Is it possible to get a bb bite and not bring it home

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Is it possible to get a bb bite and not bring it home

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Sleepless in NYC

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Posted 2 years ago
Sat Sep 4 2010 11:17:26
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Is it possible to get a bb bite outside of your home and not bring a bb home with you?
buggyinsocal

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Posted 2 years ago
Sat Sep 4 2010 11:31:26
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Yes.

Of course, if you're somewhere where a bed bug can bite you, you are right to be worried that you've accidentally brought a hitch hiker home with you. We know that eggs and first stage nymphs are small enough that the kind of inspection needed to find them is hard for most people to do successfully all the time.

However, after I had heat treatment at the end of June 2008, I was bed bug free for months.

All the items I'd removed from the residence were still removed.

Come late August, I developed what I was sure were bed bug bites on my leg. Same size as previous bites. Same distinctively intense itching. (My reaction to bed bug bites was clearly different than my reaction to fleas, mosquitos, deer flies, folliculitis, and even irritation from stubble growing in after I'd shaved my legs.)

I was still under warranty with my PCO, so I called and the PCO came out an inspected very thoroughly and found nothing.

My best guess? Someone I went to high school with had made a documentary about the town we grew up in. (this is relevant, just hang with me.) I'd missed it at the film festival it was playing at because it was screening during the middle of the bed bug episode.

But an art house theater one county over--one I normally didn't go to because it was about an hour's drive from where I lived--was screening it.

Since it was the summer, I had the schedule flexibility to drive all the way down there to see it.

So I went.

I had never been to the theater before, and I've never been back since.

I was still pretty traumatized from the whole bed bug incident, and I hadn't been going much of anywhere other than work, the gym, and home.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the trip to see this movie was my first trip to a movie theater since the whole mess started.

So I went. I watched the movie. I loved it. I came home.

A few days later, I noticed the bites.

My best guess is that I got bitten at that theater.

This was long enough ago, that the greater LA metro area still didn't seem to realize that it had a problem. So I'm not surprised that the theater never showed up on the registry. And it's possible that I encountered the bugs somewhere else, so I didn't report it myself because I couldn't be sure.

But it's clear proof to me that yes, you can get bitten somewhere else and not bring a bug home with you.

If you suspect you've been exposed somewhere, you should, of course, follow the protocols outlined in the FAQ about how to avoid bringing bed bugs with you or spreading bugs to dramatically increase the chances that you don't bring a pregnant female or a male/female pair of hitch hikers home and start a full blown infestation.

But it is possible. And I suspect that at least some of the false positives and scares people have when they think they have bugs but never find any evidence are caused by this happening.
bedbugginNYC

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Posted 2 years ago
Sat Sep 4 2010 11:32:31
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I think it's possible. It could have fed, and then left to go back to its hiding place.

However, it could have also fed and then found a new hiding place in your clothes. That's why they are so easy to spread.
Sleepless in NYC

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Posted 2 years ago
Sat Sep 4 2010 12:27:20
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buggyinsocial and bedbugginNYC

Thanks. i am just so freaked out cuz i first noticed the 3 in a row mosquitolike bites on the back of my right shoulder while i was at my laptop in my dining room 11 days ago. they're still there glaring at me every time i look at it. the first two bites were outside of my sleeveless top but then i realized i had a third one just inside of the opening of my top. did i get it while i was on the laptop? did i get the bite anywhere 9 days prior? i am just so freaked out. i read about how they drop from the ceiling while you're on the computer.

Started cleaning out a couple of areas in my apt. underneath my platform bed which i've used for storing my seasonal clothing for years and also the bottom of part of a closet which is parallel to my bed. Found dead bugs and casings. I'm waiting to see if anyone can confirm what i found. it is alot of pix to go through that i posted on photobucket, i hope i didn't post too many.

I think i have two new bites on my neck. and maybe a couple of them on my scalp. although, not the typical three in a row bites. But since i read there can be singular bites too.....

It's been confirmed that i have at least one spider beetle in my place and i read that if you have spider beetles you can or cannot also have bed bugs. HELP! i am so freaked out and if not for this forum i might have had a nervous breakdown already. everyone here has been so nice!!!! thank you all!