Seven months of limbo: continuous bites & no evidence?! « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

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Seven months of limbo: continuous bites & no evidence?!

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jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 2 2011 20:28:37
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I'll try to condense this:

Seven months ago, following a camping trip I started getting bites all over my leg. I realized it might be bedbugs and immediately began cleaning & laundering. Around this time I found a live bug (that resembles photos I've seen) crawling on my mattress. In an irrational panic I killed it instead of saving it as evidence. I remember it made blood when I smashed it.

I have never seen a bug again. I have never found blood spots or fecal stains or shell casings. I have never caught one in my climbup protectors which I studiously use and replace.

A dog alerted to several places in my house, but no actual bugs were found.

I continue to get bites weekly.

I have been cautiously self treating with a dryer/packtite/vacuum/moderate DE this whole time. Anecdotally, the number of bites appears to ebb and flow with how consistent I am with my treatment schedule.

Unfortunately no real professional will treat for lack of evidence.

I have considered that I am crazy or have a skin condition, but my friend also got bites after sleeping here, so that seems unlikely.

I'm at a loss for what to do and am sick of this limbo. I have been over every single item in my room. But it's an old house and there are tons of cracks I can't account for. I've blasted DE into most of them for good measure.

I have white sheets...how likely is it that all this time would go by without any blood or fecal stains? Or without one showing up in the climbup protectors?

Advice needed!
TK

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 2 2011 20:41:51
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For what it's worth, I've never had blood or fecal stains on my sheets either. (I've only been getting bitten for a week though) Did you try looking at your box spring? Did you tear out that liner? I haven't seen an adult bug at all, ever. (I've found 3 baby nymphs, but only after looking with a flashlight late at night) But my PCO found some old skin or whatever it's called under my box spring.

I know what you mean though, about feeling like you're going crazy. I had went at least 5 days of getting bit without seeing what was biting me. It's enough to make you go crazy. 7 months though???? Sheesh
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 2 2011 20:45:52
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Thanks for listening. I have an IKEA bed that does not use a boxspring. Instead it has these wooden slats that I take off and throw in the Packtite once a week for good measure.

I'm a late night person by habit, so I've had plenty of occasion to snoop around my room with a flashlight as late as 2AM. Maybe I'm not looking correctly. Or I need a better magnifying glass. (Mine is not so great.)
TK

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 2 2011 21:00:06
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Well my sister told me she watched a documentary called "Infested" and she said that they come out at 3 am. The first time that I saw one was last Thursday night, the night before my apartment was to be sprayed. I was in bed studying/doing homework around 1 am, and I sat up to check my bed (like I said I do every 10 minutes) LOL if it wasn't moving, I wouldn't have seen it. I saw a baby one moving across the foot of my bed. It was smaller than a flea... I snagged it with a piece of tape and fried it to death with my hair dryer.
The next morning around 9am, I woke up and sat up from my bed, looked over my bed and there was another baby nymph crawling across the pillow I JUST lifted my head from. I fried that one too.
I go to college but I don't want to take any hitch hikers to school with me, so I run the blow dryer in my back pack for a couple minutes and let it get nice and hot. One day in class, I found a dead baby nymph mashed between the pages of my chemistry book. :/

Better dead than alive I guess. But it still makes you feel gross knowing that you've got buggy tag-a-longs.
heritchyness

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 2 2011 21:57:31
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Have you tried another passive detector? I have also have an ikea bed, and there are little holes in the inside edges they can hide in. That's where my pco found the one piece of absolute evidence we have (I have seen one, killed another and been bitten only a few times). Anyway, if I were you I might try to find somewhere else to stay and set some active traps while you are sleeping elsewhere. If you aren't there they will get hungry and might be easier to catch. We were going to do this originally, but I think we don't need to. I made a dog-dish/ dry ice trap, and bought a bb alert active. Both of those are really reasonable in cost.
TK

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 2 2011 23:24:46
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@heritchyness LOVE the name.. that's how I feel too lol

I know your response was not directed toward me but I wanted to add something that I saw here on the site.

