Identifying the problem: Do I have bed bugs? Or something else?
First, if you haven’t yet, read this FAQ: What are bed bugs? Do I have them? What else can cause these symptoms? How can I detect if I have bed bugs?
(Remember that bed bug bites look different on different people. There are photos of bed bug bites here. They also look like lots of other conditions. You need to rule out other possibilities per the FAQ above.)
Then look at photos of bed bugs and signs of bed bugs.
Then look at photos of creatures commonly mistaken for bed bugs. See also these photos of cast skins from bed bugs, compared with cast skins from dermestid beetles, carpet beetles, and German Cockroaches.
This FAQ gives a rundown of the latest detection possibilities. And consider using the tips in this FAQ, which describes possible ways you might catch a bed bug for identification.
Do bed bugs have a distinctive smell? What do they smell like?
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
I found little black specks all around the edges of the cushions of my couches when I took the zip-off covers off to wash them. The covers have not been washed in a couple of years. I looked all over but could not find any bed bugs, but there are a lot of the black specks and the location of them seems suspicious. Could we have bed bugs even if we haven’t seen any actual bugs? Or maybe it is flea castings. We just found out that our cat got fleas outside, so now I am cleaning everything and am pretty paranoid and itchy!
Another question is about using natural diatomaceous earth for fleas and bed bugs inside the house. I want to use it on the carpet, apolstered furniture and mattresses. How long do I leave it on before vaccuuming it back up?
Thanks.
Yes, you have bed bugs. Fleas leave VERY small black specks. So small that they are virtually un-noticable. With bed bugs, the specks are fairly large.
With DE, just read the instructions. Most call for 4-6 hours. I just leave DE in nooks and crannies.
Another tip is for you to put a thick layer of Vaseline on the legs of your bed and lightly cover that layer with DE. Prevents bed bugs from feeding off of you.
I have been hanving a problem with what I believe are fleas but i am not quite sure. I live in florida and we had a dog..I have gotten rid of the dog and I have treated the house with sprays, powders and even a fogger. I still feel little things crawling on me and sometimes I even get little red bites. I know that fleas in the dirt are quite bad this year but I have also heard about this no see um bugs…what could this be??/ and could you give me any ideas on what to do…??? I am beginning to get despereate.
Thanks
hello. i am going a bit crazy with some bites i have on my legs (only – below the knees). i had bed bugs a couple of months ago – thought i got rid of them. but i have these bites on my legs that i don’t think are new but they are only getting worse – scabbing, INTENSE itching (esp at night!). is it possible that the bed bugs are truly not gone or is there any way that these old bites are just old and not going away. sorry if this is nonsensical but i am going crazy. i want to add that about a week ago i went apple picking upstate (new york) and i thought that’s where i got the bites bc i felt the piercing/biting while i was there though i did not see any mosquitos. how can i find out for sure where these bites are from? has anyone else with a BB infestation ONLY received them on their legs/calve area? help!
It’s possible to be bitten by fleas if walking in a grassy area that is infested. You may have been bitten by fleas or mosquitos while apple picking.
The question is whether the bites occurred only while you were apple picking or if other bites occurred before or after that time. It is possible for bed bugs to come back, but I would expect new bites to keep appearing.
Hi!
I’m a very sound sleeper, have been getting strange bites (some look like mosquitos, some look like 3 little bites in a triangle, some swell up into larger areas that are oblong and weirdly shaped) about 2x a week for a month. Started washing and bagging my clothes and bedding immediately and getting rid of stuff I don’t need and want in sealed bags.
I still don’t think I’ve found any bugs or cast skins, though, and I will need to really prove I have bugs to get my landlord to pay. Not sure if I should pay for exterminators myself, have spent way too much already on drycleaning, laundry, bags, etc. and need to buy a new mattress (listened to bad advice and threw out my mattress without knowing where they were or for sure if I had them). I’m tired of doing the hasmat routine before leaving the house, but I know I need to protect others if I do have them.
I’ve been setting sticky traps with air-activated handwarmers for 4 nights now with no signs; how long do you think I should set them out before thinking I have no bugs if I have a possible low infestation?
Also, is it reckless to rebag clothes I’ve worn to the office if I put them in a trash bag right when I come home? Also, should I keep washing my clothes in hot water each time I do my laundry and drying them hot? I don’t want to destroy my work wardrobe; some things can stand a little of that, and I’ve bought new dryel bags to experiment with cheap drycleaning alternatives.
