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bed bugs or pantry/carpet beetles? help

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minibughater

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 10:18:51
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Hi everyone. so for the past 2 weeks, my daughter has been getting bites not many, just maybe like 2 here and there and they are very small almost like someone dotted her with a red pen. I searched the bed area and I caught maybe like 10 bugs around the floor behind the bed. I checked the mattress sheet etc and everything seems to be clean. I was very careful and killed all the bugs I saw, but some looked dried up and dead. So it seemed weird to me, because I know bed bugs are hard to kill and live for a long time. Anyways, I noticed that these "bed bugs" were hairy actually fuzzy and when I came to this website and many others I realized that they were not bed bugs. So I was just reading through most of the topic forums and came across what someone had mentioned as "carpet beetles".

I looked it up just for curiosity on how they looked and they actually looked a lot like the bugs I have been finding around the mattress. I did further research and found this website called what's that bug ( http://whatsthatbug.com ) and they basically have a whole bunch of bugs and pictures so you can identify them. I looked through and then saw another similar one that is called the "pantry beetle larvae" and that also looks similar to the carpet beetle larvae.

Sorry so long anyways. My question is I have also found 1 shedded skin but I read that these bugs also shed their skin too, so I don't know if I have bed bugs or not.

Why would my daughter have these suspicious bites and why would these so called pantry bugs be upstairs in the bedroom? if they are supposed to literally be in the pantry?
I also found some "droppings on the mattress on top of the bed sheets and I don't know if these bugs bite humans as well.

I am very confused and want to resolve this. Please anyone help and respond PLEASE.
I have also brought some Kleen Free and was wondering does this help with the pantry/carpet bugs as well??
pleasehelp

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 11:57:23
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Hi mbh, I'm also trying to figure out what's biting me. I've had 2 poc's inspect. One id'd a cast skin he found on the bed as a bb. Then I sent it off, along with other samples I had collected from the seam of the box spring, to a PhD entomologist & he said that they were all from carpet beetles & carpet beetle larvae. He also said that those hairs on the larvae can cause itchy skin reactions. I also have some kind of pantry beetle. And I've read that some mites that have carpet beetles as hosts can bite. I've found no bb signs, but my reaction to the bites seems very similar to many of the bedbuggers here. I have carpet beetles (whose larvae look very much like pantry beetles to me)in my bedroom. I know they love wool rugs, which I had there but have since thrown out. But I'll be they would make do with cotton as well. I don't know about Kleen Free, but a trusted pco who also said my cast skins were carpet beetles told me that Steri-Fab would kill those as well (if sprayed directly on the pest). Try using white sheets and have your daughter wear white t-shirts at night. In the morning, inspect and see if there are little spots of blood that are left when the bedbugs detach... Please keep us posted on what you find, too!
minibughater

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Posts: 88

Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 14:22:09
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thank you pleasehelp. It's comforting to know that I am not alone in this weird carpet/pantry/bedbug dilemma. So annoying that I can't find out what's going on. but I will definetly keep my eyes open for any more werid happenings. Also I forgot to mention, I found 3 of these carpet/pantry bugs in my UGG boots in the basement YUckkk anyways I don't know why they are in all these weird places. Also to mention I have no carpeting all hardwood floors, and they seem to be hiding out on the floor where the floor meets the bottom molding where there are cracks. I was thinking of caulking all the cracks I see. Do you think I should do this or should I try to kill them off first??

P.s Some PCO's don't know what they are talking about. This one guy I showed him some evidence I collected and didn't even really examine them and said it was bedbugs. so annoying.
pleasehelp

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 15:09:10
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I think you should try to exterminate them first. Are you in an apt or a detached house? There's another thread in which the best advice has been to caulk only in an apartment to try to keep them from migrating from neighbors'.
pleasehelp

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Posts: 301

Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 15:11:28
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Re clueless (predatory?) pco's: I belong to Angie's list and filed a scathing report about the one that misid'd my bugs and wanted to treat areas that he hadn't examined.
cantdealanymore

