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ID Help and Advice [not a bed bug]

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mlandri1

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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Apr 28 2012 7:11:00
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Well, after a year of constant worrying and thinking everything that crawled was a bed bug... this time I think they really are back.

Short version of the story: I had a confirmed minor infestation last May (in a different apt.) and a seemingly successful PCO chemical treatment during the month of June, bagged living, all that. I moved out of that apartment and into this one in August and since then, have posted 3-4 false alarms on the forums here (thank you all!).

But this one, I'm afraid, is not.

I have been noticing small, single bites for a week or so, but haven't thought much of them -- I have a dog and therefore spend a ton of time outside, it's spring, etc. But yesterday, I found a cluster of bites on my neck, and so made myself wake up in the middle of the night and found a live bug in the bed next to me. I trapped it temporarily and got a decent look but it escaped. Looked to me like a just-fed adult bedbug.

And then I found this dead bug in the bathroom (right across the hall from my bedroom). He's sort of shriveled -- looks dead, not like a shed skin, but hard to say...

First, is it a bedbug?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Hx6t5DJfm0U/T5vGaczCMCI/AAAAAAAABBA/MST5HsUE3ZU/s841/IMAG1304.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-04SVBC1xFLI/T5vGs3wDm1I/AAAAAAAABBQ/JLDtPnjtUzs/s841/IMAG1306.jpg

Underside: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5VMrra_6ZRY/T5vGzNOglII/AAAAAAAABBY/s_H7htdUD5g/s841/IMAG1307.jpg

Second, how on earth do I proceed/keep my sanity? I am already working on finding a local PCO to come for an inspection/treatment, but I'm freaked out about telling my landlord (or having to pay), living with the bugs (I hate the idea of continuing to sleep) during finals week (I teach college) and with a new dog in the house, who is a handful himself. Sorry, all that is irrelevant. I just don't know how, when after a year, they come back/reinfest, I will ever be able to sleep again.

I want to make sure I do treatment right, as I will be moving again this summer, and invested in a nice, new, very expensive mattress last fall. Any advice from repeat sufferers to help, existentially?
LVK9

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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Apr 28 2012 9:00:15
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pic looks like part of a roach
bed-bugscouk

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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Apr 28 2012 9:52:01
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Hi,

100% not bedbug.

David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited
mlandri1

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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Apr 28 2012 10:35:42
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Thank you both so much for your quick replies and help -- I don't know what I would do without this forum, sometimes.

David, given the bug I found in bed with me and the bites (which, admittedly, only one cluster a day or two old looks at all like BB bites -- none of the others I had resemble my former reactions), do you think I should still have a PCO come inspect? Or just chalk it up to my old paranoia and keep my eyes open?
bed-bugscouk

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Posted 1 year ago
Sat Apr 28 2012 10:44:14
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Hi,

I would advise cautious observation and monitoring of the situation, having been through this once you should be up to speed on live samples, cast skins and faecal traces. When you find any of those that's when it's time to call in the cavalry unless you are lucky enough to have an uber pro local to you like EffeCi, KQ or my team (almost left that last one out for modesty reasons).

The reality is that the issue never explodes over night and getting it right is more important than getting it right now.

David