Bugs you may find to show pest control so they can help you identify the specimen; again, check out our bed bug treatment section to find out what else you can do.
Do Bed Bugs ever bite private parts?
They sure do - they don't care what part of the body they feed on, but they don't like hair and will move to the area that is free from hair.
Do Mattress covers work?
Mattress covers will seal the mattress and keep bedbugs that are in, locked in (and those 'trapped' bugs will eventually die) and will also keep bed bugs out. The bed bugs hiding around the bed frame and other areas will still find their way to the top of the mattress and bite you. Don't be fooled that this is a cure all, which it is not, a mattress cover simply protects the mattress (not you).
If you are looking for a mattress cover, you don't have to spend a lot if you know what to look for! Check out my post on mattress cover for bed bugs.
Do Bed Bugs smell?
Most people say that bed begs smell like raspberries and in cases where the place is infested, it can smell like moldy shoes.
I've heard that bedbugs rest on the ceiling and fly to their target, is this true?
Not true, BUT, Bat Bugs which are exactly like bed bugs except for the hair on their head, feed on bats. If the infested bats residing in your home are removed, these bugs may move down and start feeding on you.
If I have a pet in the room with me, will the bed bugs feed on it instead of me?
No, you are the Filet Mignon and your pet is ground beef. Humans are the preferred host for feeding!
Is it true that a bite from a bed bug can take up to 14 days to show?
From what the California Department of Public Health Vector-Borne Disease Section says, a bed bug bite may not show for up to 14 days!
Everyone reacts differently to bed bug bites, but if a reaction does occur, it usually happens by late morning.
Can I take legal action against the hotel for being bitten by bed bugs?
Yes, there are a number of examples, but three of the most popular include a woman who filed a lawsuit against Catskills resort for $27 million; bitten so bad that she can no longer stay in hotels. Because this is a critical part of how she makes her living (she's in entertainment booking), she can no longer continue her lifestyle.
The second involves a woman staying at the Hilton hotel in Ohio; Sai Kim filed a lawsuit for more than $5 million claiming that she ended up with a 150 bedbug bites on her hands, feet, face, fingers, toes, legs, neck, back, chest, stomach and genitals, see picture below.
Bed Bug Bites on Sai Kim who filed a 5 million dollar lawsuit
The claim reads like this: "As a direct result of exposure to bed bugs, she was left physically scarred and emotionally damaged and that these consequences were a direct result of the defendant's negligence and that the hotel breached its duty to provide reasonably safe accommodations that eventually led to "embarrassing injury and tremendous emotional distress". The first claim was also similar to that above.
The last case and probably the biggest bedbug case ever settled out of court, was a woman who was bitten more than 400 times while staying at a Ramada Plaza Hotel in San Francisco. It's reported that she received $71,000 to settle her bed bug claim. Note: The reports on the net claim information about the lawsuit came from the City Star, a local paper, but in trying to find the actual case, no information was available.
What is the size of a Bed Bug?
The picture below shows the size of a bed bug compared to a paperclip
If you have a question, please don't hesitate to ask!
As you can see, we have a lot of comments which we had to break up into pages:
Bed Bug FAQ - comment page 1
I heard that that bed bugs ARE NOT SLOW AT ALL.
IN FACT, they ARE FASTER THAN A MARATHON RUNNER… especially if you are trying to track them down. NOT SLOW, NOT SLOW, NOT SLOW :<O SPEEDY MO.
I caught bed-bugs on the Amtrak train returning from Los Angeles to Albuquerque over Thanksgiving holiday. At first I didn’t know what they were, silly me. Anyway, after the first night when the b-bugs had their way and bit me with abandon, it seemed they all died, for thereafter I never got another bite. I’m at 5,980 altitude, so maybe it is true b-bugs die above 5,000′ sea level. Of course I laundered everything, but the bugs seemed to “go away” too easily. Regards.
Why is it when you are infected by bed bugs bite the people who’s home, hotel, or etc…… they are the ones who be in these infected places day in and day out 24/7 and they never seem to be showing any signs of bed bugs bite is it because their bodies are immune to it or when an clean person goes by an filthy place their bodies rejects its and bumps appear? why is this?? Well I hope I don’t have to throw away none of my stuff and I hope this doesn’t appear again.
Hi Casey,
I move your question here to the Bed Bug FAQ as it’s common and will help others. Yes, you can have just a few, but based upon your story, I’m guessing you have more and just have not found them. Stay on top of management and please, take some pics if you get a chance and send them to me. Set up a bed bug trap as I have listed here on the site, it will help confirm an infestation!
Please help!!! We just moved into a rental house this month and a few days after being here we found some bed bugs on the carpets and baseboards maybe 10 in total and I called my land lord right away and he came the next day and treated with some kind of spray on all the baseboards and doorways.
We have new beds and they were checked very well several times and there is no sign of them on the beds my land lord treated for a week straight and I also bought mattress covers and a few cans of rid since it says it treats for bed bugs I sprayed down the beds curtains carpets washed everything I could and what I couldn’t I sprayed.
Now about 2 weeks later I woke up about 4 am by a phone call and my husband had a bedbug crawling on his face and it was a large sized one. Again I sprayed everything and searched everywhere but I can’t find any or any signs of them but I know they have to be here some where or do they? Can we just have a few? Or are we infested and I am not finding them.
None of us have bites but I heard not everyone may show signs of being bitten. I don’t know what to do I am about to go crazy over wondering and worrying and I am also about to take an extended trip to my mothers in another state for a few months and I am afraid that if I have them and can not find them that I will carry them to her house and I do not want to do that!
Please help I am going crazy!!!!
i slept ova @ a friends house and i got bed bugs in my dreadlocks. what can i do to get rid of them without cutting of my dreadlocks
I’m sorry to say that it is COMPLETELY untrue that bed bugs do not like hair. After a couple weeks of coming to visit my family, I was sleeping on a mattress that my brother had been given, and had 100′s of bites all over my back and shoulders. I thought it was an allergic reaction to new vitamins I was taking, until I found a bug crawling through my hair. I immediately researched about bed bugs online and everything matched up.
I shampooed my hair with lice shampoo to try to kill them, but they stayed alive. I combed out all the live ones with a nit comb, but a few days later, more had hatched. I spent 7 hours yesterday combing out eggs and tiny live bugs. If you have a bed bug infestation at your house, PLEASE beware! Check your hair immediately! These bugs are relentless! I had to buy an advanced kit (RID) usually used for lice that includes shampoo, comb out gel, and a really good nit comb that grabs the tiniest eggs.
If you have bed bugs in your hair, don’t follow the normal instructions of the lice treatment… bed bugs are DIFFERENT!
Okay, so a week ago i got back home from a retreat that was at a camp near the water. There was a bedbug warning and they made everybody who was possibly exposed to the bed bugs bag all their stuff in these big black bags and they recommended that we take certain precautions, such as throwing everything in the dryer for about an hour.
I washed all my clothes, but I didn’t wash my back pack or my duffel bag or my sleeping bag. I was really skeptical that there would be bed bugs, but i noticed little bumps on my legs. I have eczema so I thought it was just a little rash coming up,but these bumps were more like those mini pimples or something. Later they began to itch, and about 2 days ago, the areas around the bumps got really red and big and slightly inflamed. I’m freaking out that I have bed bugs, I searched through my bed and found nothing.
My mom says I’m being overly anxious. If the little bumps just got red 2 days ago, could that possibly mean that I got bit at the camp and not at home?? I’m really really really really hoping that this is so. Would it be a good idea to vacuum my room?
I found an apartment that I would really like to move into. The apartment complex discovered a bed bug infestation in March 2011. The landlord has implemented a treatment plan with a respectable PCO company since April 2011. The company had been spraying every two weeks and now is spraying and inspecting each apartment in the complex each month. The landlord reassured me that they are 100% bed bug free. Is this possible in 9 months? And would you take the risk?
Hello,
Just about a few weeks ago I was sitting on my couch and I reached for the handle and a second later felt like something bit me then Bout two hours later my foot was itchy. I need up receiving two bumps where the bites occurred then about a few days they went away. Now here is a week that went by and I have a bit on my chin neck, ankle, thighs and back, but the funny thing is my boyfriend doesn’t have any bites at all it’s just me. He checked for bed bugs didn’t see anything so where can these bites be coming from I’m so confused and hate the itchy feeling and redness.
So I would love to know are they bed bugs or not.
Thanks
I work in a dorm at a school, this dorm has been recently infested with bedbugs. How easy is it to bring them home? Do I have to be worried about it?
Tim,
We are a middle class family. I wash our bedding every other week, vacuum weekly, wash my floors weekly, etc. I am a neat freak when it comes to my house and family. We got them last winter….not sure how, but guessing they either came from a textbook I had ordered, came from staying at a motel or from school on my son’s backpack or athletic bag. It was a horrible experience to say the least.
Now I am fully educated on them, along with my husband and 2 sons. I have a son in college and have explained many situations with him to try avoid bringing them home.
Kids at school should keep their backpacks and bags zipped up at all times. If I were you, I would regularly vacuum everything you can. You can even purchase some spray and DE to help prevent getting them. DE works great on other insects too….killed lots of flies all fall for us! My opinion is that schools are not educated on the problem. We live in a small community and know there are others that have them. Good luck!
I found two bed bugs the last week on the floor and I put them in a napkin and burned it. This morning I found one in the bathroom on the floor while I was sitting on the toilet I came back to my room a found one on my bed, so I had a flip and pulled everything off my bed but I didn’t find one more so I continued looking in my room, and the two other bedrooms in the house I did not find any more bed bugs. Should I be alarmed and call an exterminator.
Thanks,
David
I work at school. A week ago, a child in the room I work in had some bites on his arms and neck. It had been warm, so we initially thought it was mosquito bites. Later in the day, he was really scratching his shoulder, so we checked his back. He was covered in bites! I took him to the school nurse. She checked him over and called his parents. His mother immediately confirmed they have an infestation of bedbugs. He was sent home from school. The parents took him to the doctor that afternoon, and brought him back the next day with a note saying he is not contagious.
My concern is:
Since he continues to have new bites daily, the home is obviously not treated (or not effectively). How concerned do I need to be that he will bring the bedbugs to school on his person or on his backpack? Also, am I at risk of bringing them home with me and infecting my home as well?
The child’s family is lower income, so I would guess professional treatment is beyond what they can afford. Are there programs to help in this situation?
Also, what is the responsibility of the school and school board in this situation? What if the classroom and other family’s homes become infested? The policy for lice seems to be a bit more defined (although not totally effective), but what should be done about this?
How soon do the babies have to find a meal before starving to death?
A week ago we stayed at a hotel in New Jersey for 1 night. Before we got our stuff in I had my husband check the mattress and he saw nothing. Now I realize he should have checked more. He also put our suitcase on the ground, unzipped, ugh. I sat in a chair to nurse my daughter and got a bite pretty fast-would they be on a chair before it’s night time and bite me that fast? Well the next morning after I already woke up, I noticed a fairly large line of what looked like blood on the sheet. There were 2 really small reddish bugs on the lamp. It was daytime and the lamp was on-would bed bugs be running around the shade of a lit lamp? Then on the wall above the lamp there was a bug. It looked like it could have been a bed bug but I wasn’t as knowledgeable then as I am now. I left asap but our things had to sit in our car for like 7 hours on the way home.
When we got in our house we stripped down and put everything fabric that we had taken in the washer. I had no bites that day.
The next day I developed about 5 bites, at various times throughout the day. One even happened when we weren’t at home. It was like I could feel the bite happen, look down, no bug and a new bite where there wasn’t one a second ago. It’s been a week now and I’m up to 12 bites. Most of them are just one single bite, very small. Last night at the store I noticed 2 on my chest in a line. My heart sunk.
Is there anything it could be other than bed bugs? I am a worry wart and my husband isn’t being bit so he doesn’t believe me. It is really affecting me psychologically. I have no appetite, I can’t think of anything else, my stomach feels like I’m going to puke, it is literally always on my mind. I get sick at the thought of bugs crawling all over my sweet 7 month old, I can’t function like this and I’m feeling so hopeless reading all these people who have had them for years.
We haven’t seen any bugs in the house and I have been shining a flashlight all around when I feel the creepy crawlies at night. Could 1 night give you bites that show up repeatedly over a week or do I need to stop being in denial? We bought mattress covers and tonight we are putting double sided tape around the bed to try to catch them. Tomorrow I am calling housing to get an exterminator out to check, but he is just going to look the same places I have and couldn’t find anything. Tomorrow if we don’t catch any I am going to hopefully get your trap on here made. How do you get your car safe if it may have been exposed??
I don’t know what to do. I can’t live like this. Please, please help.
Hey All,
Is it possible that bed bugs can bite only you and not your partner who is sharing everything with you like the bed,couch,furniture etc????….These scratchy bite marks appears on me quite a few times but nothing on my partner….Can it be something other than bad bugs???
Please reply asap….
Can a bed bug be a larvae?
My friends and I stayed in a hotel in Key West for the weekend. We came back with bites all over our bodies. I called and complained to the hotel and I an now waiting for the report from Ecolab that came to inspect the room we stayed in. But in the meantime, I am so itchy that feel like ripping my skin off. I am so miserable, and I have been taking benadryl but I am sleepy all day because of it. I am also anemic, and I have suffered about 100 bites. Should I be calling a lawyer at this point? I don’t know what to do and I can’t stop scratching.
Hi, I recently went on a trip and stayed in a houseboat rental. We stayed there for 5 nights and the last morning I woke up itching my back but didn’t think much of it. We flew home, got home late and went right to sleep. 10 hours later I noticed bites on my back in a straight line which I’ve read is the tell-tale sign of bed bugs. I immediately unpacked everything, washed & dried all clothes, and the sheets/blankets on my bed. I ran to the store to get rubbing alcohol, sprayed it on my empty bags, stuffed them in giant ziploc bags, and stored them outside. I also washed the clothes that were sitting on the floor next to our bags. I then vacuumed the whole apartment and sprayed my mattress with alcohol.
I even opened the windows in my bedroom and turned off the heat in hopes to freeze and bugs overnight (it got down to 36F and I slept in the guest bedroom on the other side of the apartment). We inspected the zippers/folds in our bags and found nothing. I have not seen evidence of bed bugs, other than the bites that I got the last day of our trip. We stored our bags, inside the houseboat, about 25 feet from the bed on the hardwood floor so I’m hoping any bed bugs would not travel that far to be able to be hitchhikers! Have I done everything possible?! Is it possible that I am bed bug free? I’m worried that in the 10 hours of our bags sitting on the bedroom floor that the bugs could have escaped and spread around the apartment. Do PCPs do any preventative treatment for bed bugs? Thanks!!