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Joined: Oct '07
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 17:37:01
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Please let me know what you find out about this...mostly because my first PCO (waaay back when) found carpet beatle larvae in my bed. Throughout my various exploits and treatments I have found a carpet beatle or 2. I had a PCO come in today and they sent a "sample" out to the entomologist and I am supposed to hear back tomorrow about what it is.
I think that these people are going to be good, they came well recommended, so I will share whatever experience I have with them. The lack of knowledge in this whole area is astounding....truly.
parakeets

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 18:20:48
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minibughater--good for you for doing your research, both online and around the bed! Can you save as many insect samples as you can and get them to your Home Extension Society or an entomolgist? I hate to say it, but the fact that you found the bugs around the bed and that your daughter is being bitten in patterns sure sounds like bedbugs to me. I have had carpet moth larvae, carpet beetles, and my sister had pantry beetles, but none of us got bitten when we just had those insects.

As for "fuzzy bedbugs" (I can't believe I'me revealing this) I saw a few of them and when I studied them under a jewelers loupe, it looked to my uneducated eye that some of my bedbugs had picked up and were walking around with an outer layer of some fuzzy fibers from my flannel sheets. Do you have flannel sheets? I'm pretty sure it was from the sheets because I had found some powder blue fibers on the fuzzy bedbug cast skins, and my flannel sheets were also powder blue. I have never admitted this before because I thought people would say I was crazy that I had seen a few fuzzy, powder blue bedbugs. I really did. (Not related to pink elephants or Jackalopes!)
minibughater

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 18:39:30
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HI guys. well today I did a whole clean up day with vacuum and murphy's oil and I got my Kleen Free in the mail today. So hopefully if I did have some bed bugs they will be GONE.

while I was cleaning today I found 3 more of those pantry/carpet bugs and they are definetly NOt bed bugs. They all look the same and I found one in my bedroom, my daughter's room and 1 on the stairs. So I have no idea what's going on. Also come to think of it all the bugs I ever caught which were stairs, daughter's room and basement they all looked exactly the same. Here is a link of the picture, you have to scroll down alittle and it says "pantry beetle larvae" anyways that exactly how they look. I have not found anything that looks like a bed bug.

hopefully the vacuuming, kleen free and murphy's oil and laundry will get rid of these suspicious bites.
nomorebugs

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 19:39:50
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It sounds like you have carpet beetles. You are very lucky. I would keep an eye on for bites the appear in the morning (that were not there at night) and check the mattress seams. Also check bedding for blood spots. In my case, I only experience two blood spots on the sheets after I knew I was infested. Blood spots are a sure sign but may not happen all of the time.
minibughater

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 19:58:06
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I have checked everything and so far no bugs at least bb's and my mattress is very clean, no blood stains.
I have another question...

if you only get like 1 or 2 bites does that mean you only have 1 or 2 or less than 10 bed bugs? might be a dumb question.. but if we do have bb's I think it might only be a few. the only thing I can think of is my husband's cousin slept over for 1 day after traveling and staying in hotels. that is my only explaination. and the bites which are very few seem to only be happening in the room they slept in.
*sigh*
nomorebugs

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 20:09:40
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Unfortunately when then only happen in one room, where people sleep, it's not a good sign.

I am a lay person. I started posting as I need support too. I don't think carpet beetles bite people. I think they eat cloths. You might want to verify this. If this is the case. Then something else is causing the bites.

BBs like to hang near the upper torso of the sleeper. Look at head boards and the mattress seams hear the top. Not sure if you can do more. Some PCOs will not spray unless they see evidence, it may be against the law, but "evidence" is left to the PCO.

Perhaps it's best to be prepared. Buy mattress covers now. I'm waiting for mine to arrive.
minibughater

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 20:12:46
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I have a very simple metal frame and it is easy to look for any foreign bugs but have not seen any at all. so weird.
Also have looked at the mattress on all sides. I just can't figure it out.
nomorebugs

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 20:28:48
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I think you need to find out if these bugs you did find also bite people. If they don't ...

