Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe
Bed Bugs turn out to be Rat Mites
(3 posts)-
amygirl
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 1
Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 1:01:39
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I have been a lurker on these forums for the past six weeks or so. I was freaking out. The husband and I woke up one morning with trails of welts all over our bodies that itched like MAD!!
We'd recently had Mormon missionaries over who had told us about their bed bugs. I uneasily showed them the door and didn't think much of it until I started trying to figure out what could have bitten us. I was almost positive it was bed bugs. I went berserk, convinced that I would flip over the box spring and find a huge, squirming mass of blood-filled bugs.
I was so terrified that I couldn't go near my bed- not even to search for the bed bugs, not until I had an arsenal to deal with them. After reading people's horror stories of dealing with these pests month in and month out, year in and year out... I decided we needed to hit them hard and hot them fast.
I ordered a 50 lb bag of diatomaceous earth(food grade), a garden duster to spread it around with, mattress encasements for all our mattresses and box springs, some nasty chemicals, vaseline for the bed posts, giant ziploc bags, etc. etc.
When everything came, it was d-day. We flipped our mattresses over. I was puzzled. No tale-tell sign- blood spots or black droppings along the mattress or box spring. And no sign of a single bug.
What was stranger is that I hadn't gone near our bed. I'd spent a couple nights sleeping on a stool at our counter- seriously, I kid you not. And I was still getting bites! I attributed it to having been previously bitten but having a delayed reaction.
Anyhow, we went ahead full bore with the diatomaceous earth and wrapping up the mattress. I cooked all the bedding on "sanitary" in the washer and dryer. My husband and daughters who were sleeping in our bed did not get any more bites. I started sleeping in the living room and continued to get bit. I figured they were coming after me now that the bed was isolated.
Then one night, I saw this tiny speck racing in crazy circles around my forearm. I was like "What the hell?" Then it dawned on me- I'd seen these things on plants before. They were mites. I got online and started researching. Turns out these things live in the nests of rats and birds and when their hosts leave or die, they go looking for a blood meal. I was serving dinner, apparently.
Now that I knew what to look for I went hunting around the house. I found them coming in the bathroom. They were on the toilet, around the sink and there were quite a few in the tub and shower. I locked down that bathroom and coated the place in diatomaceous earth. They kept coming, though.
Finally I read a vector control document that said the best way to get rid of these things was to get rid of the host and the hosts nest. My husband went under the house and found evidence that rats had been partying in our crawl space. Sure enough, they had been getting into some dry stores in the garage. We quickly blocked off all entries to the crawlspace and garage and proceeded to trap and poison the little buggers. My husband retrieved a total of 6 dead rats and cleared out the nests he found in the garage.
The mites seem to have abated. We have not been bit in over a week. We bombed under the house and the garage and will continue to bomb regularly for a few weeks to catch any that hatch from eggs that were laid previously. I left the diatomaceous earth for about two weeks all over our house. It was a pain in the butt- got into everything and left a fine coat of dust *everywhere* but it was worth it to get rid of the buggers.
These things are very insidious because they are practically invisible. They won't stay on your skin unless they are feeding and will hide in the seams of your clothes where they can survive the wash and dryer unless you run it really hot and for extra long. Then, you get into your supposedly clean clothes and they come out and bite you at night.
Anyhow, I wanted to tell this story because I was SO SURE we had bedbugs and turns out it was mites which can be really hard to find and identify because of their size-- some people have been called crazy because they have this invisible bug biting them. So, always good to hunt down what's biting you!! It is important to do so as early as possible so you don't end up with a full on infestation. Once they get infested and start laying eggs... its really tough to get rid of them- mite or bed bugs or whatever.
If anyone needs help- I know how difficult this can be psychologically as I get really freaked out by bugs- feel free to contact me. Also, thank you to all you level headed folk out there that posted sane and rational advice and made me feel like I could get through this. All I know is now, I am going to be super careful not to get bed bugs or let anything else infest us. The mattress covers stay!!
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Hi Amygirl,
Thanks for sharing that story, its an unusual one but goes to show no faecal traces, no cast skins and it might not be bed bugs.
The first step to good quality pest control is ensuring that you know what you are trying to deal with first. Its an issue that came up a lot at PestWorld in various presentations and discussions with people.
Don't forget to seal up the access routes they used and do regular inspections for signs of new borrows.
All the best.
David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited -
Bravo. Touche. (applause, applause)
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