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I found a dead bed bug and I'm not being bitten?
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Deytrollin
newbite
Joined: Apr '12
Posts: 25offline
Posted 1 year ago
Sat Apr 28 2012 6:44:37
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Ok. So I've had previous infestations. This building has had numerous infestations. I have been clean, no bites, for an entire year. I put DE down in my room a year ago. But when I ventured into an area I don't normally see I found a dead BB nymph in a bag of cotton wipes on the bookshelf! This took me by complete surprise because I haven't been bitten and I know I'm a reactor even if it's probably delayed.
This is so weird. Every other time (one actual mild infestation and two instances of a single visitor.)I get itchy welts that are unmistakable, from the size of a quarter up to stuff like this. This is not my photo, but the size is about the same. During the mild infestation (Spring 2009) I got bitten once every day until the PCOs came and took care of it. All I ever saw were nymphs back then. Seems only one treatment did the job. No bites or sightings until Winter 2010-2011. Get bitten, I buy DE. find one dead bug. No more bites. I think the neighbors ended up with that one's eggs and I didn't…or it spread into my room from theirs in the first place. I know they treated some time after I stopped having problems. I haven't heard how it went, but I haven't heard any complaints from the new residents in that room either. Then in April 2011, I get bitten once. And then I find a dead bed bug. And then I'm no longer bitten. I have not seen any signs, any bites, any bugs since then until now. You'd think, if they were still here in this apartment, I would have noticed long before or get fresh bites! Plus, the DE doesn't expire IIRC. If it's still down in my room and the BB crosses it, it will still kill the bug even if I applied it over a year ago. I'm hoping it is indeed a DE kill that never got the chance to bite me.
What I found in my room with the cotton pads was a 4th instar. It had not fed in a while before it died. Its little dot was very black. I threw out the sample so I can't check again, but I swear the abdomen part had curved in on itself. Like the bug had been dead for a long time. I am SO hoping that is the case. Just in case, I looked for fecal and eggs around my bed and my mounted bookshelf where the cotton balls were. Visible areas were all clear of signs. Anything that could have remotely passed for fecal matter on my box spring did not pass the saliva/smear test.
The only thing you could call a "reaction" to bites is the bruises, and that started just this week. They're normal bruises. They don't itch or swell like my normal bites. That started recently, starting since thursday I noticed that I get a new bruise every day and I don't know where they're from, but they're in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. I also have all the other symptoms of anemia (cold extremities, easily tired, high heart rate sometimes, headaches, etc) so I'm assuming this bruising is unrelated to BBs but I can't rule out a BB relation. I heard on the forums that while it is rare, bedbugs can cause these marks too, especially to people who already have anemia. Then again, it could be that I leaned too hard on my legs with my elbows pressed against them for too long (all but two are somewhere on my legs), and caused "mysterious" bruising.
Anyway, given the circumstances I mentioned above and the uncertainty of where and when the bed bug came from, and if there are any more in this room specifically, I am a bit hesitant to go all out and have a PCO spray my room …with all of the bagging and "rearranging" that curtails. For better or for worse, the school's spray prep policy is downright Spartan: bag ALL loose belongings, nothing in drawers, nothing on desks, (everything bagged with the pile in the center of the room), move all furniture away from the wall etc. As long as I can't confirm a current infestation this all seems incredibly overboard to me. I would like to think that "no bite marks" means "no living bed bugs". The PCOs are the type that "Spray now, ask questions later". I'd love to use a bed bug dog, but I doubt the school OR the dog company will agree to it and I'm not sure what the dog company's policies are regarding DE. I'm also scared the school will force me down the "spray!" route, even though in my case a dead bug doesn't necessarily confirm live ones.
Anyway, I'm moving soon and I actually no longer have the option to stay in this dorm past mid-june. That's why this is a little urgent. I want to confirm that I DON'T have BBs before I do move, and I don't want to bring any bed bugs with. I don't want to admit to having bedbugs at the time of moving on my lease.
I've set up a Bed Bug Beacon for now. I'm so scared of what's going to show up in it. I haven't seen a living bb and I'm not getting bitten. But logic is only so powerful when it comes to this and I fear something will show up anyway.
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Deytrollin
newbite
Joined: Apr '12
Posts: 25offline
Posted 1 year ago
Sun Apr 29 2012 15:00:00
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More bruises are appearing! Now they're appearing two a day, most of them are centered on my left leg, which is very bed-bug like behavior. But this increase is too fast, right?
Can bed bugs escape the bed bug beacon?
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Deytrollin
newbite
Joined: Apr '12
Posts: 25offline
Posted 1 year ago
Sun Apr 29 2012 17:10:58
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Starting to see "breakfast, lunch, dinner" patterns through the bruises! Oh god help me I don't want to go through this again.
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