Thanks SOOO much… your site has been a source of sanity and great help. I do live near standing water, and there’s mosquitos out now, but some of these bites are very unlike mosquito bites, and the first morning 1 month ago, I woke up with 40 bites early in the morning, itching like crazy.
and I apologize… I meant to ask if it was reckless to reuse clothing if I bag it right when I come home.
With a new infestation it can be hard to catch a sample (even with glue traps and handwarmers, a method suggested by Sean Rollo of http://thebedbugresource.com
Unfortunately, washing clothes and linens (and reaplcing a mattress) can make it even harder for a professional to find signs (though a good one may have more luck than you in doing so). On the other hand, if you truly had a small infestation, localized to the mattress, and you did not spread any by moving the mattress outside (a big “if), then you may have gotten rid of them.
A bed bug k9 may be an option for detection. Users on the forum may have a recommendation for a reputable one.
I do not suggest arranging your own treatment because if you are in a multi-unit dwelling, they may be coming from neighbors (who may not even know they have them). Dealing with it on your own isn’t just expensive, it also means you may not solve the problem.
Rebagging clothing the minute you enter the home (in a bag set aside for this purpose) and putting it on directly before leaving home is probably fine.
The recommendations about dealing with clothing are mostly common sense: don’t wear anything to hang out at home that you are going to wear outside the home, without making sure it is bed bug free.
Finally, if you have other questions, please go to the forums: http://bedbugger.com/froum/
I just returned from a trip in which I spent 4 nights in a motel. The second day, I started noticing little red welts on my arm and abdomen, and they itched like hell. But before this stop I had stayed at the house of a friend who had cats; however, I did not notice any bites while I was there. So, is it flea bites or bedbug bites?
I’ve been home for a week and don’t know what to do because I don’t know what I’ve got. I’ve never had this problem in my apartment, and it bugs me (!) to think that I have probably brought whatever it is, bedbugs or fleas, with me.
Anyone out there have any advice on how to tell what I have? Thanks.
John, to positively identify bed bugs, please read the post above, and the comment directly before yours, with suggestions.
To positively identify fleas, you can buy a plugin flea trap. You can get one at a hardware store or there’s one model available via the links on our “useful stuff” page:
http://bedbugger.com/usefulstuff/
Please come to the forums if you’d like to discuss this further:
http://bedbugger.com/forum/
Hi, I was really worried some time ago that I had got bed bugs. I recently moved to a flat in Haifa (Israel), and after a month I got those bites. I had problems during three weeks, but since the beginning of November I haven’t had any problems at all.
The thing is that I am going back to my home in Sweden in a week, and I wonder how I should tackle an eventual bed bug-problem?
Hopefully these bites (a little bit bigger than Swedish mosquito-bites, and also stayed a little bit longer, but I also had a few spots with three or more bites in a row, although maximum 5-6 bites at the same time) came from some other bug.
Should I take any measures when going back just in case? Because no way I want to bring them to Sweden.
During this 3-week-period I had a total of 20-25 bites.
What do you think, what is your recommendation? Does it sound as a bed bug-problem, or was I lucky to be bitten of some other bug? What should you have done in my case?
Yours sincerely,
Jonas
Hi Jonas,
It would be very unusual for bed bugs in your home to bite you for three weeks and then stop for an entire month.
It is possible that you were being bitten somewhere else (in transportation, in a hotel, workplace, etc.). Since bites can appear (we’re told) up to 9 days later (though they often appear much more quickly), it is hard to say where you could have been bitten.
Some people seem to have lessened reactions to bed bug bites after being bitten for a long period of time, but I have not heard of anyone who stopped reacting entirely to bites after only three weeks.
It could not have been a single male bed bug, since they only bite once a week. (”Three bites in a row,” we’re told, can mean one bed bug made several attempts before success, and so three bites can = 1 bed bug or three.) Even if it attempted to bite multiple times each week, this would probably not yield 20-25 bites. Multiple male bed bugs that all died off in three weeks does not seem statistically likely.
It is impossible for anyone to say whether you have or had bed bugs, based on your description. But it would surprise me if bites ceased entirely after three weeks. If I had to bet, I’d guess you were bitten outside the home. Or possibly had another problem entirely.