Perhaps you should have a PCO treat this. And perhaps the IPM plan is the same as for BBs. Maybe the PCO can treat it as if there are BB's.
minibughater

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 21:26:48
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I'm scared to make them feed on me =I and from what I've read so far I think they only eat cotton or flour, cereal that type of stuff not human blood. So I have no clue why they are hanging out near our mattress
paulaw0919

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Oct 30 2007 21:39:48
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Since you have a sample of the bugs I would send them out to an entomologist to confirm what it is before you send in a PCO to treat. I would also check under and around the bottom of the box spring as well as the mattress. In alot of pics I've seen, that's an even more popular area then the mattress, maybe because it's more out of site. When I first got "slammed" with bites, it happened right after I flipped my mattress for spring cleaning. I didn't know what hit me and didn't know of this site. I checked the mattress, never found a thing. I did see a bug climb the wall during the day once, not by the bed but by my hamper and closet. (squish, blood)
So I never looked under and around my box spring and wish I had back then. I bet it started there and then spread around the room under the floor boards etc..
minibughater

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Posts: 88

Posted 2 years ago
Wed Oct 31 2007 9:05:24
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We have a platform bed so we only have 1 mattress on it. everythiing is metal except for the wooden slats and there seems to be no evidence of bb's anywhere. I've also been vacuuming all over.
pleasehelp

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Oct 31 2007 11:09:55
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minibughater, the entomologist that id'd my carpet beetles told me that they don't bite humans, but that their hairs can cause irritations that might seem to be bites. I'm sure what I have is bites, however, and am still looking for bbs.
bugsbite

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Oct 31 2007 20:55:24
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I'm getting more and more interested lately in 'pantry bugs' and 'carpet beetles' and the possibility of those bugs carrying mites (which they can). . .we found a lot of those type of bugs in the bedrooms when we started this whole "what is biting" thing - have found no bedbugs, have found two mites. I'm not finding our pantry bugs and carpet beetles in the numbers that we were, though I still find the odd one. Basement has many bugs, especially big beetles. We also have booklice (id'ed by PCO) .

Interesting.
minibughater

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Oct 31 2007 22:55:25
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O great if that is the case mites have to be even smaller than the pantry beetle right? then how am I supposed to find them?? AHHhhh I don't know what's worse having mites or bb's. why are they so annoying!! arghhhhhhh~
bugsbite

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Nov 1 2007 7:51:38
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mites are EXTREMELY tiny, and I only spotted mine by pure luck - right time, right spot. Unfortunately, my method of catching them (tape) wasn't good enough to allow for an ID of what specific KIND of mite they were - just that yes, they're "mites" of some type. I've been leaning toward rodent mites, as I had gerbils, have mice in the attic (and possibly walls) and have just recently been told that a "dead rat" was removed from the attic above the neighbours (fourplex building) at the "beginning of the summer" -- but, this is not yet confirmed, as the teller of this info was a child. I have to find out for sure. It may have just been a dead mouse.
lieutenantdan

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Nov 1 2007 8:35:08
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See my recent post.

It appears that we do have some sort of mystery bite problem in NYC.
This maybe caused by mites.

Ladybugs Released on East Side, as pest killers
parakeets

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Nov 1 2007 12:13:46
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I see lots of bugs--a roach, a silverfish, a centipede, carpet beetles galore--but even though I still am being bitten, I NEVER see any bedbugs. I only saw them when my infestation was heavy. The bugs I see are not the ones biting me. The bugs I never see at all are the problem. Bedbugs hide, come out at night, and can be in the crown molding, ceiling light fixtures, deep in baseboards and floor cracks--places you would never see them. The photos of bedbugs and fecal stains along mattress seams are so misleading, I feel. The only way you could take a picture of the bedbug infestation in my apartment is of the little blood spots on my sheets and sleep-shirts.
lieutenantdan

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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 2 2007 10:47:55
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It has been a year since we had discovered our infestation and I still get bite feelings everyday.
I have lived in my place for several years and this past year was the first year that I have had any major bug problems and it all started with bedbugs. Now I have captured a few carpet beetles, some other kind of beetles, silverfish and bright green stinkbugs. This past two summers we had flying insects that bite in our backyard that I thought were mosquitos but I now believe them to be some sort of biting midges.
Also see
http://mail.pittstate.edu/~dgordon/index.html
http://mail.pittstate.edu/~dgordon/MysteryBites/MysteryBites.html

I am researching mites and I am finding more stories of mite infestations and mites biting people causing mystery bites.
I believe that we are now seeing something that most of us have not experienced before and I speculate that mites may have something to do with it. We know how invisible and stealth bed bug can be well mites are even harder to detect.