Most of last week I stayed at my boyfriends overnight and would shower/change clothes before going over there and leave my shoes at the door, and my purse at home. But after that, I read here on the site, "FAQs" I think, that you should stay home during treatment because you being there is what brings them out of hiding. Otherwise there is no reason for them to come out if there's not a warm body in the house.

So for the past 3 nights, I have stayed home. just in case this is true. Plus I worry that they will follow me to my boyfriends.
thebedbugresource

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 2 2011 23:47:12
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Seven months of bites without evidence = not bed bugs.

Female bed bugs lay on average 2-3 eggs per day. There is a 95% survival rate of offspring. Even if your initial infestation were only one or two bugs by now you would have thousands. Not to mention fecal spots would be readily apparent.

The dog was wrong.

It is time to cross bed bugs off the list and start considering other possibilities.

Sean
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 3:35:04
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Sean:

I hope you are right, obviously.

What keeps me from buying into your argument is (1) the bug I saw (I'm no entomologist, but the fact that it made blood when I killed it would rule out most insects) & (2) my roommate got bites when he slept here.

I am VERY studious about what goes into my bed, about laying down dust, keeping laundry sealed, etc... is it not possible that my actions have prevented the expected population explosion you describe?

I saw a dermatologist once already and learned nothing but I will do it again to be sure.

I would love this to be something else, but I'm doubtful.
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 3:38:59
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Also, this probably makes no difference but I rechecked the calendar and realize it's actually only been five months. Feels like seven, though. Or thirty. Ugh.
buggyinsocal

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 3:44:57
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Jonathap,

Sean is a professional with lots and lots of cases, years of experience, and a lot of advanced education on the topic. He's the sort of person whose opinion on the topic at hand carries a lot of weight.

TK,

The episode of Infested that you mention may say that the bugs come out at 3 am. That's mostly true, but it's not 100% true.

Bed bugs prefer to feed when their preferred food sources (i.e., us) are asleep.

Shift workers who sleep at a different time will likely have bed bugs that are more active at a different time.

Also, since the bugs only need to feed every few days, if you have a small population of bugs, and you sleep normal hours, then, yes, they will come out to feed in the wee hours of the morning when we're most likely to be most soundly asleep.

However, if the population of bugs is big enough--or they get desperate enough because they can't feed on a sleeping host--then the bugs may become active during the hours that the person is up and about.
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 3:54:03
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Thanks buggyinsocal.

I do I take Sean's opinion very seriously. In fact, his point is one I had already considered and turned over in my head repeatedly, while trying in vain to solve this five month long nightmare of a puzzle.

The problem: I keep getting bites and neither a dermatologist nor a pest control agent as of yet can offer me an alternate explanation.

I already asked this, but is it not possible that my application of dust is killing them off at a rate that has prevented a visible population explosion while still not getting rid of the problem?

I could always stop dusting, stop vacuuming, stop packtiting my sheets every night, unseal my mattress, take off the climbup protectors and wait...no doubt that would make for a population explosion if they are present.

Of course, I'm a bit scared to do that.

-Jon
NewBlood

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 12:53:52
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Hey Jonathap. This is going to end up being a HUGE message as I share my story which sounds a little bit like yours - minus the squashed bug bit.

A year and 1/2 ago now I awoke one morning to approximately 24 or so bites on my feet and legs. A few of my friends had been over two or three nights earlier but since I had also been outside (and stepped into some wet shady grass) I assumed the bites were chigger bites - my very first batch of them. At work my boss mentioned bed bugs, something I never heard of before - so I went and googled them and became very paranoid which I'm wont to do since I have had some very bad health issues in the past.

I immediately went into panic mode. I tore apart everything looking for the source of the bites and found nothing. I went to the apartment administration and asked for PCO service. The 2 minute inspection didn't make me feel any better, nor did the cedar oil they used to 'rid' the problem. Smelled nice, but didn't do anything. I kept getting an odd bite here or there (different than the first batch of them).