There are some small spots on my sheets, but not an obscene amount like i have seen when looking for pictures of blood stains and fecal spots. also, I removed my sheets and inspected my mattress thoroughly and cant find any bugs or any other spots. I have some bug bites. Do these things mean that i have bed bugs? Please say no. Email me soon!
Hello
My roommate and I have found a bed bug on our wall in the kitchen. We are fairly certain that the insect came home with us off the train because it was near our coats on the wall. This was about 4 days ago and we have not found any signs of bed bugs since.
Is it possible that we could just have that one? Every story I have heard the bugs come in and the tracks are seen. Since there are no tracks should I not worry?
Thanks
Hello,
Our building has a bed bug problem, and they have made it up to our apartment. I am moving out, and a company has come to spray our house twice in the last month, and they will be spraying again in a few days. I have thrown away everything that I can part with, but I have around 10-12 containers of family photo albums and other precious things that I cannot part with. I have boxed them up, put the box in a contractor bag, twisted the bag, taped it, twisted again, taped again, then folded the upper twist to the bottom and taped again. I then put this in a contractor bag and repeated the taping process. I have moved everything onto the roof under tarps to get it out of the house. All of these things were stored under my bed, so there is a good chance they are in there somewhere.
I plan on moving these things into the garage of my new home, but am extremely paranoid about bringing them with me. The process that I am going through was recommended by the man spraying my home, but I was wondering if this process is thorough enough. Can they crawl out of the bags, and if so, can they make it from the garage into the house. I don’t know what else to do, any recommendations on how to manage things that need to move with you?
Any information would be great, I can’t handle this stress in the new house, it is really affecting me.
Thank You
I found two bed bugs the last week on the floor and I put them in a napkin and burned it. This morning I found one in the bathroom on the floor while I was sitting on the toilet I came back to my room a found one on my bed, so I had a flip and pulled everything off my bed but I didn’t find one more so I continued looking in my room, and the two other bedrooms in the house I did not find any more bed bugs. Should I be alarmed and call an exterminator.
Thanks,
David
After researching what bed bugs look like I’m pretty sure I found one crawling in the sheets last night. I saved it in a glass and it’s dead now but it looks EXACTLY like the one near the paper clip on your site. Is it common to only find one? I couldn’t see any others. What are the next steps? Ew!
Hi Allie,
I would get those instructions in writing somehow, perhaps ask for clearity on the time to dry, etc – anything to get the documentation, then express once again your concern that you may bring bed bugs home with you and what to do if this happens. Your odds of bringing home a bed bug are much greater than others due to your work and would assume a time will come that you’ll have to deal with this yourself, and you’ll be asking the company for help in costs – hopefully the company will pay for everything, but should they let you go, you’ll have a big paper trail (proof) that they put you in this situation and you were unjustly let go.
The company could charge extra for any work done on known bed bug infested clients, pay you extra and have you sign a waiver that you are aware of the situation and willing to take the risk for extra pay – just an idea, but there has to be a win-win for everyone.
The company should provide a car, have some type of changing room at their headquarters, dryer, wash area, etc if this happens a lot – The second you get in your car, you run the risk of any attached bed bugs getting lose inside; drying cloths isn’t going to do you any good when the bugs are still in the car!
Sorry for your situation!
Jim, I have a serious question. I am a home health aide and my company sent me to a clients home for homestyle services. After going there the first thing I noticed was a smell in the apartment. About one hour later the clients provider called and talked to me. I was told they are loaded down with bed bugs. I called my office and reported this. Was told did not matter about the bed bugs it was still my job to go there.
I was also told by the company just to spray alcohol on my legs and shoes this would keep me from carry the pest with me. Then they said for me to undress when I get home and throw my clothes in a dryer for about 60 minutes. I have now got several bug bites from going in the apartment. Is there anything I can do to stop the bugs or make a complaint on my company because they knew of the problem and neglected to inform me before I took the case.
The client has been moved 3 times in the last year due to the bed bug problems. I need advice here please. Thanks
We stayed in a hotel in Turkey for two nights. Since it was a quick trip to a beachy resort, we only took backpacks with us. When we returned home Monday morning, I noticed I had about 8 bites on my legs. No pattern to them, but very red, itchy, with little clear/yellow pus in the middle.
I’m so worried that we are going to bring bedbugs into the house, that I’ve put everything that went to that hotel into garbage bags (as soon as we got home), tied them up tight, and am now trying to figure out what to do to keep them from infesting our house. Any tips?
Hi,
Can bed bugs die on their own? The other day when i was having a clear out i noticed about 3or4 shells looking very much like the bed bug shells, in the drawers under my bed. I searched the mattress including all seams and the frame of my bed but found no live bugs or eggs or feces or blood spots.
I did have 3 lumps on my shoulder blade a few weeks ago but neither i nor my partner have experienced anything else. The thought of it now is making me paranoid and itchy!
Please help!
How do determine whether this is the case? (I have been looking all over and have not seen anything else) Can i set a trap? Or use a preventative measure? Or may they have died on their own?
Hey Jim,
I have a strange black crust that keeps returning to my sofa. I have absolutely no idea what it is, and it is really starting to freak me out. I have attached a picture to this email, and was wondering if you think this could be bed bugs.
I would truly appreciate your help.
Thanks so much, and hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely Yours,
Laura
Lauri, she can indeed bring them with her to work! Happens all the time! The only thing you can really do is create a barrier around her office using bed bug dust.
Chances are good that you DID NOT pick up any bed bugs from this guy. They usually come out in the early morning, feed on your blood, then head back in before you wake. Sounds like he has a serious infestation of bed bugs! You can sprinkle some bed bug dust (food grade diatomaceous earth) into the carpet and vacuum it a couple of days later – light dusting is all you’ll need. Better safe than sorry, right :)
Hey! Thanks for reading my email!
I’m a nervous wreck because I dated a guy who has been over two nights this week and sat on my couch for a couple hours both nights. he said he has found 6 bugs on his bed and has 2 bites on one arm but to “not worry” because he kills them when he sees them and always shakes his clothes out before dressing (seriously? that doesn’t help!)
I am trying to be calm and I’m not coming in contact with him anymore… but he has been in my car once and on my couch twice. What are the chances they were carried in?
IF one or two have fallen into my carpet…what can I do to kill those and prevent them multiplying, and how long might it take to have enough of them that I might notice some signs? I’m itchy just thinking about it and becoming more and more paranoid!
THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE!
Well, we could only find a couple actual bed bugs, but we did find eggs in the couch. The living room is the only actual carpet in the house (keep in mind it’s old, beat down carpet and a cream color) and I hate clutter, so there aren’t many places to hide. I’ve sprayed and vacuumed every day before searching and still haven’t found anything. I’m hoping that I’m free from them..
i work with a lady who has been battling the bed bug problem for over a year now ,my question is can she bring these bugs into work with her ,how can we prevent them from traveling to us plus we work in a food industry -is there any dangers there?
Hi I was just reading everything you had posted on the website about bedbugs and ways to get rid of them without spending an arm and a leg for professionals to come and not even get rid of them. I had a question, since I already had to get rid of everything because of this I was wondering for the things I have left in my closets like boxes and stuff if I could sprinkle food grade diatomaceous earth in those boxes on the safe side to see if there was any bugs in them? I need to put my boxes into storage and I don’t really want to get rid of what is in those boxes because of the infestation that was in my apartment before I moved into.
Is there a way to save those objects? Also, what could I possibly put on my metal bed frames to keep the bugs from crawling up them? Anything would help me..
-Ashley
Unlikely Panic Attack, but anything is possible. Chances are they are in other areas of the home as well; wrap the couch up, get it out of the house and into the garage and treat it. Then spread diatomaceouse earth (food grade) around the home and follow the checklist on how to kill bed bugs.
So, my boyfriend was complaining of bug bites one day. He said he only got them on the couch because he spends a lot of time there… he loves taking naps when I’m at work on the nice couch. Knowing that bed bugs are a bad problem, and even worse this year, we searched the couch a few weeks later for bed bug and behold, our worse nightmare. I had went out of the country a month previously, so I am assuming that’s where they came from.. or perhaps one hitched a ride on my newly purchased cat from a friend of a friend.
We immediately sprayed down the couch and surrounding area and tossed it since its right next to the door anyhow and would not track the bugs through the house.
We have searched everywhere in out home and can’t find signs anywhere else. Is it possible they were only in the couch?
Back in April I found a bug (looked like a bed bug) crawling on my couch. I killed it without thinking. I then sprayed my couch. A few months later (now august) I found another bug crawling on my couch. Looked exactly like the previous one. I have checked everywhere…my couch, my bed, and found nothing. I washed my slip covers on my couch and sprayed all over. Remembering back a few weeks ago, I woke up in the morning in bed with a patch of red itchy bites all over my shoulder. I noticed some blood on the sheets but figured it was just me scratching. So, my question is…is it possible to have just one or two bed bugs and no more? I have searched and haven’t found anything else….Help, bc I am freaking out!!!
This did wonders for me: Get the painters poly tarp (the thin clear stuff) from Home Depot.
and some packing tape and wrap your box spring, and your mattress up like a christmas present,
and seal it up good. Put the legs of the bed frame in pans of D.E.
As someone else said “Make your bed an Island” with no part of it touching the floor or walls.
And careful of the clothing you wear to bed. No Stowaways on your island!
Another thing, put white sheets, white pillows and a white blanket on your bed, and keep a flashlight nearby. It helps with the paranoia.
Good Luck.
Regarding the way bites look:
There are 4 people in this house and each of us react differently to our bites. My daughter gets hard, flat red raised bumps (like a mosquito bite that is a few days old), where my son gets these huge red welts, still rather flat. My husband, his bites tend to look very similar to his eczema, lots of tiny red bumps. Now me.. my own bites either look like little blisters, or they get almost a tick bite like ring.
If you have doubts on whether you are being bit by bedbugs or not, take a look at the bites themselves. More often than not they will seem to line up in a series of three to 5 bites in a fairly straight line.
Regarding the traveling:
It is extremely easy to accidentally take bugs with you to another house. If you haven’t been keeping clean clothes bagged up (and unfortunately even if you do), they are sneaky. I have had occasions where I had been wearing clothes for a few hours, even though i haven’t been in the infested room, and still have had a bug run out from a seam, or a pocket. What I do to combat this is each morning, I wake up, pick out our clothes, toss them in the dryer straight from their bags with a wet towel until the towel is dry, usually about an hour. Once we are dressed, we do not go into the bedrooms at all. This does not eliminate the fact that we still have them, only helps with making sure we aren’t taking them traveling with us.
Regarding where to look:
DO NOT RELY ON ONLY YOUR BED FOR EVIDENCE.
They are sneaky, I’ve seen plenty of places listed. If you go to the J.T. Eaton website and look through their treatment plan, they have a very good list of where to put your treatments and how to eliminate them. In our case, we are having an extremely hard time getting rid of ours. We have drop ceilings, and they seems to be hiding up in there every time we do mass treatments. We have had a company in here three times, plus do regular spraying and treatments on our own (i was going through three cans of “contact” killer a week for awhile there, but part of the problem is how tiny the babies are. they will hide in ANYTHING. We have found them in the speaker covers for the alarm clock, our keyboard, in-between the buttons on the monitor. They can get into the tiniest of cracks, if you have nail holes on the wall.. or say, a thin line of molding around the top of your room. Our third round with them we discovered they were hiding behind the half inch strip of molding in our bedroom. They LOVE paper. You have to go through each book you own one page at a time, and make sure they aren’t hiding in there. They will hide in cardboard, dirty clothes, anything with a crease or crack. They can get into your baseboards, hide in cracks you don’t even know are there.
Regarding the smell:
Don’t rely on smell to tell you if you have them. We have them very very badly here, despite our constant spraying/cleaning/getting companies in here. The only time I have smelled them is when I have squished them. If you squish one between your fingers, yes they do have a very distinct smell. Its not raspberry though as so many sites say, more of a musty but still sweet smell.
If you are only seeing one or two bugs, you will have a much easier time getting rid of them than a case like us. We didn’t know we had them until we already had well over 1k bugs in just our room alone. For us, a combination of a good strong contact killer (we use J.T Eaton and/or the RAID sprays) vacuuming every other day (we bleach out the parts of the vacuum every time we do this) and manually catching bugs as we see them (i have an old vodka bottle with about two inches of baby oil in it) is keeping the numbers down, but NOT eliminating them. We are working on saving up enough money to do a pesticide + heat treatment combo. The company we used last time used an interesting combination of all green things (Cedar Oil fogger, some rather rank smelling spray like 5 types of spray total) and it did very nearly get rid of all of them. We didn’t see any for almost a year, but the evidence was there. We were getting bit, but only here and there. Now they are back with a vengeance, but this time, I’m ready for them.
Hi…i was wondering why bed bugs bite some people and not others? My boyfriends house has bed bugs and NO ONE that lives there gets bit. there are about nine people living there and no one gets bit except for me and my boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend. We joke that its because everyone that lives there is native and us girls only get bit because we’re white. in reality that can’t be the real reason.
i was thinking its because of the way our blood smells, is this true?? cuz me and my BF sleep in the same bed and i’ll get bit from head to toe and he never gets bit. the other night he found ONE bite on his leg but he says it doesn’t itch, but hurts when he touches it. this is the only time hes been bit. the bites i get are EXTREMELY itchy and painful, they swell very large and are usually grouped together. i’ve never actually seen a bed bug there, but i can feel them crawling on me at night. PLEASE HELP i need to know why i’m a target for these blood suckers. THANK YOU!! -Jessy
Kaitlyn,
It’s not that bed bugs are feeding any more the usual over time but that your body may be becoming less resistant to the bites (you’re reaction is getting worse).
Depends on the spray, they can be very resistant in this early stage, but if you do multiple applications, you’ll get them if they hatch. Use Diatomaceous Earth also.
I’ve been getting bitten by bed bugs for about the past two months and I finally found evidence of them in my bed and around my room. Turns out that it takes about a month or so for bed big larvae to hatch and start feeding.
Yesterday I found a huge welt on the back side of my thigh and another one on my shoulder when I woke up this morning.
Do bed bugs start to feed more vigorously overtime and cause the bites to become more noticeable and enlarged?
Also, before my room showed evidence of the bugs and I feared i contracted them, I sprayed down my bed with bed bug and flea killer before they could have a change to hatch and spread.
Are bed bug larvae immune to the spray before hatching?