Still, you can take precautions to avoid bringing bed bugs home to Sweden. See the FAQ in the travel section about avoiding moving bed bugs from one place to another, once exposed.
If you have more questions, please come to the forums. You will get many more responses there.
I guess you didn’t realize that in this century they have extremely effective anti-flea medications for dogs and cats. There is no reason a dog or cat should have fleas in this day and age. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to keep your pets from getting fleas. What a shame your poor dog had to be gotten “rid of” just because you were an irresponsible pet owner. I hope by that when you said you “got rid” of it you mean you found it a new – and better – home.
P.S. My post was directed at “Daniela.”
Hi,
I had bed bugs in my room – due to a former tenant. I trashed the bed, thoroughly cleaned the bed area, and bought a new bed and mattress. I change sheets once a week. But in the recent two weeks I found my wrists with red bites, and also I found little blood spots, just on the pillow. I tried to check at night, but I didn’t find any other trace. Same for the bed, I moved that around, moved the mattress… but nothing.
I have a bunch of questions:
1. Could that be that it’s just one bug or so, hiding INSIDE the pillow? I didn’t change that, and the little amount of bites (two or three) would explain the fact they’re all localized in the pillow area.
2. Any other possible explanation? I’m wondering if I’m becoming obsessive…
Thanks,
EFR
I live in an old apartment building – there are 3 concected buildings actualoly and Building 1 had bedbugsin a number of apartments. a company was brought in with a dog to go thru all the apartments in the building and suddenly found that 16 out of 24 of them had bedbugs. None of the tenants has ever been bitten, none have seen any bed bugs or markings on furniture indicating bed bugs. We are very warry of this company and now our managemnt group wants every apt checked. I have ants in my apartment (which they never do anything about) and no bed bugs or signs. my friend had his aparment cleaned by this company 4 times since november (and never saw a bug) and they keep saying he still has them. Any advice out there?
Was on vacation and we got bedbug bites, despite washing as suggested we are being bitten at home. How do you find the bedbugs so someone will exterminate?
Chloe,
Your best bet is to find a pest control operator who has extensive experience killing bed bugs. If you can find someone who does careful visual searches (which take hours to do) or who has a reputable bed bug sniffing dog, they may be able to find evidence and treat.
Please come to the forums if you would like to discuss this further: http://bedbugger.com/forum/
Last night my husband felt like he was being bitten by something. He killed a bug which looks like it could be an adult bed bug. This morning he has one bite on the back of his thigh. We haven’t been anywhere, nor have we introduced anything new to our bedroom. I also haven’t seen any of the other signs you have talked about (casings, dark spots, etc.)My husband did have several similar looking bites last fall, never more than 3 at a time, maybe a total of 10 over a month but they stopped, and I never received any. We never were able to find any bugs of any kind that time. Is it possible that we just had a couple last fall that died out and now that it’s getting warm again (we just had a 3 day stretch of unseasonably warm weather)the eggs are hatching out, or they were dormant on our summer quilt which I just pulled out of the closet and put on the bed a few days ago? Could it be something other than a bedbug?
Cathy,
If your husband had bed bug bites, and they stopped after a month, it could be because you had a bed bug in your home that died without reproducing. It could have bitten only your husband, and it is also possible you yourself do not react to bites.
The bites could have been received outside the home also.
You should look carefully at the photos on the site (see bed bug photos in top navigation menu) and read this FAQ. If you have additional questions, please come to the forums.
we spent the first night in our new apartment and woke up the next morning covered in little red bites/rash. I had already had a few mosquito bites. I know for certain they were mosquitos because I saw them on me and killed them. However, these new bites/rash I woke up with was very different and couldn’t be caused by a mosquito. First of all, there is a patch at the bottom of my neck. They’re little red things, but don’t itch very much, if at all really. My arms and back also have these smaller bites but are spread out more than the patch at my neck. I had my mattresses in storage, brought them to our new place, went to sleep and woke up with this! The thing I keep hearing though, is that bed bug bites are extremely itchy and these aren’t. It’s hard to tell what’s going on because I have also, like I said, been bitten by mosquitos and spiders and those bites are itchy. It’s getting hard to really tell what the deal is.
I’ve examined the mattresses and do not see any visible sign of bed bugs but the floors in our place have a lot of cracks (hardwood) and big gaps at the baseboards. This is an old building in Brooklyn.