Mold Mites, Tyrophagus putrescentiae

Mites and ticks, collectively known as the Acari, constitute the second most diverse group of animals on the planet today and are of interest to humans for a variety of reasons. They directly affect our well being as parasites, vectors of disease, and producers of allergens. They are responsible for millions of dollars worth of economic losses each year as a result of infestations of our agricultural systems.

Lets us be aware as bed bug warriors that mites are a reality also.
pdxproblem

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Posted 1 month ago
Tue Sep 29 2009 18:57:55
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So about a month ago I started noticing brown spots on my sheets that were dime sized and I chalked it up to the serious cuts and scrapes I sustained in a bicycle accident. A few weeks later, all healed up and I am still seeing brown spots, but smaller. I don't itch and I have no visible bites, just small brown spots down toward the middle of my bed and mostly on the top of my comforter, not the side close to me. I was telling my mom (who happens to be an entomologist with the u of az extension) about this and she said it sounded like bed bugs. I tore my room apart, for hours down on my hands and knees with a flashlight and magnifying glass looking all along my mattress, box spring, bed slats, bed frame and headboard, baseboards, window sills and frames, in picture frames, light fixtures, underneath my dresser, underneath my clock, potted plants, any sort of crack or crevice. I saw a lot of dead flies and only one thing that came close to looking like bed bugs, nymphs, casts- carpet beetles, a lot of evidence of carpet beetles. Carpet beetles and brown spots?
depressedandconfused

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Posted 1 month ago
Tue Sep 29 2009 22:05:57
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We live in an apartment with only hardwood floors -- not even any rugs, and I have been finding carpet beetle larvae everywhere -- all over the bedroom, in the living room, etc. Apparently they will eat any dead organic matter, for example, pet hair, feathers, wool, etc. You don't need to have carpet to have carpet beetle larvae. I even found a live larvae inside a box of stationery inside a drawer in an armoire in my living room. And I found them in my bed - YUCK! Vacuuming is supposed to be the best defense. Of course, change your vacuum bag after each vacuuming.
spideyjg

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Posted 1 month ago
Tue Sep 29 2009 22:18:33
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The one big side effect of a BB experience or scare is you examine your home closely and realize........

My house is full of F.....g bugs!

BBs cause you to open your eyes to a crawly reality.

Jim
spideyjg

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Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 30 2009 0:16:41
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Hmmmmm that one didn't come out right.

A BB scare makes you discover all the insects that have been in your home even if BBs aren't any of them.

Jim
depressedandconfused

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Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 30 2009 0:46:40
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@spideyjg: AMEN!
pdxproblem

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Posted 1 month ago
Fri Oct 2 2009 21:06:24
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update: have bedbugs. :(
BBsonme

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Posts: 50

Posted 1 month ago
Sat Oct 3 2009 15:57:48
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PDX, I'm very sorry to hear your news. I'm wondering if the prevalence of carpet beetles is an indication of BBs. I was on one site that stated carpet beetles feed on dead insects. Well I've never found evidence of bbs but I've found plenty of carpet beetles. At first I was just finding cast skins, then I started finding the actual bugs themselves. I have double sided sticky tape on my wall near my bed and found one carpet beetle caught in my trap. I've also found them in my bathroom window sill and in my kitchen (all dead), but still one has to wonder. I've never found a bb and my three PCO inspections didn't turn up anything.

For the treatment of what I thought was bed bugs I put encasements on my mattress and box spring and got the climb up interceptors. I also purchased a product called Indika bb killer which I mixed with water, dish detergent and alcohol and sprayed around in the corners and crevices in my bed room. I used tape along the crevices in my molding and floor boards and sprayed my bed frame with Ortho home defense. I haven't had any bites since June 28 but still I wonder if the bbs are just hiding out in the walls waiting to launch a full scale attack against me.

I'd love to find out from an entomologist if there is any connection between the two critters.