Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Reader questions (do not fit into other categories)
Bedbugs, mosquitos or scabies??
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indiebedbug
newbite
Joined: May '07
Posts: 3
Posted 2 years ago
Sun May 6 2007 12:09:38
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Ok, so my roommate and I had bedbugs last summer through the fall. It was awful, though my roommate was the only one who ever got attacked by those bastards. I saw two in my room in total, though the exterminator never found one in my room or bed at all. I also never got a single bite. He declared us free of bedbugs in October, and we haven't seen them since.
So a month ago I got a new bed. My good friend was moving and gave me her new mattress. She never had bedbugs, and I inspected the bed and it looked clean and brand new. About a week later I woke up itching my arm. I had a red patch about the size of a quarter that looked like three tiny bites that fused into one. I freaked out, but it went away. Also, we've been keeping our windows open at night and have no screens, so it could be anything. Anyway, I vacuumed my mattress to be safe and it seemed fine until a few days ago. My roommate started waking up with bites last week, though they weren't the huge welts she had before. She is on vacation now and two nights ago I noticed two normal looking mosquito bites on my arm. Not a red patch like a few weeks ago, though the next day I woke up with a red itchy patch again on my other arm. This one is an itchy swollen welt, again the size of a quarter. I inspected and vacuumed my mattress again yesterday and found nothing. No bedbug droppings, no blood stains. It doesn't make sense. We had them so bad last summer, and they left me alone, how could I get them now? Could it be something else? Sorry if I'm not making sense, I am not running on much sleep. Thanks.
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willow-the-wisp
banned
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 1,530
Posted 2 years ago
Sun May 6 2007 12:30:57
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Hey. INDIE
If a bed bug has found a good source of food (last summer, it was your roommate--I'm gathering this roommate is in another room ... it would make sense that if you caught it early enough you'd have only found a few coming into your room. they are lazy, and only go traipsing through the house or into next door units when a)the food source is unavailable or b) some type of pesticide or vacuuming as gone one and c) a+b are not set in stone.
Note some people don't react to bites; it seems now, you maybe reacting. You have described the difference in the mosquito bite to the other bites.
It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find pooh if there is just a few or even one bed bug. And--you might have (I hope) vacuumed the few bed bugs up.
REALLY BE SURE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE EGGS HOW LONG THEY TAKE TO HATCH AND READ OUR FAQS.I'd say especially read up on bed bugs and their life cycles. There are even good links in some of these threads in the forums i.e. the new updated encyclopedia info found in the 1905 thread. See just one link to an updated outside source here:
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indiebedbug
newbite
Joined: May '07
Posts: 3
Posted 2 years ago
Sun May 6 2007 14:45:46
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I am aware of the faq's and all that. I still think maybe there's a small chance it's mosquitos? Our infestation was pretty bad. For me to have seen them next to my bed, and have no bites, and now to not find any traces of them whatsoever and have bites? I am a bit of a hypochondriac as it is. I sleep next to a window that was open without a screen on all new instances of bug bites, same with my roommate. Do I call an exterminator? I am going a bit crazy here.
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willow-the-wisp
banned
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 1,530
Posted 2 years ago
Sun May 6 2007 15:54:03
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Hey Indie dare I say, if your going a bit crazy your amongst "some" good company myself being #1 crazy personage here lol.
We can support you, and sure, why not have you do the same for all of us> Perhaps if you told us some more of the details of your "war story" from last Summer, it would help you to; a) feel a bit more in control now, and perhaps, b); give you some more insight into whether or not YOU think YOU need to do anything other than the vacuuming and the inspecting done thus far.
Like, for instance, perhaps isolate the bed again anyway--especially since it was a used mattress. "Knowing someone" does not preclude an unknown infestation having already been starting in the mattress unbeknownst to the lady gave you the mattress. Bed-bugs are popping up everywhere; maybe you picked a few up in the transport of the mattress.
Could you figure a way to screen the window? That might help allele your very valid concerns?So you know the drill ...
Maybe a month or six weeks without bites or further signs, will have you relaxing more. But could you relax more by perhaps taking some further pro-active … non-costly measures …?
For me--I plan on keeping my bed isolated FOREVAAH!
I plan to keep up the BASIC PRECAUTIONS FOREVAAH!Or, at least, until the day they find a good, easy, very accessible and simplified treatment for what you already know, is, a dirty, laboriously painstaking and aggravating procedure--This getting rid of the bed bugs is and can be both a challenge and bore simultaneously speaking--And it is very costly, time consuming et all ad infinitum.
I had gatherd a good 300 or so in my place before I knew what "they" were ... Still … it tool me about a week to come out of denial, to actually check where they would be.
That’s just me.
Lots of us think, like, “ …yeah well it's not going to happen to me … “ or “…lightning is never going to strike twice.
Well a bunch of hungry bed bugs are not a bolt of lightning, yet; they sure can sting like one, over time, and reek havoc.
So who knows? Maybe the few you found went up the vacuum. Let’s hope so.
If feasible, you might check with the lady who gave you the mattress. With the warmer months more than mosquitoes seem to be coming in un-screened windows. I fact a bed bug with a mind can easily navigate around a screen if it is hungry enough. It takes as you know—such a tiny gap in a windo … but the gap in time between initial infestation and then actually finding blood spots, pooh smears …. Bugs on the walls at nightime the then eventually I the daytime—it can take several months!
Indie--What else can you do besides get a screen in the window and perhaps isolate the bed—the mattress—and keep your laundry clean and your fingers crossed?
For sure keep us all abreast. -
S
Bite Researcher
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 185
Posted 2 years ago
Sun May 6 2007 20:08:38
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Hey Indie,
I have heard of some people not reacting to bedbugs at first, then suddenly starting to react. It's like their bite count reaches a threshold or something. Sean from The Bed Bug Resource raises a colony, and here's a post about his response to the bites:
http://thebedbugresource.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=619#619
So even though you never found bites before, they may have been biting you - and probably were, since they were seen in your room. My boyfriend G never found bites, the entire time we had them, but when we did the "bite test" (see the bedbugger blog) we learned that they were indeed happy to bite him too. (His bites from the test eventually turned into small, pimple-looking, non-itchy bumps - something he would easily have overlooked).
While you may have reason to attribute your new bites to your new mattress, it may also be a coincidence. Is she sure she never had bedbugs? (She may just be one of the people who doesn't react to bites). You said it looked clean, though, so it easily was not the mattress. How was the mattress transported from her house to yours?
It doesn't sound like scabies, incidentally. I believe scabies is more like a rash than "bites." See the "what else could this be?" FAQ or wikipedia's entry for more on scabies.
It could be mosquitoes, although since your roommate started having them again too, that seems a little odd. The first advice I'll give is obviously to shut your window and keep it shut. Any mosquitoes inside should die. You could also turn off all the lights but one, and mosquitoes will be attracted to the light. They might not fly into it and die, but you could at least find them I'd imagine.
But I think the most likely problem is still bedbugs. Probably your old ones coming back again - perhaps the warmer weather has brought them out of dormancy. You said you are both "waking up with bites." The welts sound like bedbugs.
I think you need to do more than vacuum your mattress. As you probably know, they can live anywhere (not just in a mattress). Plus, no matter if they originated with the mattress or not, they can now be anywhere in your room or your roommate's room. If I were you, I'd take steps to isolate my bed. Read the bedbugger steps on this, and follow the instructions as best you can. And please, don't blame your friend (who gave the mattress). I have a feeling it's not her fault.
Good luck and keep us posted.
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