ID fecal stains on mattress please! « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

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ID fecal stains on mattress please!

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abcello

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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Jan 28 2012 20:17:53
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Hi! I'm new here, scared, and hoping you all can help me out!

Three nights ago I woke up with two itchy bumps on my inner thigh. Every morning since, I have found new itchy spots/bumps, mostly on my neck and shoulders. I usually sleep on a mattress on the floor, and my husband and baby sleep in our big bed. (better sleep for all involved). Neither my husband or baby have any bites or itches.

For the past three days, we have been searching for bed bugs or signs of bed bugs non stop using a flash light, credit card and magnifying glass. The big bed is off the floor and on a 2x4 frame, perfect hiding place for bugs, but we searched extensively and didn't find any. What we have found is a lot of carpet beetles and shells. We have searched the whole room including other bedside furniture.

The top of the mattress on the floor and the seams were all clear. Then we lifted up the mattress and found brown spots all over the bottom, most towards the middle, away from the seams. These spots DO bleed brown when rubbed with hydrogen peroxide or just plain water.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69689430@N06/

I need help determining if there are any other explanations or if I should call in professional help. This mattress has been in contact with the floor for some time, and it was my parents' before it was mine. No one in my family has had any known contact with bed bugs. I have no idea how long the spots have been there, but there are about 20 different areas across the bottom surface of the mattress.

I am confused because most pictures of bed bug feces on mattresses are along the seams primarily. Like I said, there are one or two tiny spots along the seams, but most are on the bottom, which was lying on a rug on top of a laminate floor.
By the way, there is nothing on the sheets of either bed that I feel is in any way significant after reading various threads in this forum.

I cut open some of the mattress seams, cut holes near the spots, and inspected the whole thing with a magnifying glass, but I haven't found a single shell, egg or living bed bug. I know I'm not going crazy because the spots seem like compelling evidence, and my normally positive husband agrees that this seems bad!

We do have risk factors, as we have a lot of second hand furniture and shop at thrift stores to save money. We got a second hand rug last week that is in the living room (in retrospect, bad idea!). I have inspected that as well and have not found anything, although it's harder to tell with a rug.
However, I don't believe that there could have been enough bed bugs hidden in that rug to cause all the brown spots on the bottom of my mattress in a couple of days. Especially without any other visible evidence. Am I being naive??

Please weigh in with opinions! Like others in my position, I am upset and scared and have no idea where to begin.
KillerQueen

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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Jan 29 2012 2:09:00
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These are not fecal traces.
abcello

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Posted 1 year ago
Sun Jan 29 2012 8:34:34
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Thanks for the reassurance, Killer Queen!

I really wonder what they are though... They don't act like mildew, which was my first thought. Could they be carpet beetle feces? We know we have those.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer!
bed-bugscouk

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Posted 1 year ago
Mon Jan 30 2012 13:22:04
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Hi,

KQ is correct 100% not bedbug related.

The marks are also not carpet beetle related. I suspect they are old dirt or possibly blood marks but they have been there for some time judging from the colour and appearance.

It may be that the skin reactions are as a result of the carpet beetle skins have a look at the document below:

http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/carpetbeetles.html

Hope that helps.

David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited
abcello

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Posted 1 year ago
Tue Jan 31 2012 17:43:04
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Thank you David!

My sister says the mattress was stored in a shed for some time with lots of flies and spiders, so I'm thinking the spots could be fly frass.
The itching continues though, small red spots that form wheals when scratched. It's very dry here and we burn wood....could be carpet beetles or straw mites, I guess. We'll hold off on a BB inspection just yet!

Thanks.