Kaitlyn
my brother works overnight at a homeless shelter in downtown los angeles and my dad has been traveling to san francisco on business. when my dad is at work, my brother sleeps in my dad’s bed. last night i stayed at my mom’s house and i slept in that same bed because both my brother and my dad were away. so now i’m in my apartment again and i just killed something that might be a bedbug. did i pick it up from my mom’s house? if i found one does that mean there will be more?
Hot summer nights usually mean a few mosquito bites, they love me.
We got something new going on over here; it’s called the mystery of the small red bites. It all started a few days ago. I woke up with a couple here and there, one on my face! My wife has been completely bitten up; she has these little bites everywhere. I will add that my wife is a pretty tasty gal but usually the bugs go straight for me hmmm. I eliminated spider, flea and mosquito as the culprit which leaves the infamous bed bug. I tore the room apart including the bed, guess what I found? NOTHING!
So here is what I did and let’s see if this works. I stripped the bed of all linens put them through the washer dryer, (We change linens weekly anyways). FYI… I inspected the lint trap for the dryer and NOTHING expect for lint and some of my wife’s beautiful hair. I checked our down pillows, NOTHING. I inspected everything and I did find a super tiny cricket baby, (about 1.5mm long). Putting my wife’s mind at ease was my goal so… I sprayed stuff… some good bug killer stuff, if it kills ants it’s gotta kill bed bugs right? I sprayed all under and around the bed. I sprayed the corners of the box springs and the top mattress. I hit the frame and headboard with a good dose.
Tomorrow I bomb the house, this is not effective for bed bugs but it’s going to just be a bonus, remember… I am trying to put my wife at ease. I bet we don’t see any more little red bug bites except for the normal stuff I mentioned in the beginning.
If I am wrong we will call in an exterminator right? I’ll report back later. Oh, I got everything back together around 11pm and moved my wife from the couch to the exorcised bed and said, “Sleep tight because dead bed bugs don’t bite”.
The case of the Mystery Small Red Bites is still open but will be solved at some point.
Hi
I just found your site. Every year we visit my parents in Australia–it is winter here now. My 10 year old daughter has been sleeping in the same room, in the same old bed that was mine as a child, for the last few visits. And each visit, she wakes up with anything from 10 to 20 fresh bites. They are in clusters, anywhere from her arms and legs to torso, back or buttocks. They itch, but go away after a few days.
I treat them with overcounter cortisone-based creams. Over the years, we’ve taken her to the doctor, who has said it could be insect bites, could be some reaction to ‘something’, but nothing concrete. They are definitely NOT mosquito or flea bites, both of which I am familiar with. Yet they they don’t look half as bad as some of the red welts in the pictures posted on this site by some poor people who got bitten.
I was thinking it must be bedbugs–what else can it be? The bed is old (I am 42 and slept in it till I left for college) and she wakes up with the bites. Yet my mother claims it can’t be bed bugs, as my aunt also visits every year (in Spring) and sleeps in the same bed but has never she got bitten.
Will they bite some people but not others??
Hello there, I found only 3 bed bugs in my room, and now I am seriously depressed, I feel like I am carrying a disease mainly due to the parents of my friends wont allow me in their house, my question is..
1) Can I still travel for sleepovers at my friends place?
2) If so what can I do?
Side Notes:
-No new bed bug activity for almost a week now
-I have treated my room with hot steam and cleaned all my clothing in a hot water cycle and a hot 1 hour drying period
-I have covered my pillow and mattress
-I have been spraying extra strength bug spray everywhere in my room every night and when I wake up
Hi, I saw your email address when I was searching for information. I recently moved into an apartment, I had heard shortly after being here that someone in the building was infested with bed bugs, I didn’t know much about the bugs, so I had no idea that they could move to my apartment.
About 3 weeks ago I started to find bites on me, I have searched everywhere! Last week I found what I believe to be an adult bug in my curtains, I threw them away in the dumpster. But to my question for you that I cant seem to find on my own.
Do I have to throw everything away? I am going to start packing my stuff and get out of here, I have two children and I cant have them here. I just need to know, do I have to get rid of our clothing and their stuffed animals? Thank you for your time.
I think I may have a few bed bug bites, but they did not show up until I had left the hotel for another hotel. I did check the mattress etc, but must have missed the evidence. They don’t itch, but otherwise look like the pics I have seen. What do I do to ensure I don’t take them home with me? I understand they die if exposed to high temps. I am in a place where it is over 100 degrees in the daytime. My idea is to buy new clothes, come back to room, put EVERYTHING I have with me into car and let it bake in the full sun for 3 or 4 hours. In the meantime, I will have showered and put on new clothes, then will leave for home in my baked car. Will this work?
Hi Nessa, yes, bed bugs can and do bite people all over the body, including the head. There are some very scary pictures of a visitor named Ross who was bitten repeatedly on the forehead which can be found on this site.
Here is one you can add to your bed bug faq: can they bite you on your head?
These last few days I’ve been finding a few black spots on my mom’s covers and my 3 yr old cousin who previously had bed bugs is living with us (about 4 mnths ago.) I’ve squished them and two of them have had brownish stuff come out of them, I have a dog and two cats, my cats but isn’t the cleanest and I’m wondering if it could be bits of poo or feces, their brown and much smaller than the pictures, my parents are divorced and I haven’t found any at his house. Is it feces or dropplings maybe? I’ve checked his mattress and mine, my sisters and my mom’s and my dad’s and ours at his house, no signs of bed bugs plus the pictures on the wall. I’m at my summer apt. and I haven’t been here in 7 mnths. My aunt checked his and his sisters bag and they lived their for a few weeks.
Also you can’t just wipe the spots, you need to use your finger nail.
A few months ago I was waking up in the middle of the night in pain and very itchy when I told my husband he said it was probably just from being in the pool. I tried to show him marks on me and blood stains on the sheet he still did not believe we had bed bugs.
I take an allergy medication and do not know if that is what made them not like me. My five year old daughter used to sleep with me but when this started I wasn’t sleeping and was miserable so I asked her to sleep in her own bed. Well that is when she would come in saying she was itchy so I would put ointment on her. Then she would insist I give her a new blanket finally I realized she was being bitten and a few nights she woke up screaming which of course I ran into her room because it was breaking my heart.
I received a letter stating possible bed bugs throughout our complex. The office called and said will anyone be home I said no but you can come in they are in my daughter’s room above her bed. Well I came home and called the office they said the guy had just left and no they didn’t come and I would have to catch one and show it to them. I still had not seen the bugs but believed my daughter when she told me but to tell me I have to catch one well after two weeks of hell my daughter waking up every night screaming and crying and neither of us sleeping due to it I finally caught one.
Now the office says a guy will come out on Thursday and this is Saturday and then we will see from there so in the mean time my husband and I have gotten hot shot but we are all sleeping the the living room my husband, myself, and my two children. We are scared, upset, going crazy from all of this. And from reading on line we are cleaning and bagging and disinfecting everything it is so much work and i have bad back so this is really bad.
Am I doing the right thing? Is there anything else I can do because the complex knew of an infestation and I told them my daughter saw bugs and her room is next to the neighbor that had the bugs so I think the complex should have done something already! someone please help i am lost and don’t know what to do. they are saying the guy will come out it doesn’t mean he will do anything.
Hi Alicia,
Yes, absolutely, the bed bugs can travel in the walls (they love the electrical outlets) and get into the room next to it. They can also live for up to a year without feeding if they have to (6 to 7 months on average) but when they sense food is near, they will suck your blood with a vengeance!
I moved into an apt complex and my building has 12 different apts in it. I have just got my apt exterminated for bedbugs, and I wanted to know if the bedbugs can travel between the walls of the building and get into our room? And If we moved in on April 4th, could the bed bugs have lived there with no one to feed off of and then appear just now? (around June 1st)? Please help I’m going to make a complaint to my landlord if it could be from past tenants. Thank you.
i have repeatedly woken up with tiny red itchy bumps on my skin. the first few times i only had one but now it seems i have been getting two in a line every few nights. i washed my sheets and i didnt get any bites for a week or so, but now i am again. does this sound like bed bugs? im really paranoid to fall asleep? should i move to another room? please help.
~jamie
I have a couple of questions about “reporting” bed bug issues.
Currently, I am assuming that hundreds of people battle them alone without hiring a professional, so, that leads me to believe the actual number of infestations is MUCH greater than we know. How do analysts determine the locations affected and the intensity? Do companies like Terminix report it, or doctors, health departments, etc?
Is there any legislation in the works to help put an end to this growing “epidemic”? If not, how could it be instigated? Some places in Michigan spray towns for mosquitos. Couldn’t something like that help cut the bed bug problems? Would it do any good to propose a bill requiring landlords, hotels, homeless shelters, thrift shops, child care centers (etc) to have regular professional inspections for pests like these?
Do sufferers currently have any legal (or even moral) obligation to report an infestation to their local Health Department?
I’m getting rid of my mattress and instead I’m buying an airbed. Do they also get bed bugs?
A few days ago my 1 yr old son was playing in my room(which he doesn’t usually do)..he was on my bed and playing in the floor where my dogs’ bed is and shortly after that I noticed little red bumps all over his legs,feet and arms..to me they looked like ant bites but he had been in the house all day..could this have been bed bugs? And my other question is, are bed bugs attracted to down feather comforters?………Thanks!
Do all Bed Bug bites itch or do people respond differently?
My husband and I got back from a week at Disney three weeks ago. We don’t travel often, and it didn’t even occur to me to check the room for bedbugs.
Anyhow, a couple of days ago, I noticed a large amount of what I thought were mosquito bites on my thighs. I had let my dog out in the middle of the night wearing shorts, and assumed I had gotten bites while I was waiting for him. However, they are itchier, flatter and wider than mosquito bites, and have little bite marks in the middle. The following day I had a couple more bites in the same location, and a couple on my stomach. My husband has the same bites on his stomach.
Seems I’m getting more every day, though they are popping up throughout the day not just in the mornings. We are shopping for a new bed anyways, so we tossed the old one and gave the room a through cleaning. We’ve brought in the bed from the spare room for now (No one has used that room in over two years, but we plan on tossing this bed also) and I still had new bites on me today. We’ve looked though the old bed throughly, and saw no signs of either bed bugs or their exo-skeletons or their droppings….
I’ll also mention that the perimeter of our room has been sprinkled with diatomaceous earth since before we left for Disney (cleaned up and reapplied several times) because of an ant infestation in the spring.
OK, so all that background, my question is could we have brought back bedbugs from Disney and only be seeing bites now three weeks later? We were at Disney for a week, is it possible that there was an infestation in our room but we didn’t get any bites the whole time we were there?
Thank you, this is all new to us :/ I’m still kind of optimistically hoping that a rogue blackfy has found his way into our room and that’s all this is.
Hello,
We had to tell our landlord and use the man company they use they sprayied something called Demon cs and said that that should take care of it. We have not seen any bedbugs but with all the awful stories out there I am starting to think that they are just waiting to attack. No bites other than a few a couple days after. Could they really be gone? We found 3 before the treatment and the bedframe was in the house for 15 hours but we waited 13 days to do the treatment.
Thanks,
Lisa
Hello, We just recently moved into new apartments and I have never had a bed bug problem until this new place. I was wondering if somebody could check if there has been a problem in these apartments, Ive done research but I cant find anything. The apartment is called The Plaza at 4th Street. Reno, NV 89512
We have cleaned out that room with spray and vaccuuming mutiple times, a couple days after my fiance found new bites on him. How long does it take bite to appear?
Hi,
Is it possible that only one of two people sleeping in the same bed might receive bites? Do bed bugs discriminate?
Over the past month my girlfriend has been receiving bites of some sort, most likely in bed at night (we can’t think where else they would come from). However, I have received no bites whatsoever, despite our always sleeping in the same bed. We have found no evidence of bed bugs so far.
It’s all a mystery. However an answer to my first question would help a lot. Thanks!
my husband was at a friends house and fell a sleep on her couch and he got up and had a rash all over his back and arms and we know they r from bed bugs cuz the apts she lives at has them bad and the manager has people come and spray for them lots of times already and they keep coming back and she has a 2 year old and a 8 mouth old baby that lives there is there anyway u can have a lawsuit against the owner of the apts?
I stopped counting after 30 :)
Those black spots are the feces left behind from the bed bug.
Do bed bugs turn into black spots when gone?
How old are you Bed Bug Girl? I am completely paranoid but I know I don’t have them, but I was surfing online and found this which answers lots of questions:
One in five people have, had, encountered, or know someone who has encountered bed bugs
Bed bugs can lay 10,000 babies in three months
An adult bed bug can survive 550 days without blood
About a year after moving in with my mother, I woke up with itching especially all over my body… It was awful.. I could not determine if it was my moms house or work or my vehicle but bugs were somewhere, EVERYWHERE I went… Bathed multiple times a day , and used lice shampoo but nothing worked.. Exterminator was called in and he could not find anything in my bedroom.. I cleaned, steamed, washed with clorox everything, multiple times, sprayed, dusted and nothing worked..My mom had no reaction what so ever..From showering so much my skin was drying out and I grabbed a lotion my mom had on hand.. SKIN SO SOFT…THis really worked for the itchy skin, but I needed to get rid of the bugs…I finally decided to get rid of the old furniture that mom had stored and that I was using, ALL the furniture , bed, mattress, pillows, dressers, nite standand and purchase new furniture, pieces at a time and that solved the bug infestation….PRaise God.
Hi there….I think I have bed bugs, help! I have what I originally thought were mosquito bites, appearing on my waist and thighs. When mentioning this to my friend that I had visited the day before noticing these itchy welts, she described having the exact same thing. I sat only on the couch while at her house, for an hour or so. I also just scratched the back of one thigh, finding that I have a new bite….I felt something kind of grainy-feeling, like a piece of salt. It’s a tiny bug and its description matches to bed bugs, though slightly smaller than above diagram shows. So….Is it possible that a bed bug latched on to me, just from sitting on her couch? Also, could it be just the one bug? Thanks for any feedback!
~Itchy Sam
Nice of your husband to be the sacrificial lamb, but that’s not necessary. A bed bug is attracted to carbon dioxide, which we produce as we exhale. When we sleep, we fill one area up with carbon dioxide and it’s like a dinner bell for the bed bug. This is why two people can sleep in the same bed and only one gets eating alive – that one person produces more CO2 and the bugs know this.
Buy some food grade diatomaceous earth (bed bug dust) and create a barrier between the two rooms, then move to another room (or your husband if he’s now sleeping in the infested room) and as the bugs cross the line attracted to the CO2, they pick up the dust and die.