I asked the landlord if there had been any previous infestations or reports, but she said there hadn’t. I asked the storage unit if my things could have been infested from my unit and they said that they have never had a problem with bed bugs.
My landlord is sending Orkin out on Monday. Any suggestions? Advice?
Are the bites really itchy or can that vary? do some not itch?
Is Orkin a good company?
Some people react to bed bug bites, others don’t. Of those who react, there can be a wide variety of reactions — from very itchy to not, bites that last a while and those that don’t.
The major PCO companies like Terminex and Orkin vary a great deal from one location to another. Some report very positive experiences, others not. This is true of non-chain PCOs as well: a lot depends on the tech who treats your home, how much time s/he takes, how much experience s/he has.
Insist that your home be treated every 2 weeks or so until the problem is gone. Most people need more than one treatment.
Also, landlords lie. Check the city’s records (on the HPD section of the nyc.gov website, you can search for current or past violations). Also check the bed bug registry. Ask neighbors if they have experienced itching or seen unusual bugs.
If you have further questions, please click the “Forums” button at the top of the page and post to our forums, where you will get more responses and a quick reply.
Why is this the most confusing problem i’ve ever had? i’m moving and i get them while im packing -.- they’re in my carpet.. beds.. wow i can’t deal with this i’m throwing everything out, washing all clothes. can they get into like solid objects like wood? this is annoying. -.- AND they’re ugly to know that they’re biting you ! :[
I moved to a new apartment about 3 months ago, but recently (in the past 2 or 3 weeks) I have had the feeling that something in my bed is itchy – I spend a lot of time working/reading in my bed (don’t have a desk) and I notice that I am itchier than normal, and have even noticed some spots that look like mosquito bits on my legs, even when I am wear tights or pajama bottoms. Can bed bugs go through fabric? And I have looked between all my sheets, blankets, covers, and haven’t been able to find anything (I have white sheets, so it shouldn’t be too hard to see, right?)
I’ve washed my bedding, but it’s still itchy, and the marks on my legs make me believe it’s bed bugs, even though the bites go away very quickly and aren’t noticeable after a day or two. What’s the absolute easiest and surefire way to get rid of this problem? Thanks, this site is great!
additional info: I have been drying my sheets outside on the laundry line, could my sheets be picking up something outside that makes me itchy? should I just go back to the dryer now? my other clothes that I line dry outside have been fine…
I moved into an apartment 5 weeks ago and got a new bed/bedding about 3 weeks ago. In the last few days I have noticed bites on my feet, legs, lower back, and on my arms near my elbow. It seems most likely that I have bed bugs, but what I don’t understand is why the bites are occurring now and why they weren’t occurring earlier. Where are the bugs coming from? I’ve never had them before.
nathalie,
Please read this FAQ about other possible causes and determining if you have bed bugs. Many things can cause itchy skin, but bed bugs 3 months after a move are a definite possibility — it can take a while for you to notice or start reacting. My advice is to rule out other causes (detergent, folliculitis, scabies) and try and determine whether you have bed bugs. You cannot get rid of a problem unless you first find out what it is.
alysann,
It’s possible you got bed bugs with a new bed or with a move (either the moving truck or the new apartment could also have been a problem). It’s also possible to get bed bugs any time just by traveling, going on a bus or train, or visiting someone, just to give you a few examples.
It is fully possible to be bitten for a while and not react (some people seem to never react, others develop an allergy to bed bug bites over time, and others seem to react right away).
If you have more questions please come to our forums — where you will likely get more responses: http://bedbugger.com/forum/
A few weeks ago I noticed little red bumps on my feet and got nervous so I googled what bed bug bites look like, but mine don’t look nearly as bad. Although the bites are really itchy I don’t think they are mosquito bites, and they are only on my feet. I started researching bed bugs and got too freaked out to sleep in my own bed so I’ve been sleeping in both my mom’s bed and the guest room bed. I miss my own bed!
I have noticed as well that there are actually little black specks, not in one general area though, just randomly, and not very many. I’m thinking that maybe it’s because of my cats, they sleep on my bed, and maybe they just brought dirt onto my blanket, but I don’t know. I haven’t seen any bugs or casts or anything like that.
I just don’t know where to start. Do I have bed bugs? Should I start sleeping in my bed again? This is insanely frustrating..please help.