http://bedbugger.com/forum/ Bed bug support forums en Tue, 21 May 2013 03:41:14 +0000 http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/just-woke-up-with-six-bites-when-can-i-confirm-i-have-bed-bugs#post-82473 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:41:21 +0000 acs80 82473@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Yes, you're right. I had been hearing about all the bed bug scares in NYC and thought, well, sure, maybe it's terrible in New York, but here in Chicago, things couldn't possibly be as bad. Then I found a list of "bed-buggiest cities" and Chicago was #3 (New York is only #7)! Not good. People on my street (this was admittedly a year ago) left a mattress with a sign reading "bed bugs" on the curb -- so I know they've been around my area. I'm hoping their problem got cleared up and the issue isn't imminent. </p> <p>Good luck! </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/just-woke-up-with-six-bites-when-can-i-confirm-i-have-bed-bugs#post-82462 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:10:53 +0000 ap11385 82462@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>No problem. Biting insects seem to be attracted to women. Also, if you were drinking, Mosquitoes love blood that has alcahol in it, combined with heat and sweat. My doc said some people have something called delayed reaction sensitivity. So, like you, my bites werent apparent right away....and that could be why. Gnats leave a nasty grouped bite. But right now is prime skeeter season. They are making a last hoorah before dying before fall. </p> <p>Believe me I know how you feel. The daily news here in NYC has an article every other day, and now even huge retail stores have infestations...not to mention the movie complex's. Its very bad. My boyfriend keeps getting leg hair pulled off from all the double sided tape around the bed! But hey, it makes you feel better about things. Hopefully this will be like H1N1 and die down eventually. </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/just-woke-up-with-six-bites-when-can-i-confirm-i-have-bed-bugs#post-82452 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:40:27 +0000 acs80 82452@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Whoops, sorry -- I called you "Newbite." Wrong name, ap11385. </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/just-woke-up-with-six-bites-when-can-i-confirm-i-have-bed-bugs#post-82449 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:23:53 +0000 acs80 82449@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Thank you so much for the reassurance, Newbite! I don't want to become the boy who cried wolf on this website, but I just can't help feeling paranoid and doomed! I think I have to stop reading the news, but it seems like I hear about a new infestation every day, somehow, even when I try to avoid news sources. Ugh.</p> <p>Like I said, there were a bunch of little teensy gnats/flies out by the pool yesterday. I know there's a kind of fly called the biting midge that can give pretty nasty welts, and apparently they live near water sources (though I'm not sure if a pool would qualify as a water source, since it's man-made). My boyfriend and one of our friends were with me at the pool, too, and neither of them had any bites today. But I do remember sitting at the pool and feeling little itching sensations and asking both of them, 'are you guys getting bitten?' And they both said no. Maybe for some reason the critters were just going after me? I wasn't swimming as much as the other two -- maybe the gnats like sweaty humans more? </p> <p>I did look over my sheets and didn't see any blood or fecal stains, though I know that's not necessarily proof of anything, one way or another. I had done the double-sided tape thing before in the throes of my last panic episode and will do it again if I continue to get bites/welts. Gah.</p> <p>Thanks again! </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/just-woke-up-with-six-bites-when-can-i-confirm-i-have-bed-bugs#post-82420 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:55:02 +0000 ap11385 82420@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Sorry, forgot this too. Set you alarm for about 2:30am-4:30am. this is when they are active. try not to make too much movement but quickly turn on lights and flip back covers. You may (if its BB's) see them crawling on or near bed/box spring. I know a few ppl that have confirmed infestation by doing this. A roomate I had years ago brought them back with her from Thailand, and this is how she found out what was biting her. </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/just-woke-up-with-six-bites-when-can-i-confirm-i-have-bed-bugs#post-82415 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:45:39 +0000 ap11385 82415@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Ive recently went through the same exact thing. Im in a 4 family apt in NYC, and I feel its inevitable. I was at a block party last Saturday night, outside till 3am with capris and flip flops. I had a few drinks,, so I wasnt paying attention to my legs. Woke up Sunday morning...again fine. Made breakfast and noticed bumps. One I slightly rubbed these bumps, they welled up. I had a cluster of three, with 12 seperate bites on one leg, and 5 on the other. One got infected and I went to a Dr. But these were confined to just where my capris coverage ended on my lower legs. Im assuming you were wearing a bathing suit? Gnats do bite as well.</p> <p>he doc said they are definitely skeeter bites. But how can you be so sure?. So, I did a full inpsection of bed room, mattress, etc. encassed the mattress, vacumned, etc. My logical side said ok, no bites before that party, confined to one specific site on my body, its mosquitos. But the illogical side became hysterical and this is how I proceeded.</p> <p>To give me peace of mind, I purchased something called masking tape. You can also used doubled sided tape (masking tape is a lot stickier though). I surrounded the bed legs with tape, and basically encircled my entire matress with this tape. I replace it every two days to ensure its stickiness. I also washed EVERYTHING I had in that bedroom.</p> <p>Its officially a week, and no bites at all. I havent caught anyone in the tape either. The tape will catch at least a bug or two to give you a clue. It also offered peace of mind, because I havent slept in a week. </p> <p>But with all the paranoia in the news,. you could have very well have been bitten by skeeters by the pool. Mosquito bites usually have that big pink "wheal" around the outter edge and go away a lot faster that BB bites. Have you looked for blood on the sheets/pillow? If they are eating, most likely some blood will be dropped. Taking your previous nights activity, you just have to play the waiting game now. Use the tape and see what happens. From what ive read everywhere, it seems they need to feed at least once a week. You can also seal up any baseboard cracks with duct tape. I would also (may be overkill) make a circle around your walls with this tape. SOme ppl have said these things crawl up walls and parachute onto you for a meal. Its nuts!!!!</p> <p>It sucks how we have to live like this. We basically have to offer ourselves as bait! </p> http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/just-woke-up-with-six-bites-when-can-i-confirm-i-have-bed-bugs#post-82412 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:45:36 +0000 acs80 82412@http://bedbugger.com/forum/ <p>Hi there!</p> <p>I'm panicked about finding bed bugs in my condo and have indeed posted on this site many times with photos of random bugs I've found in my place over the past year. None of them have turned out to be bed bugs. With all the attention bed bugs have been getting in the media over the past few months, though, my anxiety has been at an all-time high and I'm just waiting for the inevitable infestation. </p> <p>I woke up this morning with about five bites, more or less in a cluster and spaced anywhere from one to three inches apart, on my right side (about half a foot under my right armpit). They itch like crazy. It's summer here in Chicago and there seem to be more mosquitoes than usual, and I do have a number of bites on my legs that I know without a doubt are mosquito bites (saw mosquito land on my leg, for example). These bites, however, were not there yesterday and were suddenly there this morning. I was out at a pool yesterday and noticed there were tiny black flying gnat-like things around, and they would land on me ever so often, but I don't seem to remember one (or more) of those bugs landing on that spot on my body.</p> <p>So now I'm convinced that this cluster of bites is from bed bugs. I know posting photos of the bites won't do anything, and that the type of bug that caused them can't be identified by the bite. I'm wondering, then, what do I do now? Do I just wait and see if I get more bites? I already have my mattress encased in one of the bed bug proof encasements (I bought one after freaking out about BBs previously), and I regularly check my bedding, mattress, etc. for signs of bed bugs. I've never found anything.</p> <p>I don't want to bring in a pest control expert or K9 unit until I have a real reason to suspect bed bugs. But this is really like my worst fear ever.</p> <p>Please help! Thank you! </p>