However, if you have them, and have had them for awhile now, chances are they are in more than one room. I’d get some bed bug dust, mattress covers, a spray applicator (where you can mix the dust and water) and got to town.
As long as you wash your hair regularly, they won’t live there. However, if you don’t wash and have dreadlocks, then a bed bug may find this a wonderful home!
I was at a friends house, and immediately after getting into bed I started itching so I began to search and there they were, lots of bed bug, saw 3 different sizes. I got bit pretty bad!
Does anyone know if they live in your hair?
I read somewhere that as long as SOMEONE sleeps in my bed that the bed bugs won’t look for food elsewhere. I ask for verification because I started sleeping in a second bedroom, and my husband is staying in our bed and taking the bites…is this okay? I am going crazy and can’t sleep in our bed.
Hi Tammy,
You are referring to bed bug dust (diatomaceous earth) – it works great and is an excellent weapon to add to your do-it-yourself arsenal in the war against bed bugs!
Recently I worked @ a private personal care home, & they are infested with bed bugs. I am one of those people who is allergic to many things, & I am also allergic to bed bugs. Unfrotunately, I brought them home with me, & I am still battling to this day. I started breaking out in a rash & itching badly all over. Also, I have been experiencing dizzy spells, & I am conviced it’s the bed bugs making me feel that way. I had my employer pay for my doctor visit as well as my meds. My employer did not want to address the issue in the right way, so I am no longer working there. I filed for unemployment, called the Health Dept. on my employer, & have been battling them ever since. My husband has been doing some research on these things. He came across a websight that said that you can get silica & smash it into powder form, sprinkle it around the baseboards, & wherever else you desire. It is supposed to stick to the bed bugs, & dry them out, resulting in death. You can find silica in sandblasting sand, & also cat litter. I prefer the cat litter because it seams to have bigger, more visible silica. I just recently got some, so I don’t know the results just yet, as I have closed up my trailer, & have been sleeping @ my mother’s house. I will keep you posted on this.
Since about a week I’ve been getting little red marks on my arms, legs, chest, back, even my bikini line, they itch and I can say for sure it all happens when I’m sleeping in our bed. Last night I freaked out and began steaming my mattress with the little handheld steamer. But I have yet to see any signs of a bed bug or it’s “leftovers”, there is NOTHING whatsoever.
Today we’re going to take the entire room apart and clean. But I’m not sure what the next step is. If there is no sign at all, what do you do? I looked online for mattress covers but none of them I need seems to be available in the store so I could go and get one right away. I don’t want to wait until it ships! If I went to a doctor, would they be able to say for sure if it’s a bed bug bite or would they just say it’s some kind of insect bite?
Please help, I’m out of my mind and certainly don’t want my kids’ rooms to get infested too. Thanks!
Hey Chris Guy,
Wow! Over 30 occurrences that I was completely unaware of! Most people are afraid of offending by leaving a comment and I want you to know how much I appreciate the heads-up! They have been corrected!
Have an awesome day!
I wanna know if the person that wrote this is in first grade or something?? Look at how many times they put bug bugs instead of bed bugs. I thought it was funny.
Hi Lisa,
If the bed bug infested frame was in your home for any length of time, you should assume one or more may have drop out into your home. However, if you start now with Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth you’ll have an excellent chance of getting them early. Check out my page on Bed Bug Dust.
Hello,
Can you please help me? I stupidly bought a bed frame at a rummage sale on Sunday and did not check it out but noticed that it had bed bugs on it today. We had it in our living room and now it is outside. Does that mean that I have bedbugs in my house or could they all have just been attached to the bed frame for that long? We do not see anymore. We rent also do I have to tell our landlord?
Thank you,
Lisa
Is it possible to have just one bedbug? I found what might have been one bedbug (matches your descriptions) the other night. I vacuumed the entire mattress and boxspring and did not find any other evidence. Could I have licked it? Or should I be worried about possible infestation?
Tonight, I found another -very different – looking bug, which bit me.
The first, from three nights ago, was reddish-brown and round (will email photo), and about a quarter of an inch long; this second is long and black, and about half an inch long, with long legs and long sucker at the front.
Thanks.
I’m not sure what the exact answer to the question is but I did read an article about a family that picked up some bed bugs while staying in a motel in Rocky Mountain National Park, elevation is around 10 to 11 thousand feet. I always thought that bed bugs were a southern USA problem, but the last bed bug excursion that I was a part of happened in Columbus Ohio, and those are the nastiest bed bugs I have ever ran into. They left huge welts and scars.
Is there a sertain altitude the bed bugs do not exist? Do they need warm climats? Or do they live in any climate? What I want to know is I live at an altitude of 5000 ft. Can I get bed bugs?
I just recently moved into an apartment building and I have received a letter informing me of possible bed bugs in the building. I do my laundry in the same building. Is it possible for bed bugs to live in washing machines or dryers? Or is it possible for me to bring them into my apartment just by doing my laundry in the same building?
They are the little buggars from hell. I sit here in bed with no less than 125 welts in rows of three, from my pinky toe, to my big thumb, and even at the nape of my neck, the little buggars have inflicted their pleasure feeding.
Did I ask for this? An innocent traveler was I, and having fun in the paradise of vacation, but all is woe now. I am sick of itching, sick of not sleeping at night, and sick of this Bug Epidemic!!!!!!!!!! I was attacked by bugs last summer, but only received 68 bites on that occasion. I have already doubled the count this year, and more welts appear every hour. I imagine that by the time all of the bites appear by the end of the week I could be closer to 200 miserable and wretched bites.
Has anyone ever been driven to insanity by the bugs from hell? If so, I would not be surprised! I believe that a war should be fought to stop these slimy bugs. We should bring our boys back from Afghanistan and put them in all of the motels in the USA. We shall fight on the terraces; we shall fight on the Motel 6′s at the beaches; we shall fight in the Holiday Inns in the hills; we shall fight in the eyes of the Super 8′s; and behind every bed at the Budget Inns; we shall never surrender. Ask not what your bed bugs can do to you but rather ask what can I do to annihilate those little devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And in the final push of those days it shall come to pass that they will say ” don’t look here or there for the bed bugs, for the bed bugs of the past will be far away and long gone. For we are now receiving what our forefathers prophesied about. A land flowing with milk and honey. A land where the people shall lie down with the bed bugs and they will not suck their blood. A time and era where the people and the bed bugs will play cards together and watch old John Wayne movies and crack a can of Bud light. But until those day come, be strong my Bed Bug Bitten friends! Be strong!”
Just a quick mobile update – we flipped up the mattress and box springs to prep for the Hot Shot fogger, and we FINALLY saw a live bug! Full, as hubby pointed out, of OUR blood! Also ordered Bedlam and Sani-Fab sprays…
Hi Money,
No, it’s not the type of blood, it’s how much carbon dioxide a person produces that attracts the bed bugs.
My last few days traveling in Australia I stayed at a hostel. I hate hostels but they were the cheapest places to stay in the whole of Australia. I got bit pretty bad each night I was there definitely by bedbugs.
I am suppose to visit my sister in Japan and I am worried that I could have spread them to her non-infested apartment. I left all my luggage outside (I never brought them in) and just brought in my electronics such as laptop n (cloth) case, camera, camcorder n (cloth) case, ipod n headphones, binoculars n (cloth) case, and plastic baggies with my cables n such and also my cloth wallet and passport.
I guess I’m worried that my hair and the clothes I wore the day I arrived could have infested the place. Is this true? I had no bites when I woke up. I also inspected my clothes in the bathroom when I arrived at the airport. I didn’t see anything but I’ve read they are great at hiding.
I hope I took all the necessary precautions. What do you guys think? Could I have infested her home and how could I stop it? And what should I do with my luggage (one small suitcase and a backpackers backpack) to avoid further infestation? Should I go buy new clothes to avoid infestation? I am going crazy with guilt that I infested her home.
Thanks
Also I did notice a bite I got an hour before she arrived to let me in her apartment. But I was outside waiting and walking around a park and it could have been a mosquito bite. What you think?
Please help!
Do bed bugs prefer certain types of blood? I’m curious because I stayed at my boyfriends place for 6 nights in a row. They have a couch that has bed bugs, but the only weird thing is, I’m the only one who gets bit! There are 7 others who live in the home and I’m the one who gets attacked.. I avoid sitting on the couch long during the day.. I’m not sure if the bed is infested because my boyfriend don’t get any bites, and neither does my son.. So how do bed bugs operate??
ARG! This is what has happened so far over the last few weeks.
We went to an outside party at friends. I sat on a plastic chair in the grass, as did my husband. I sprayed myself with OFF as they had HUGE mosquitos. When we got home, hubby had 3 bites that were raised, almost like a blister, from mosquitos. (He had recently travelled to DC, and I’m also a bit worried about hitchhikers from there as well!)
A few days later, we BOTH had bites, first on our arms, then the next night on my torso in a line, with bites a few inches apart. VERY intensely itchy, and looking JUST like most of the pix I looked at online. At first, I wondered if it came from a new pillow I bought. It’s a Cuddle Ewe pillow, with wool filling – expensive but comfy for fibromyalgia! But perhaps it had some kind of sheep bugs? Then I thought maybe one had come from DC, when hubby put the suitcase on the bed. Then I wondered if it was carpet beetles with a taste for human blood. Then maybe spiders…. Or Morgellons…..
So the next day I washed the mattress pad and sheets in HOT water, put the pillows out in the sun, followed by at least 30 minutes in the dryer, put the comforter in the dryer as well. I put DE with Pyrethrins on the mattress, and vaccuumed it after about 6 hours. I DE’d around the bed, and also sprayed with a Hot Shot spray. We have a TON of carpet beetles, so I have those things on hand since they WORK on the carpet beetles! They also say they will work on bed bugs, so I thought why not try it.
We sprayed ourselves with 100% DEET spray, and tried to sleep. No bites that night, but the next day, when I blew my nose, there was a BUG! It appeared the size and shape of maybe a 3rd instar? (I check after I blow to monitor my sinuses.) Anyways, I was icked out no end. Our mattress is fairly new, and I examined it closely. No sign of anything anywhere. Later that night, hubby brought me a tiny casing. I thought it looked more like a carpet beetle nymph shed, but they are so similar to bed bug nymph shed, it really could have been either…
A week ago we built a CO2 trap with dry ice, etc. We’ve “set” it EVERY night, but I still have yet to see one single bug besides the dead one from my nose! We sleep in the room with it going, hoping to distract the bugs from biting us. Hubby goes to bed about 11, but I have been up all night, unable to get comfortable in bed. I already feel every little pill of fabric or even hair like the Princess and the Pea, and my skin crawls sometimes from the Fibro, so I’m really unhappy right now! I could SWEAR I feel things crawling under the sheets!
Every time I put anything in the dryer, I would check the lint trap. No bugs there!
Last night I went to bed and was laying on top of the covers because it was a bit warm. I felt TWO bites nearly simultaneously about 4 inches apart, and my leg was BURNING where the bites were. There are NO bugs where I spend my day, and no sign of anything until 10 minutes after I lay down to sleep! I immediately got up and put Benadryl Itch Relief on the 2 bites, they were red and swollen and look just l ike the bed bug bite pix online. I actually went back to bed and slept all night, and have no other bites on me that I can feel. Today the bites look like red pinpricks, and don’t itch at all. I also try to squeeze the bites right away, get a little white blood cells out, and hopefully the itchy poison as well. It seems to help.
Today I again washed all the linens, mattress pad, dried the pillows and comforter, vaccuumed the mattress with the Rainbow vac, but only saw a little black carpet beetle, no bed bugs! I put down fresh DE, and sprayed again. I’ve already put the dry ice out, maybe mine feed earlier? If they came from DC, they might still be on EST! Which would explain why hubby is being bitten a little more than I. Still, only one or two bites on him, and the two last night were the first for me in a few days.
We’ll be away for a few days, and I’m setting the CO2 trap as soon as I get back, so maybe we’ll capture something then….
I’m really confused. What is biting us, and are there invisible bed bugs? Do all the bugs come out and bite, or is the line of bites from one bug? Can they bite through cloth? How long for an egg to hatch? WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS? LOL!
Thanks for your site, it really is a great place to find help and support!
To Darla Arlington – I would think that you could kill any bedbugs living in your wig by nuking it in the microwave on high for a few minutes. It won’t hurt the wig, as long as it’s completely dry when you put it in there, since microwaves only heat up things that have moisture in them.
i was recently bitten by a bug or something that looks like a bed bug bite but im not sure its small red and is very painful…..but the weird thing is there is only one
Hi, I need help. Can you drowned bed bugs? Believe it or not I got a bed bug in the mail! I found it in the box with an expensive wig that I had ordered off of Ebay. I don’t want to have more coming out of it if there is any so the wig is sealed up and it’s staying there!
Since this wig can’t be put into very hot water can I drowned any other bugs just by soaking the wig in soapy water? If so, how long should I soak it? Then should I soak it again a few weeks later just in case there was an egg or two? Thanks so much for the help!
How do bed bugs get aroud? Do they jump, and if you kill one do they always have to be filled with blood? or not
I hot bitten by a bed bug about 3 months ago and had scratched it. A darkish patch developed in that area. After I used some calendula cream the colour lightened slightly. Recently, I’ve been feeling very itchy in that same spot, (and have been scratching it). That skin patch has turned dark again. Isn’t there some permanent remedy to get rid of the colouration as well as the itchiness? It’s been 3 months now, (and that part of my arm looks ugly). :o(
Hi,
I wanted to ask for your advice… About 3-4 months ago (in January) we had a cat for 2 weeks until I started getting little bites on my body that looked like flea bites. We got rid of the cat and still after 4 months I am getting bit by something – but think it’s unlikely it is fleas after so long. My husband is not getting bit and I notice that after I vacuum and clean the house, change the sheets – the bites stop for 1-2 weeks, then come back. When I don’t clean, the bites are probably 1-2 a week. Most of the time they are single bites…sometimes in clusters that sometimes itch. I have provided pictures that look like my bites, however a lot of these pictures are in clusters…like I said – most or single bites that look like these (I have had one cluster). Sometimes they are little pinprick bites…then other times they are small raised bumps. They are not welts that itch horribly, and it hasn’t gotten worse or better since the first bite (4 months ago).
My husband isn’t getting the bites, so he dosnt feel effected and I go crazy at moments and need help. I have talked to our landlord and they bombed our house for fleas and it was better for 2 weeks and then started getting bit again. We have a squirrel/bird living in our attic and I have asked our landlord to remove it because of the possibility of bird mites. We havn’t seen any bugs (except for the common spring bugs that come in.)
We haven’t traveled anywhere and haven’t had visitors that would bring bed bugs…plus I would think that after 4 months – an infestation would occur and get worse.
Please help…what do you think it is- what should I do?
Can you get bedbugs from plastic packaging? I ordered a shirt that came in a plastic envelope. It came from New York. Bedbug potential?
Ever since the Bed bug epidemic I took caution. I’ve always covered my mattress and box spring. I moved into my new apartment in September and got new mattress from Macy’s I was skeptical but they were fine. I kept the original plastic on my box spring, tapped down the sides making sure there was no air in there or any wholes, then I put a plastic/vinyl cover over it and then a fitted sheet so the two mattress wont slide together and rip, before laying down my top mattress and I have a plastic cover over my mattress as well.
I’m pretty determined not to have bed bugs. I change my sheets every two weeks and I spray down my mattress pad and even the plastic of my mattress with alcohol and lysol spray. I know that it doesn’t matter rather your clean or dirty anyone can get bed bugs. I never let people sit on my bed but when my friends come over they constantly sit, lay or put there things on my bed. I don’t even sit on my own bed with my clothes Ive been outside in. I do have a roommate but I mean she is rarely here and stays at her boyfriends a lot.
While cleaning up the remainder of my room I saw a bug crawling off of one of my pillow, at this time there isn’t any sheets or pillow cases nor comforter on my bed just my mattress pad and pillows with protectors. I instantly grabbed my alcohol spray bottled and killed it. From my observation it looks like a bed bug, I instantly freaked out! I haven’t had any bits & there is no sign of them anywhere in my room or my living furniture, but I don’t know about my roommates room.
So even if its possible I have them it isn’t anything serious at the moment but I want to take caution quickly. I haven’t had any sleep stressing out about this. I was going to call an exterminator in the morning so I left the creepy crawler on the bed and now its GONE! So Im almost certain it has to be one because it disappeared into the night.
I don’t know what to do….I’ve read a lot of websites these past 24 hours and since I have no proof I guess I can’t call an exterminator to come out and look?
Also, I never bought bedroom furniture. I bought some rails and made sure my bed never touched the wall or flooring. I have a huge walk in closet so majority of my clothes are on hangers and if not I have clear plastic Sterlite 3 drawer containers lined up in my closet for things that cannot get hung up. I also have majority of my shoes in sterlite plastic shoe containers. but I have a nice amount of shoes still in boxes. So can the bed bugs be hiding out in my closet? on my bookshelf in my textbooks? in my laundry basket?
There isn’t much they can get into in my room nor anywhere in the house unless there coming to my room from my roommates room or a nearby apartment? This is my first time ever seeing anything and like I said I haven’t been bitten. I just don’t know what to do.
What do you think I should do?
Hi, I can’t tell if I have bed bugs or not. In the past month or so, I have gotten about six bug bites that were unlike any I have ever had. I had one on my arm and 2 on my leg That were so enormous I thought they could only be spider bites. Most recently I had one on my face and two on my back that are more like standard mosquito bites, but still super itchy. I searched my bed area thoroughly and found no bugs or evidence of bugs, but still vacuumed my bed and bought mattress and pillow pads and all new bedding.
All was well until the day before yesterday I found a bug crawling in my bed. It was small and red, but when I went to kill it it spread it’s wings at me. It also did not make a bloody mess when I killed it. So does this sound like bed bugs? I live in the NYC area with two friends and two cats in an apartment. Neither of them have been bitten at all.
I have bed bugs in an apartment I’m renting. I came into the apartment about 10 days before I had any bites but once I had them, they were all over, hundreds it seems like. Anyway, the morning I saw all the bites I checked the bed and found a few bugs and checked the box spring and saw about 5-10 spots of their fecal matter in the corner. Is it possible that I brought the bugs in from somewhere? And how long before spots like that will show up in the corner? My landlords are taking care of the problem, but they think I’m the one that brought in the bugs. I’ve had 2 treatments done and this morning found another one in the bathroom!! I’ve never had them before and this is all I can think about, they are taking over my life and driving me nuts! I’m sorry for everyone who has gone through this.
hello!
Recently I bought a different type of laundry detergent and woke up with appeared to be hives. This was about a month ago. I still wake up with the odd hive and it goes away within a few days. Tonight, I was laying in bed and noticed this red (looked to be the first stage of a bed bug) crawling on my bra. I of course lost my mind and quickly examined it before I flushed it. I did an inspection of my mattress and pillows and didn’t find any others. Is it possible to just have one bed bug? Was it even a bed bug?
I have been in this apartment for about a year now and we just discovered that we have bedbugs…we have been sleeping on the couch now for a few days and my wife says that she hasn’t had any bites or anything and for some reason if I’m being bitten they don’t show up on me.
i haven’t slept with the feeling of always thinking they’re crawling on me, and I’ve even had some anxiety attacks as a result of the thoughts of them infesting my room. i read a site that was telling horror story after horror story where they’ve called exterminators and moved homes and so on and still found no relief…I’m going on so little sleep i think I’m going insane i can’t bring myself to go to sleep because i know they’re in the other room.
It’s a few days out till the exterminators come but will this give me peace of mind? I’ve read so many stories about how people have been battling them for years and nothing seems to work and so on…..i want them gone when the exterminator shows….gone gone GONE…we’re getting rid of the bed after they’ve treated it…as well as new furniture and couch…my question is will this work? Doesn’t it take only 1 or 2 left to just have me having a huge issue again inside of no time?
They said that they steam the bed, put some powder down, spray and treat for the bugs alive still, and a few other things….again will that do the trick? I’m going through one of the larger and more reputable exterminating companies and they’ll be here sometime this week i still have to set up the appointment…
I have bed bugs, for a fact. I’m not sure where they came from and I spend a lot of time at other houses. How do I go about making sure they’re gone for good? Does everyone I know need to hire an exterminator?
Hi JN,
Three days is a bit long to be having an initial reaction to a bite but if you want to make sure you don’t have bed bugs, I’ve documented how to make a trap for less than $10, see my page in the menu bar at the top right of this page. Let us know what you find out, will you?
Thanks!
Hello, I recently stayed at a rental cabin in the snow for three days and about a day after returning home I noticed large red bites all over my mind section and the back of my legs. Over the next few days the bites got worst and I counted close to 100 different bites.
Worried that I brought the bugs back with me, I had my apartment inspected by a certified K9 service and they did not find anything. I continually check for bugs, blood marks or fecal matter and can’t find anything. Even though there doesn’t seem to be bugs in my place, new bites continue to show up on my body even after 2 weeks from my stay at the cabin.
Could I be having a delayed reaction or is it a good indication that I have bed bugs in my place?
Thank you for your help!
JN
Hi Adam,
Those are not bed bugs :)
HoP wrote a comment on Feb 4, 2011 and had a picture of a couple of bugs. I found one of those bugs in my kitchen and then another one on my bed. Can you identify it? I would like to know if I have bed bugs or not.
Thank you!
Hi Andy,
It could still be bed bugs! See my “Bed Bug Traps” link at the top right of this site and you can download instructions on how to build one yourself for less than ten dollars!
Doug,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share! What you have had to go through is just horrible and I agree, there needs to be more awareness and government involvement to stop the spread of bed bugs!
The stories are all to common. My family gave up after months of exterminators. We burned everything but photos (frames were kindling), the bed bugs were in the carpet, beds, near the computer desk, you name it.
I know the experts say the stay near beds but that wasn’t so for us. We were given a couch in 2008. I have never heard of a bed bug at the time. I saw a bug but assumed it was a tick from fishing. The landlord sent people to get rid of them but no one could. After the burn pile we showered in a garage (for mechanics) unpacked new clothes that were boiled and dried. My truck has plastic seats and no carpet so it didn’t get infested (I religiously checked and dusted).
Our final step was find new land, have the dirt turned, then build the home ourselves. We no longer allow visitors because they could carry bed bugs. Our children homeschool. We avoid public places. I do not work with other people. I will never go through such mental anxieties again. The experience has scarred us or life.
The US government needs to stop the spread of bedbugs…they are an epidemic. They made the BB killer illegal so the BB came back with vengeance. Now the gov’t leaves people helpless and ill. The worst part is even after the exterminator clears you one could linger for almost 2 years! For those of you that can’t walk away, you will probably be contracting an exterminator for 18 months as well.
I do like Bedbuggirl’s advice…do not just bag up clothes. Also BB won’t drown in water. Alcohol only repels adults. BB breed to rapidly to use alcohol alone as an effective treatment. BB will burrow in heavy sweater type clothing (even in the day time).
Also BB will bite you whenever given the opportunity….like when watching tv on the couch. You don’t have to be sleeping. We used the steamer also. I think that just makes them hide.
I’m not an expert just a survivor. I hope the rest of you find an answer.
Hello-
I moved into a new apartment 3 months ago. The day after we arrived I found a bed bug on the wall and a couple shells and possible fecal matter spots along floor board. We told the manager and they handled it extremely well. They called an exterminator to come in immediately. They heated the whole apartment up.
We couldn’t find anything for several weeks, but then I got bit on the chest and face. The chest was one bite and the face had a string of four. We showed the manager and they once again heated the place up. I bought DE and sprinkled it everywhere; under the bed, under the couch, in floor boards, under the mattress, night stands. Then I wake up this morning and have another group of bites, 1 large and 3 smaller, in the same location but opposite side of my face, on the jaw line, towards the ear. I can’t find any bugs anywhere, but bed bugs leave bites in succession.
Could this still be bed bugs and I just can’t find them? You would think two heat treatments and DE would kill them or I would at least find something somewhere. What should I do?
Thank you so much for your time.
Andy
Hey guys. I went thru this bed bug disaster last year. I was looking into calling some professionals but found they were to expensive. I went to my local hardware store and bought a powder for bedbugs and diff types of insect killers. Similar to boric acid. Guys it work!! It took like 2-3 weeks for it to work but it did. It prob would’ve worked quicker but I let it get pretty bad b4 acting. Just apply it around the foot of the bed and crevices and cracks. Under the mattress and onto of the mattress edges. Anywhere they will crawl to u u must apply it. U should be ok with putting a sheet over the mattress. The powder didn’t do no harm to me. I recently found one dead bug today and will start applying the powder b4 it gets worse. Also got a few small bites. Goodlyck to everyone =)
Hi Carina,
Yes, it is possible they could have feed earlier and just now decided to feed again. To answer your second question, I have not yet seen one comment or story where the bed bugs leave on their own, sorry.
I’m not sure if I have bed bugs, but I’ve noticed mosquito like bites on me. If I’ve only just started seeing bites, is it possible the bugs have been there for over a week? Do they (the bugs) go away on their own?
Hi Ashley,
Get a bedbug mattress encasement asap, some bed bug dust and read my treatment section – you may be able to treat them yourself!
So I pretty much live at college and come home every so often maybe once or twice a month. Tonight i came back and found like 5 bugs on the back corner of my mattress all were dead but one, then i found another when i was changing out my sheets jut on the comforter.
We flipped my bed and saw nothing now I’m on here googleing what to do. Obviously i need to get someone to come inspect and clean. I’m like 99.9% sure they are bedbugs because i looked up the pictures on here. Am i safe to sleep tonight after changing my sheets? I’m planning on cleaning my room pretty good tomorrow, but I’m still scared to sleep or go back to college and them get worse..what do i do?
Hi there,
If my nephew’s house has bed bugs should he not be having sleepovers at my house?
In a addition, my nephew is having an off site birthday party. Should you avoid people who have bed bugs? I’d rather not but I am really concerned about them getting on us.
Thank you,
Jamie
Hi Michelle,
Send your pictures to badbedbugs@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to take a look!
I just received an order of scarves that were shipped from China. East individual scarf is in a sealed plastic/cellophane bag. Do I need to be concerned about bed bugs in with the scarves? I heard somewhere that we need to be careful of items shipped from China. We plan to give these scarves to people attending a fund raising event and certainly wouldn’t want to inflict bed bugs on anyone!
Please respond. Thanks!!
Hi – we’ve just moved into a furnished apartment that we were going to stay in for 2 weeks. I felt a little itchy when sitting on the couch, so I moved. My husband then felt a bit itchy and had what looked like mosquito bites, so I started looking up information online and found your website.
We inspected the mattress on the bed and the couch but it all appeared fine.
Then when it was time to go to sleep, my husband found a bug crawling on the bed!
We captured it and lucky this place has an air mattress, so we’re sleeping on that with new sheets just out of the packet.
We bagged anything we were wearing, put our luggage in the kitchen and had showers! Lucky we hadn’t unpacked our bags, and we had only been here for maybe 4 hours tops.
Do you think our bags could be safe? They were just sitting on the floor in the middle of the room not really near any furniture.
From what i can gather this might just be a new infestation, its only a small bug. So I don’t think our things are infested.
Because its past midnight, I’ve sent a message to the owner and hopefully she’ll get it checked out or we can just move out.
I don’t think we have any bites yet, my husband may have some non-itchy ones.
Is there anything else we should do?
I would like to send a photo so you can let me know if it really is a bed bug, please let me know what email address to send it to.
Update: Ive now zoomed in on the photo and the bug isn’t flat at all and doesn’t have any ribs… so maybe not a bed bug!! (although now i feel itchy but that’s just psychological i know!)
OK Thanks!
I was reading your website and after careful examination I have decided that I found A (just one) bed bug crawling on top of my covers this morning just after I turned on the light at daybreak. There is no evidence that I can see of any others, and my 13yr old daughter just came home from a weekend trip where she stayed at a hotel with our church.
She has 4-5 bites on her arm that appeared 2 weeks ago or so, but there is NOTHING that I can see in her room, bed etc… so I think the bites could be from her school auditorium because she rehearses there and most of the time it is closed up… very old school (spider bites maybe?)
In addition, no one else has any bites, or evidence other than just the one bug. I trapped it in a plastic sandwich baggie, but it squashed and was full of blood.. I stripped the bed, threw the sheets away, washed the blankets and mattress pad in hot water and I ran the sweeper in my room.
Do I need to do the whole house that way? her room, stuffed animals, couches, etc Do I need to purchase an insecticide?
PLEASE HELP!!!
I am overly cautious and somewhat paranoid, and have taken every precaution to the point that I do not to let anyone come over that I don’t know very well, or I visit likewise, I inspect everywhere we go, even the movies– so as you can imagine, this is my worst fear.
Can you please tell me that this is not an infestation and what I need to do???
Hi Alane,
Yes, you should be able to feel them crawling on you and this is exactly why they wait until you are in a deep sleep before feeding! Only when they have found there feeding spot on you and numbed it up would you not be able to feel them.
I found one and have searched for the answer to this quesiton…
Can you not feel them crawling on you….if you are awake?? Or asleep?
Seems impossible that you could not feel them on you while awake?
I have two red bumbs on my chest and can’t figure out what could it have came from… very scared
I stayed in a villa about two weeks ago. About the middle of last week, I noticed a few red itchy bumps on my arms. I didn’t think anything of them, but then over the past few days, I noticed more. They seem to be following the same pattern as described & look similar to the pictures I saw. I did an extensive search in my bed, put double sided tape around it, but came up with nothing. Is it possible that I was just bitten up at the villa & just am now noticing the bites?
Hi,
I just moved into my dream apartment on Saturday. Everything was clean and remodeled. New windows, freshly painted. I moved most most of my stuff in that day. That night we slept there for the 1st time. We woke up in the morning and there was a spot of blood in the bed. 2 minutes later my 4 year old daughter said there was a bug in the bed. I looked and picked it up. It looked like a little beetle with a full reddish belly. I threw it on the floor. My husband got up and reached for his shirt and said there were little bugs on it. i looked and they did not look like the beetle bug I found in the bed. After a few minutes I put two and two together. I picked the beetle bug up and examined it closer. Then realizing that the blood spot on the bed and the full red belly of the bug….I realized that it must be a bed bug!
The night before my daughter had gotten up to go to the bathroom. She was fine and we were talking and the next thing I knew she was throwing up. Didn’t think much of it at the time. She was not sick it just seemed like a freak thing. We decided to pull our mattress into the living room and sleep there until we located our land lord. We looked all day and found no bugs. At around 10 pm they were crawling out of the radiator and up to the wall. We were horrified!
We went over to were my daughter was and found 2 in the bed. One with an engorged stomach with blood. My daughter had been bitten. We did not let her know what was going on. We decided to go to a hotel. As we started getting ready my daughter became sick and threw up again. After she was fine. I started to realize that this may been her bodies reaction to the bug bites. After days of trying to reach the landlord he said that he was sending an exterminator. So eventually he confessed that he had brought the house and found that it had “bugs” he made all the tenants leave and bombed the house and remodeled it.
He said that they had not seen any bugs in months. I was shocked. No one warned me about this. They are coming tomorrow to treat the house. I am very concerned for my daughters health and also concerned that now all of my belongings are infected. The landlord claims that it will be taken care of. My question is do you think the bugs will get exterminated? There are 3 floors and the 3rd floor tenants who just moved in also claims that they have not seen any. I was only finding them in my bedroom. The house is old. All hard wood floor and horse hair fiber installation. I have some bites on my back. Do you think that my daughter is getting sick at night due to bites. She also has some marks but they are not as red as mine. Should I move out. And what if I bring them to my new place. My stuff has only been there for 3 days.
@Rick, I mostly sleep on my side/stomach and most of my bites were around my right elbow, which I sometimes sleep on. I also had a couple bites on my hands, and I sleep with my hands under the pillow sometimes. I think that the parts of your body that are up against the bed are what gets bit the most.
One telltale sign of knowing that it’s bed bug bites is if there are a few in a row, like in a direct line. This was how I was able to tell what kind of bites I had, because I had the 3 bite line, or “breakfast, lunch, and dinner” is what they call that.
I need help diagnosing whether bites I got on vacation were from bed bugs. When I was there (for a week) I thought the bites were from other insects common in the tropics such as mosquitoes, sand fleas or no-see-ums. That’s a reasonable possibility since those kinds of pests are endemic in the area, and I was not using insect repellent. I did not think of bed bugs at the time and I did not inspect the room or bed where I stayed. I’m back home now so I have only clues to work with, no direct evidence. One clue is the distribution on my body. I have numerous bites, and some parts of my body were consistently bitten more heavily over the course of the week, while other areas have very few bites.
Here’s my question: If I always sleep on my stomach, would bed bug bites more likely be on the front of my body which is actually in contact with the bed, versus on the back of my body which is facing up (with a sheet over me)?
Has anyone noticed a correlation between sleeping position and distribution of bed bug bites? Thanks in advance for any help.
Do bed bug bites ever just occur one at a time? From what I’ve read, it seems like they happen in groups, but I keep waking up to find one isolated red welt in various places — one on my arm, one on my leg, etc. Could it be bed bug bites?
My stepdaughters Mon just informed us that they have bedbugs. What precautions do I need to take to make sure they don’t cone home to us if they already haven’t. She is with us during the week and st her moms on the weekends.
I am casting for a television documentary on bed bugs for a national network. I would love to talk to anyone who has stories of bed bugs and how they were life altering. Please email me at puja.seth@optomenusa.com
I found a bug in july and thought it was a tick, but it was only one so I didn’t freak out and I just killed it. It was in the master bedroom bathroom on the counter. It is now february and I just saw one running on my couch. Me and my baby sleep on the couch and she has one bite, her father sleeps in the master bedroom and he had a possible bite also. I have not had any and neither has our roommate. Could we have bed bugs, three bug does look similar to the pictures. It has skinny legs and a flat brown body. There are 4 legs and 2 attenas. Could we have bb?
They don’t look like bed bugs HoP, except that middle skin has me concerned. You said you did find some at first, perhaps you have a mix. I’m not sure what they are…
Hi NK,
Yes, that looks exactly like a bed bug to me! Did you find any more of them?
Hi There!
I woke up and as I was writing in my journal this morning I think I found a bed bug!
Here’s a picture, what do you think?
Thank you so much for this forum and for your answers! The treatment page is so helpful!
NK
I had woke up last week with 3 welts in a triangle shape on my arm. Thinking it was just an allergic reaction I ignored it. It went away after 4 days and exactly one week to the day Three more showed up on my back. I immediately started searching. BED BUGS? Huh those things actually exist?
I know the first thing i found and the bites are a Bed bug. I’m hoping I only had one as I was traveling 2 weeks ago.
In the meantime can anyone identify these as nymphs?
I have found about 30 of them buried in the carpet along the baseboards. No reasoning as to where. Just random spots.
Hi Melissa,
Yes, you could have brought home only one bed bug and if so, you are most lucky to have found and killed it! If you find another, please take a picture of the bed bug and send it to badbedbugs@gmail.com and I’ll take a look!
Best regards,
Bed Bug Girl
Hi there:
I’m hoping someone can help me out. Is it possible to just have one or two bedbugs? Tonight I noticed my cat poking around my pillow, and she found one bug slowly walking across my pillow (gross!). It looked kind of like a bedbug, and now I’m totally freaked out. I killed it, and there was no blood. I stripped my whole bed and found what I *think* was either a single bedbug shell, or a dead bedbug, but nothing else. Couldn’t find any eggs or feces or anything. Admittedly, I just did a quick check, so I suppose they could be better at hiding. I haven’t received any bites, either. I’ve lived in my apartment for 2.5 years, and this is the first I’ve seen of them. Is it possible this was just a one-off?
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
here is my hard luck story…
I pay child support and live paycheck to paycheck. I recently suspected that my apartment (or more specifically, my couch) might be infected with bedbugs. I discussed my problem with another employee at work with no discretion and he went straight to management about my person worry.
By the next day I was scheduled to work, I had arrived at the conclusion that I do indeed have bedbugs. After several hours at work I was pulled aside by a member of management and asked about bedbugs. I was then suspended from work and I am currently awaiting word on what I will need to provide them with before I can return to work.
I am assuming that I will need to call in an exterminator to provide documentation that will state that the infestation has been treated. I don’t have $700 to pay for an exterminator, that’s nearly 2 months salary. I had intended to purchase a $50 bedbug steamer and some DE and take care of the problem myself. I was in the process of cleaning my house from top to bottom so that I can take these steps.
So I have several questions, some of which you probably won’t be able to answer, but here goes…
1) Do bedbug steamers really work?
2) While steaming everything else in my apartment, can I also steam my clothing instead of taking all my clothes to the laundromat and spending more money that I don’t have?
3) I haven’t seen anything to support this online but a coworker told me that bedbugs don’t like kerosene. Not that I have to spray everything in my house with kerosene, I was told if I burn a kerosene heater the bedbugs will leave. Have you ever heard of this? It would be pretty crappy to do to my neighbors because I’m sure they would just go there.
4) Can I get unemployment for being suspended from work for this?
5) If I look for another job, is my current employer required to tell a potential employer that I was suspended because of bedbugs being a health issue.
… and the worst part of this whole thing is finding out that I may have actually brought these things home from work in the first place because they may have spread from one employee’s clothing to another in the break room (is that possible? I guess we can number that
6) thank you in advance for any advise
Phil from Ohio-the bedbug capital of the United States
Hello!
I have been trying to figure out if you can have only a few bed bugs in your home without an infestation. I only work 3 days a week, at a place 2 hours from my home. While at work, I stay at my boss’s house. During the holiday season (our busiest time), I stayed at his house for the better part of the month. I started noticing small red spots on my body, and at one point had counted 17 all together. I have had a problem with fly bites in his house before, so I thought nothing of it. The season ended, I came home to my apartment, and the spots went away.
I went back this past weekend, and stayed for two nights. I came home last night, and woke up to something tickling my check. I naturally scratched it, only to find a bed bug on my face. This morning, I tore apart my bedroom, and I didn’t find anything. No blood, feces, eggs, skins, nothing. I went through every checklist I could find, and I couldn’t find anything.
I thought that it was just the one bug and realized that my boss’s house must have bed bugs, and that the one came back with me from the weekend. Tonight, however right as I was climbing into bed, I saw one more on my wall near my bed. I killed it, but now I’m worried that I might have more someplace that I can’t find. Or is it possible that a couple of them just attached on the me?
My apartment manager is having an exterminator come in on Friday to clean the place out. If I have only found those two, should I be ok for the next several days? I’m not a big fan of bugs of any sort, and I have a feeling that it is going to take me awhile before I feel comfortable sleeping with the lights off.
Thank you!
Hello,
I would like to find out if bedbugs really afraid of lights? And i got this problem with a few bedbugs hanging around my pillow(with a towel on) , i’ve got no idea where do they come from and no idea when did they appear on my pillow. Or maybe it even appear during the daytime? As i woke up in the morning then i saw them hanging around on my pillow(with the towel on). I don’t feel any itch at all. Can anybody tells me why they hanging around on my pillow and there’s no bites on me?
I can’t figure out what this may be and am really worried it’d be bed bugs. I first got a little bite on my forearm that I picked off (looked more like a pimple) and it became larger, and rash like. The doctor said it’s most likely just dermatitis (tested it for fungus and it came back negative). A few weeks after that I got a bite on my neck that has been there for about 2 weeks, and soon after that I got a couple bites on my stomach (now have about 5-10). Since then, I have about 15 additional bites on my back, chest, some under my arms but none really below my waist at all. I have a few on my neck as well. I was away for 4 days in another state this past weekend and continued to get bites there, even though I checked the inside of my shirt I’d be sleeping in before I put it on and found nothing.
Since I got home, I inspected my bedding and mattress and found no clues for it to be bed bugs. Would bed bugs travel on your clothes and continue to bite you? I haven’t heard of that happening, nobody else I was with was bitten either. I checked my suitcase last night with a flashlight and found no signs of bed bugs there either!
Hi James,
Bed bugs DO NOT burrow under the skin, they only drink your blood so you have nothing to worry about. Scabies however, do burrow under the skin (you can see their tunnels).
As for recourse, I’m afraid you can do much. You would have to prove they did this intentionally and were aware they had bed bugs – hard to prove. Check out my Bed Bug Treatment page (see menu at top of page) to find out how to kill the bed bugs yourself.
I have been battling a bed bug infestation for about three weeks now. A former roomate brought them with him, his girlfriend and cat. Now that they’re gone they are apologetic, yet they lied about the infestation repeatedly. What can be done to make these stupid lieing people pay for their duplicity?
Also, a friend of mine tells me that bed bugs can burrow under the skin and live. I have found nothing about this anywhere online, I feel and hope that he is wrong yet I also feel the need to cover all bases and be sure 100%.
Please help me and my other roommate to be sure of our options and course of action. Thank you very much for your time.
Hello Angel Nurse,
Unfortunately, people don’t understand that bed bugs can are brought into the hospital and not a sign that the hospital is dirty or unsafe; in fact, there have been news reports on bed bug infested hospitals in the U.S.
The hospital has a DUTY to get rid of bed bugs and must act upon an infestation, no question about this. If the hospital is ignoring the problem, and the doctors are actually putting up with it, then there must be someone in charge that can’t be reasoned with and that doctors are affraid to complain to. This is sad as it will turn into a big problem. Let me ask you this.
If a bed bug fills up on an infected person in the waiting room, and then another visitor pops that bed bug and is exposed to the blood (say a cut on the hand, etc), would not that person be at risk?
If you warn family members, you could end up losing your job and this may in fact follow you to your next job.
What can you do? Educate management and staff (you never know, perhaps a doctor brought them in) on ways to eliminate bed bugs, such as diatomaceous earth – we have a lot of information on this site on how to treat bed bugs. In the U.S., each area has a health department that can be called and a complaint filed, perhaps in India they have something similar?
Can you take some pictures and send them to me? I could post them on the site without reveling the identity of the hospital (I can edit the photos, etc).
I work at a Hospital in Indiana. I learned last night at work that the room that the Doctors sleep in is infested with Bed bugs. We have a small hospital, only 3 stories high and holds 60 patient beds. The Doctors room is on the 1st floor, no patient rooms are on that floor. Last night the doctor slept on the second floor because he did not want to sleep in the bed bug infested bed.
My question is Could this harm the patients? Would it be a good idea to warn the family members of the patients. The hospital is telling everyone to not discuss the issue because it will make the hospital look bad. As a nurse I know that it is my duty to protect my patients, but at the same time, I need to protect my job. I need some advise as to what to do. Please help! I changed my name so that the company will not find out who I am.
to michelle, jan 2, 2011. you might have fleas in your home. you should use a flea bomb, and bomb the place. its a mist of solution that is sprayed into the air, and it kills them. but you cant be homewhen you do it. also, if it is in fact the bedbugs, then you need pest control to come out. but i learned that extreme heat kills them, so put your clothes/bedsheets etc. in the dryer for a while, spray all your items with rubbing alcohol on a mist setting.
Hi, several days ago I found two random red bumps on my stomach area, the next day I had a few on my back. It’s been nearly a week now and my entire torso as well as parts of my face, neck are covered in these itchy red bump – there are a few on my arms and legs as well. I wouldn’t say that they are in straight lines but I guess you could say they are clustered a little.
I’m almost completely sure that these are begs bugs as I find more bits every time I wake up. I washed all my bedding and got a mattress cover but my room is very messy. I am not exactly sure where the bedbugs are because I haven’t seen them but I haven’t been able to sleep comfortably for past few nights – last night I was feeling so paranoid I grabbed my sheets and pillows and slept in the hallway, to no avail.
Is it necessary for for me to wash ALL of my clothes and clean every little spot in my room? I have things under my bed and I’ve read that you shouldn’t store things there as the bed bugs can hide there. Sorry if this message seems really scattered and random, I’m incredibly terrified right now and I can’t seem to stop itching these bites and get rid of the feeling that something is crawling on my when I try to fall asleep. Please help!
hi i was wondering if bed bugs jump…we have a small case of bed bugs and when i was checking the laundry room for any i ended up seeing a bug when i tried to kill it, it jumped away like actually leaped way from me. and also will natural dust help kill them because if they are in are laundry room its going to be a lot harder to kill them
I have been in my new apartment since October. And today while laying in bed saw 1 bed bug on my comforter. I’m wondering if there are more? Me and my children haven’t been bit. So could that be the only one?
My children do attend a school that has had other children whose families have bed bugs. But once seeing it today I bought some spray and sprayed the whole house. I didn’t spray the beds being that they still have the plastic on them. I did get the couch though. I live in Ohio which is like the bed bug capital. I really don’t want this issue and as a precaution what can I do to prevent it from getting worse?
Thanks
Sonya
Hello,
I’ve been experiencing bites for the last couple of months. Currently I have 20-30 bites on my arms, neck and back. Last night, my boyfriend and I tore my apartment apart looking for bed bugs. We found nothing on the mattress or in the bedding nor on any clothing or in my dresser. The only evidence we have found is black specks on the sheets that are flat (in most cases). The specs are hard and usually do not smear. I have been collecting the specks and putting it in a bag for my landlord to see. I have placed double-sided tape around my bed frame, as well as, purchased mattress covers. We sprayed my room with Raid, vacuumed the carpet, put carpet tape on the base boards, pulled the bed away from the walls, and washed all of my bedding and clothing.
I did the double-sided tape experiment about a month ago and found nothing stuck to it.
My boyfriend has been getting bites too, but not nearly as many as I have. I live with another girl who has experienced no bites whatsoever. The bites I have are mostly on my arms, neck, and my back. They start out as swollen itchy red bumps, but turn into swollen open red sores/scabs after a couple of days. I have seen two doctors that stated that these bumps were hives; however, my doctor called me back today and told me to do treatment for scabies.
Does this sound like scabies or bed bugs?
Would scabies leave black specks on clean sheets?
How do I treat my cat for bedbugs/scabies?
I will try to post pictures! Please help!
Katy
In June 2010, I noticed there were these weird bugs sparingly crawling around, I did notice exo skeleton, so I believe they were bed bugs. Which really scares! I cleaned the room ceiling to floor, and I have not seen anymore. My husband and I never noticed any bites, the ones I found were on a tiled floor, none on the bed or even book cases. My husband has had sepsis most of his life and he does suffer from it now. I think back on it and if they were bed bugs, they were never full, like shown in the pictures. Could the sepsis have killed them off?
OMG! So I was laying down watching TV and I started to feel really itchy on my back so I took off my shirt and sweater and saw this huge bug on the inside of my sweater, by the looks of it its a bed bug.
Is there any way that I could only have one, and could they only be in my room and hopefully not in my whole house???
Hello,
A friend has come to visit me, and I learned she had a child staying with her who had bed bug bites all over his legs for 6 to 7 days. She said there is no sign of them in the household (she and her daughter have no bites). Should I be worried about her bringing them here? This has all happened within the last 7-10 days.
Thank you in advance.
SR
I first noticed a couple of red welts on the right side of my upper torso when I woke up one morning. At first I just assumed that these were mosquito bites. But then the next day I woke up and had a few more. The next day, again a few more. Of course I did what everyone does these days, hopped on to my trusty laptop and started working with Google.
It didn’t take me too long to arrive at bed bugs as a possible culprit. I actually found some pictures of bed bug bites and compared them to my red welts and bingo, it was very clear to me that bed bugs were the problem.
Thanks!
About 3 weeks ago I moved out of my mothers apartment into my own apartment. While there I was bitten pretty badly by a spider where it got infected and had to be lanced open. I also was bitten other times where it looked as if fleas had bitten me. The apartment complex she lives in sends exterminators in to check regularly for bugs (especially bedbugs) They have not found any in her apartment while I was living there. The last time they were there was actually on a day that I was removing some of my things from her apartment.
Last night my mother found bedbugs on her couch and around her bed. I am worried that I may have them at my new apartment now as well.
Is it possible that in 3 weeks time her apartment could have been infested? She doesnt have many visitors either. Could the exterminator have been missing it this whole time?
Hi, it’s Kenny again. The curtain that I found it in is right at the head of my bed, less then one foot away! Thank you for the checklist, it was a big help!!!
Hi Kenny,
Yes, it’s possible, but I had to say that odds are that’s not the case. If the bed is a good distance away from the curtain, it’s unlikely that that bed bug was making it’s way over to feed on you, then retreating back to the curtain; they are usually closer to the bed.
Is it possible to just have only one bed bug. I was getting bitten once a night, so we tore apart the room looking for them and did find one hiding in the curtain. I did kill it and haven’t gotten bitten or seen anymore since.
Thanks
The bug bites don’t really itch but they are really red.
My boyfriend and i spent the past 4 nights together, twice in my bed, twice in his and he doesn’t have one mark on him! We checked our mattress for bed bugs and didn’t find anything.
Could these be bed bug bites and they just prefer my blood over his?
Hi, will bed bugs be put off if you spray an insect spray around the bed in a hotel room long enough for your stay ie if you do it every day? I have heard that this wont kill them but will put them off coming to bite until the residue is gone?
Thanks
i seem to have only one bed bug that terrorizes only me. i believe it lives in my couch since that is the only place where i get bitten. my child has sat on the couch for hours and she has never been bitten once. do bed bugs discriminate when it comes to feeding?
i have been steam cleaning my couch, spraying hot water with soap and even spreading baking soda and still whenever i sit on my couch i get a bite or two. i have inspected my couch by turning it upside down and can’t see anything! no bugs, no eggs, nothing! so this is why i think there is only one that has a very good hiding spot in my couch somewhere.
the bites have been happening for about three months now, so it is possible to only have one bed bug that happens to be a male? if so, what would be the best way to get rid of him?
Took my nephew to a movie today in upstate NY a theatre in New Windsor. I felt bitten while I was sitting in my seat and thought to myself that I should check when I left the theatre…well I forgot. It wasn’t until I was home and took a shower that I saw the three small bite marks in a straight little line on my wrist. Doesn’t itch but they’re clearly bite marks. Not sure if its bedbugs but based on all of the pics I’ve seen looks like it is. My question is how do I know if I brought them back home with me? Or do I have to wait to be infested before I’ll know? Should I just assume that first contact is enough? Not sure what I can do to prevent the infestation. I let my brother know to check my nephew as well and keep an I out, but not sure what else can be done.
Hello,
The bites are only on my arms and hands, there are only a couple big ones, and most are smaller and very few. There are none anywhere else on my body…. Are these bed bug bites?
Just wanted to give an update about the bed bug crawling across the kitchen floor!
This scared me bad, the following day I went to Home Depot and purchased DE in 4lb. bag. I started in bedrooms and did full inspection everywhere, even electrical outlets. I found no evidence of any bugs, I believe my oldest son went on a date with a new girl, got in her car and brought a ride hitcher home!
I still wanted to be positive so yesterday I put in a 19 hour day. I vacuumed with a Dyson, boiled water to 140 degree on stove, used that in floor steam cleaner, washed all bedding in scalding hot water, then on high heat in dryer, put the DE, around all baseboards, closets, outlets, picture frames, bed frames, box springs, I removed any clutter from under the beds for storage, removed bed skirts that hung on the floor. I used a hand held steamer that I bought years ago for grout cleaning and did sofas, drapes etc. I then pulled the sofa open and treated the inside of the sofa with the DE (Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth), and removed the backings off the box springs along with the plastic corner protectors, The bathrooms and kitchens bleached and DE placed also. I made my son vacuum his car and he sprayed 90% alcohol and DE in there.
Even though I didn’t see anything else, I didn’t feel comfortable in my home until I took all these steps. For a while I have a tight sealed tote in the garage and when my son leaves and comes home, he enters through the garage, and immediately puts his clothes in there until I can scald them. If we purchase clothes I will bring them straight home into the dryer on high heat, since yesterday in my area, our Walmart shut down along with two movie theaters infested with bed bugs!
I never thought this would happen, that I would find one in my house! I am also checking my childrens backpacks and stuff as soon as they get off the bus, since they are spotting them in schools!
I will keep you informed and thank you so much for the quick response and all the great information!
HELP! I cannot sleep. Two evenings ago my husband and I went to a show. Last night I was doing some light housekeeping and picked up my shoes I had worn to the show to put them away. I found an insect that I believe to bed a bedbug crawling on my floor where my shoes had just been sitting. (I put it into a plastic baggie and compared it to pictures found online). I will take a picture and email you the photo.
My husband and I cannot find ANY SIGNS of an infestation. We have checked the areas where they are typically found. Nothing in our room or our children’s rooms. No feces, blood stains, molted skins, eggs, other bugs to be found. Is it possible this bug hitched a ride home with us? I’m concerned because the clothes we wore that night were removed and put in our dirty laundry basket which is located in our walk-in closet, FULL OF CLOTHES! My jacket I wore that night was hung on our coat rack in our foyer with other coats/jackets/backpacks. Not to mention my personal vehicle driven home that night. If this bug hitched a ride home what are the chances there are more? Or that it/they laid eggs?
In addition, I’ve come across other information online that states it is not typical to see an actual bed bug, so to see one is a clear sign of an infestation. I thought it odd to see it on my foyer floor near the entrance to my kitchen.
PLEASE ADVISE!
Hi Tiffiney,
That is indeed a bed bug and if all you have found is just one, then it is very possible that it could have hitched a ride with someone. Bed bugs are not usually going to be found crawling across the kitchen floor which is also good.
I’d take a look at my bed bug checklist (see top menu bar) and make sure you don’t see any signs of an infestation. If you do a complete check, don’t see anything AND no one is being bitten, then chances are you’re safe!
Let us know what you find out, will you?
Thanks for sharing!
I am freaking out! I saw a bug going across my kitchen floor, it isn’t anything familiar looking.
Can you please tell me if this is a bed bug and is it possible that someone could have possibly carried only one in on them and I saw it and killed it, so I wont have problems or should I still seek treatment?????
Please help!
Hi, how are you?
My name is Sydney Corryn and I am a journalism major at Columbia College Chicago. My trade for this semester s the Hotel Industry. I am doing an article on how to confront guests with a bedbug problem and help them feel comfortable. I would like to ask you the following questions:
Why are bedbugs becoming common again?
Despite housekeeping at hotels why do they still pop up in the rooms?
What are ways hotels can prevent them?
How can they educate guests about the potential of bedbugs without making them feel uncomfortable? How should they ease the guest fears about possibly being bitten by them?
What extra precautions should housekeepers take to reduce the number of bedbugs that show up in the rooms?
Should the hotel staff use presentations and etc.?
Thank you :)
Peace, Sydney
Dear Kathy,
Previous post:
Bed Bug Girl says:
I searched a number of online databases for reports of bed bugs and could not find any for the Doubletree Hotel Chicago – Magnificent Mile, 300 East Ohio Street, Chicago, IL 60611.
Thanks,
Bed Bug Girl
I grew up in Ohio but have lived in Georgia the last 6 years. I decided to move back to Ohio last month and have been staying with my aunt. One day, she tells me about how she had a bedbug infestation sometime last year.
I start getting paranoid and sure enough about 2 days later, I find one crawling on my clothes in my bag. A couple of nights later, I see like 4 crawling on this basket of clothes in my aunts room which is where I’m sleeping. We bagged up most of the clothing and bedding in the room and washed it all but since then, we have done the same thing 3 additional times after seeing one or two crawling on pillows and things.
Now, yesterday, I pulled a sweater out of my suitcase which is where all of my things are sand there is a bed bug crawling on my shirt. We are moving out in 2 weeks and I absolutely cannot take these things with me. I am completely grossed out. Does anyone have any advise on what to do so I don’t take any with me to my new home?
I don’t have any furniture here, its all still in Georgia. So its just clothes but I’m soo tempted to just throw them all away. I’d rather have to buy all new clothing than to have to deal with this in my own home
Hi, I’ve been reading online and came across your email about bed bugs. I see there is much advise on how to get rid of bed bugs and to even treat the bites. However, is there anything you can put on your skin that serves like a repellant similar to Off spray of misquitos to keep them from biting you?
Thanks
–
Alicia
“Living on PURPOSE”
Sorry. It is the Double Tree – Magnificent Mile in Downtown Chicago.
Heard of any bedbugs there?
Would a bed bug ever just sit on my comforter and let me walk right up to it?! I just found two tiny bugs on my comforter that didn’t look a lot like bed bug pictures I’d seen online, a couple of millimeters maybe with small narrow oval shaped bodies and tiny hairlike legs that fanned out evenly around the bodies – they didn’t move at all when I walked up and picked them up in a tissue and crunched them.
There was no blood or anything else, they just crunched and sort of broke apart. My bed is right underneath a window which was open at the time, so I’m hoping they could have just blown in the window, but I’m terrified. If it’s unlikely that a bed bug would sit still and let me walk up to it, please, please let me know! It would really help set my mind at ease.
Hi Angela,
Bites, mattress in trash, bedbugs on the other side of the wall – If it was me in your situation, I would look at my bedbug checklist (see top menu bar) and look in all those locations and see if you can spot any signs. IF YOU DO, TAKE PICTURES OF THE BED BUGS and send them to me at badbedbugs@gmail.com and I’ll tell you what I think. The pictures will come in handy as well should your landlord give you trouble! Let us know what happens!
Hey i saw your post on some website I was researching for bedbugs….
I was just wondering if i could ask u a question??
So over the past few nights I’ve been bitten about 4-5 times. they are itchy, get red, and raised and have a small dot in the center. I have a indoor cat– who doesn’t seem to have fleas. I was researching bed bugs, and they say the bites are usually in a line, well 2 of the 4 or 5 are side by side, but ones beside my knee, and the other on my back… the two together are on my shoulder……
Now i already called my landlord and there has never been a problem in this building. However pretty much every building around us has been infested with bed bugs, and i noticed a mattress was taken out the other day…. I don’t know what to think at this point. I’m 22 this is my first apartment..I’m so confused!!
I recently ordered luggage from a major department store. It was shipped from California and has been sitting in my garage for over 3 weeks. I’m afraid to bring it in the house until I inspect it. If I don’t see any BB, can the luggage still have eggs deposited on it? If so, are the eggs visible? Would freezing temperatures kill the BB and/ or eggs?
If it’s just one bite, then chances are it’s not a bed bug – it could have been a spider. Check out BadSpiderBites.com – but be prepared for some scary pictures :)
Is it possible to get just one bite? I have a mark on me and I’m trying to figure it out. I checked my mattress and found nothing at all. I’m just wondering if I’m psyching myself out.
Thank you!!!
I’ve just independently (through research on this site) come out of denial, and to the conclusion my bedroom is infested with bed bugs. I’ve woken up with bites for the past week or so, but have blamed it on mosquitos. Too many bites now to be a mosquito. Something I will be trying, which I haven’t seen mentioned on this site anywhere, that I felt I should share, and let everyone know how it works.
I’ve rolled approximately 8 inch pieces of duct tape and formed a line around my bed. I bought a plastic mattress cover to block them from coming anywhere except on the outside of my perimeter. I just would roll an 8 inch piece, place it on the bed (on top of the plastic cover), roll another piece, overlap the ends of the role, and continued until I have a square of duct tape rolls around me. This is obviously just a short term fix, but I think it will help with the next step as it’ll provide some solid information. When I wake up in the morning, I’ll be able to see which directions they are coming from due to where on the tape they are stuck. I’ll also have a general idea of how bad the infestation is due to how many are stuck. I have yet to actually see one, so I really have no idea. And I only have five or so bites on my body. I can then put extra emphasis on applying pesticides to those areas tomorrow. And it also has the great benefit of peace of mind (at least for one night). Yes it was rather tedious, but worth the effort in my opionion.
Chances are they are not passing from outfit to outfit – hard to believe that they came from the bed, especially if you have sealed the mattress! Was she hanging out at the couch? That’s a popular place and many people here have found the couch infested after checking – perhaps she was bit there before going to bed and just noticed the bites?
Moved into a rental in Feb. Beginning June MAJOR infestation of bb. My husband and I both have OCD. Threw out all bb furniture. $6,000 worth. No furniture left. Used boiling water, steam, powder, bed covers, duct tape, removed all photos, hangers, EVERYTHING. Son is 11. Had allergic reaction. SEVERE. Doctor didn’t recognize the bites. Worse than photos on here. Three months left on lease. Sleeping in car and tub. Landlord told us the bugs were not here before we came? My husband has a chronic disease. Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. He goes to Shands off and on. Hospital. Broke, going bankrupt, he was terminated while on FMLA.
What should we do. We continue to fight them. We have two small dogs. One dog pulls plugs of hair out. I’m losing my mind. Trying to care for my son and keep my husband stress free. Please help.
Thanks BedBugGirl!
So, it continues….last night, our first night back in our exterminated apartment, me and my wife put on a minimum of bedding, sealed the mattress with those cover things, kept pretty much everything recently cleaned segregated in another room, and went to sleep.
Come this morning, I’m bite-free, the wife finds two new ones on her leg. ARGH. The exterminator says he’s coming back tomorrow. Our clothes arent really stacked, most of it is hanging, but squished together in a small-ish closet.
Could it be passing from outfit to outfit? I took the clothes I wear most often to the cleaners, but some stuff in there, I haven’t worn in year. The rest of the stuff I left in place, including the shoes sitting on the floor in the closet.
Hi BeeGee,
Sorry to hear you’re having this problem, it is never fun, but there is an end, you just have to keep at them. It’s not easy.
1) Yes you could have a delayed reaction, but more like hours later, not days.
2) Yes, they could be in your cloths, such a cloths in stacked in a closet, etc. They won’t live in the cloths you wear, but will hitch a ride :)
3) Yes, bed bug infestations are not limited to homes, they are found on buses, clothing stores and even hospitals! They tend to be active at night, but that all depends on the environment.
Let us know how this works out!
So, my saga with the bed bugs begin. I started to get bites about 10 days ago. Couldn’t figure out what they were, went to a dermatologist who said they were definitely insect bites, called the exterminator, who found about 10-15 bugs in my entire apartment. The apartment has been treated by the exterminator. In the interim, I moved out to some friends for two days, took off all the linens, washed them, dried cleaned what I couldn’t wash, and am waiting to put my apartment back together.
This morning, I came into work and noticed some new bites on my legs. I am emotionally and financially drained, and this whole episode is sucking the life out of me. I can’t figure out where these new bites came from.
So, I have the following questions for the more knowledgable:
1. Could the bite I found this morning be an old bite that just got irritated? It’s around my ankle area, where the elastic for my socks is
2. Could it be in my clothes? The exterminator insists that our infestation is pretty limited, and its not in my clothes, so I’m not sure what to make of it.
3. Could I be getting bit at work? My building has had problems with bed bugs, but not my specific office, and I thought the bugs only come out in the early morning hours, when I’m not at work.
Please feel free to share. I’m about ready to take my whole wardrobe to the cleaners. My wife is inconsolable. Sigh.
Hi Manny,
It’s probably psychological IF you don’t see any irritation whatsoever AND have checked to make sure they are not to be found in your room. You can never be too careful!
I had bed bugs over 6 months ago I since have moved to a new place threw away my mattress along with box spring and a number of other items i felt might be infested. Months later (now) I ran into a friend who told me he had recently had been infested but got rid of them. I came close to him and went home and the next day I felt itching I have no bites its been about a week since i seen him but I can’t help but feel crawling on me while i lay in bed and the next day at work I feel more itching then usual do you think this is psychological or could he have passed them back to me? Thank you
Dear Stu,
I searched a variety of online databases and could find no reports of bed bugs at the Best Western Hill House, 700 Truxton Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301-4817.
Thanks, Bed Bug Girl
Hill House Best Western in Bakerasfield Ca. Bit over 20 times in room 100. stay away
so i moved into this house a couple of months after giving birth to a beautiful daughter… after living in this house we have been renting since June we have found out without notification from anyone that we have bedbugs sadly we had to find out the hard way..which ended up in me being bitten and being allergic to the bites… me and my husband share the same bed and oddly enough I’m the one that’s being bitten i have recently found the bugs crawling around in my daughters crib and it really scares me..i just want to get out of this house as soon as possible.. its not me I’m really worried about well i am because I’m allergic to the bites but..now that I’ve been finding them in my 6 month old daughters bed its really freaking me out and making me more frantic to move!!!
I’m being given a pool table from a friend. They did have bed bugs but have gone through all the treatments in extermination. We are getting the pool table fumigated and treated just in case. Can I be confident that they will not be in there? Can the exterminators give me a ligitimate certification stating that they will not be in there nor will their eggs? This is a great deal I’d hate to pass up but I’m nervous to go through with it. Please help!
Okay so here is my hard luck story……Moved in June of this year 2 weeks in my fiancee is covered in bites all over his legs and ankles the vet tells us its fleas and gives us a can of spray to use as well as treatment for our cat. 2 weeks later still having trouble at this point I’m actually picking them off of me while sitting on the couch!!!
We call the exterminator he sprays and tells us it sometimes takes more than one treatment, I say okay and hope for the best…… 2 weeks later the exterminator is back this time he treats the mattresses…… Problem solved!!!! Now 3 months later I’m noticing bites in groups of 3 on two different occasions, I go looking for my cat this afternoon sure enough she’s sleeping under the covers, but wait……… what is that next to my pillow???? A beetle??? Nope it’s a flat, somewhat round reddish brown…….OMG a bed bug!!!!!!
I cannot believe what is happening!! I was packing this morning because we are moving again and now am afraid that we r going to bring these nasty things with us!!! HELP!!! Do I call the exterminator again to spray my stuff before I pack?? I ONLY HAVE 9 DAYS before the movers come and I don’t want to infest other ppls things in the moving truck!
I have read LOTS of info in the past couple of weeks on bed bugs and looked at tons of pics. I’m being bitten by something, still don’t know what yet. Had an exterminator come out to do free inspection and didn’t find any signs of them. Was told that I have to “stop vacuuming / cleaning” and let the evidence build up.
I guess once I do find out, my whole town will be infested by then. Anyway, my question is this: I’ve read a couple of times that they can bite in your genital area, buttocks, which I have on me. How do they bite me there and find their way out back to their hiding spots (supposedly in couch), in a matter of seconds, no less. I’d think it would take that small thing a couple of days, if anything, to find its way out of my underwear, sweat pants and robe.
I’ve been wrapped up real well since I started noticing the bites. My whole body is pretty much covered. For this same reason, I’ve read that they can bite through clothes, which makes no sense to me, how do they get their mouth on you through clothing???? I really have thought entirely too much about this whole sick thing – it has taken over my life and I hate it!
Nikki72,
Don’t be embarassed or ashamed of your reaction to all this…it is natural to feel this way over bed bugs. I recently had a bed bug incident in the apartment I was staying at. July was when I discovered the truth, it is now September and I am in a new place, have been for 3 months and here I am still googling information trying to see if there is any possible way I could have brought them with me or if my experience is over for good. The experience as a whole was traumatizing. As pathetic as it sounds bed bugs can really turn a persons world upside down. I was furious with my landlord and with the property management company. Apparently they knew about all this but did not say anything until people came to them with concerns. So as the bed bugs creeped from apartment to apartment, infesting the entire building, they did nothing to forewarn us. For the longest time I thought I was getting spider bites, it was summer and the idea of bed bugs did not even cross my mind. I did see a few of the bugs but since I’ve never had to deal with bed bugs, I actually just thought they were strange looking and killed whatever ones I saw, not realizing I was just allowing them to multiply day by day.
Finally one day at work I noticed the bites on my legs were not typical of any spider bite. A bunch of tiny red dots in a line, probably about 8, all the way up my calf. So I thought randomly to google bed bugs and sure enough there were the pictures of the bugs I had seen before (one even crawled next to me while I layed in bed reading a book. I assumed since I just pulled the book out of a box in my closet it was just a harmless bug that was living in the dark..). Ew, I’m getting itchy now just writing about this!! I felt sick when I saw the pics, I couldn’t even work.
It said on the website to check the creases of your pillows. It’s bizarre because I washed my sheets often and yet never noticed bugs when I changed my pillow cases, but I’m thinking my infestation wasn’t terribly bad like others have been. I got home and looked in my pillow cases in the creases…yup…bugs just sitting there. I over reacted….I immediately threw my pillows, blankets, sheets and all in garbage bags and off my balcony. I checked my mattress and never saw any…which was strange…but in the days after this I did find one crawling in my bathroom where I thought I could keep my clothes and be free of them! Crawling right by my jeans!! And that is how people carry them from one place to another I guess!
If you brought them home you likely can’t do anything now to ensure you don’t have them. They will multiply and find you…as gross as it sounds. I read that one female can lay 40 eggs a day. A DAY! I don’t know if this is the honest truth but it was enough for me to get out of my place asap. I moved out within 2 days of them spraying.
I am pretty sure they will find you asap if you brought them in….although here I am googling trying to find out the same thing 3 months later. So far, all the stuff I’ve found is if I don’t have them by now I won’t have them..but I don’t have any bites being in my new place. You have marks on your body…that is a good indicator that you have some. Don’t be like me and assume they are something else!! This went on for months for me until I realized what they were.
Check the creases of your pillows and the creases of your mattress. Use a bright flashlight. When they are new, they are clear, waiting to get full on blood. They are hard to see because of the clearness but they are a good size. When they have been around for a while they are reddish brown, full of blood. The one I saw at this stage was plump too, like it just ate me or something. Just pay attention to your marks. If you in fact have the bites right now and those marks are bed bug bites, they will continue and they will continue rapidly. They won’t die off.
Sorry if this doesn’t help…
I am so freaked out that I am on the verge of tears and I’m sure I am over reacting. While at work, someone noticed “bugs”…but never said anything at the time. The next day, we were told not to come to work as it was confirmed it was bed bugs – yuk! We all went to work the next day.
I haven’t had much sleep in the past few days because I’m stressing out over this. Every little bump on my body now feels itchy…and it seems like it is not just one bump…but 2 or 3 (the theory of 3 bites – breakfast, lunch, dinner). Yesterday while at work, my stomach was really itchy…I went to the bathroom and in my belly button I noticed as small light brown “thing”. Yeah….that helped me with my anxiety! Upon a really close review, it just looked like a rye seed. It broke really easy (slight pressure from my name). Stupid me threw it out….
I don’t think I’ve read anything about how fast they start living in a new environment. So, if someone has then on Monday and they hitchhike home with you…would you start having bites Tuesday? I’ve read that they can live without food for 1+ years….
I did a quick check of my bed/mattress and didn’t see anything. If I brought the little buggars home – how long would it take to start finding them? Immediately, a few weeks, months? I know the general answer is months…but is there something I can do NOW to ensure I don’t have any?
Is it possible to have them crawl in your mouth while sleeping? This is how freaked out I am!! My throat feels funny….like something stuck in it. Something very small.
I realized that I am over reacting….100%. I’m an educated person and I realize it is silly to react this way and that I am stressing myself out….but I can’t stop. I did good yesterday…then this morning I felt 2 small bumps on the side of my face. I of course rubbed/scratched them and now they look like bites!!!
Advise please……
i recently emailed i work as a visiting nurse & i have spent the past week washing drying clothes vacuuming my mattress box-spring floors over & over again. i sealed my mattress all the cracks & holes in my room with caulk and i still never had any evidence i brought these bugs home and haven’t had any bites besides those 6. i haven’t had blood stains any “skins” or feces.. i don’t know wether i am just extremely paranoid or what. i haven’t slept more than 3-4 hours at night for the past week trying to watch for these suckers to see if they are in my house. the spray you mentioned.. is that safe to spray around children? and can i spray it on my mattress?
Hi,
I just moved out of an apartment and am now being told that there are bed bugs in it, I advised them I have never had a problem with them (which I have never had a problem, never even heard of them being true until I moved to Ohio), and that they must have come from another apartment. I advised them that I never saw any the year I was there. The manager said that they were big and had to have been there a long time and they checked the other apartments and they were clean.
First, wouldn’t the bugs be in all the apartments in that building? Or would they stay just in the one apartment? Second, how can I prove to them that I did not have bed bugs when I moved in? And in order for them to keep my security deposit, do they have to prove I brought them in? (which is impossible, because I didn’t have them prior to moving in) Third, if they keep my security deposits due to the bugs, can I take them to court over it? I have no knowledge of ever being bitten by a bug, neither has my daughter.