Searching revealed only a rogue carpet beetle larvae or two; something else I had never seen before. I decided to bite the bullet and hire a dog company/PCO to come out and inspect. They arrived and the dog alerted to three spots: two on my bed and one my computer chair. They didn't visually inspect despite my earlier insistance that they do so before they arrive. With no hard evidence of them save for bites and dog alerts I decided to treat anyway - I called several companies to get quotes/estimates. The dog company I used came back out and searched again for free - a bit upset with their earlier PCO because he didn't visually inspect. Their next dog alerted to about 10+ spots throughout my apartment but - after looking for them nothing was ever found.

Here's where I made my first really big mistake. I decided to treat without evidence. BIG BIG MISTAKE. I didn't know what I was fighting - only that I was getting bites. Once this began I began the post work required by the company (constantly cleaning everything - took about 3 - 4 hours a day) and it was pretty exhausting. The bites continued regularly - and all bites I had received post initial bite behaved... differently. The company came out a week later and found nothing - I was given the all clear.

The bites continued.

I had the company out 4 more times with their dogs, never again was anything alerted too but the bites just endlessly continued. Approximately 2 - 3 a day with some days off, and some days more. I became incredibly paranoid about the insects and began to throw away furniture to make my cleaning easier (second big mistake). I also decided - since no one would believe any of the bed bug stuff I had learned - to escape my apartment and bought a house. Yup - I bought a house because of beg bugs, I needed to escape apartment living.

During my move to the apartment everything was constantly cleaned - and I took only a handful of non-clothing items with me. I moved in with only the clothes I owned (that could survive hours and hours of cleaning) and treated 'doodads' that were sealed in plastic and had Hot Shot Pest Strips placed in them. The 'bites' continued at a constant rate but the only thing I ever saw were carpet beetles. Carpet beetles.

When I had first come to this site David Cain (I believe his name is) mentioned that these may be the source of my problems. I began to keep a bite log - to track when/where/how often I was bitten. 2.36 bites a day. It remained constant. I saw a dermatologist (waste of money) who was unable to determine what was causing my 'bites' (allergies, or 'insect bites' was the biopsy. Thanks. I knew it was either of those before I had the biopsy done). When I began living in my new home I owned a futon, a sleeping bag, and climb-up interceptors as my sleeping area - with a single metal chair and computer table as the only other items in my possession. I lived like that for two months - my sleeping area isolated and... the bites continued endlessly. The only thing I saw was carpet beetles here too.

After those two months passed and knowing that I should have had a full blown infestation of bed bugs by then I settled on carpet beetles as the source of my 'bites'. It has been verified by the bites continued appearance as I constantly find little larvae here and there each month. My initial bites WERE chiggers - as I have been bitten outside in my yard by them which produce the same bites. The dogs were wrong - I never had bed bugs at all.

I need to stress what I was thinking this entire time. I had thought that I wasn't getting more bites because of the chemicals - they were killing 'most' of them 'constantly' but not all of them. Some must be living on - but dying when they came to me. I didn't want to have an 'explosion' of them - so I was content to believe that. What was happening is that I was dealing with a foe I never had - and spending countless hours and funds into dealing with them. I need to also say that I was CONVINCED that my bites were that - insect bites. I react to different bugs in different ways (chigger bites are different than flea bites, are different than my carpet beetle allergies, are different than mosquito bites) so I was dead sure I had them based on bites alone. You can not do this though - it is very, very important you find the bed bugs before you begin the process of exterminating them.

Between the treatments and post-cleaning stuff I needed to do I must have easily spent upwards $2,250 or so. Buying a house cost me approximately $7,400 or so. I spent countless hours being terrified of spreading these bugs to everyone I cared about - so I warded away friends and family for months. I had a complete breakdown once too. All of that... and I NEVER HAD THEM EVEN ONCE. NOT FOR A SINGLE DAY.

So... please. For your sanity - consider that it may very well not be bed bugs at all but something else causing your 'bites'. It is true that you MAY have them and your efforts are keeping them under control - I too thought this way - but it MAY also be that you don't have them at ALL! It took me MONTHS to finally realize what it actually was that bothers me. I am still paranoid about bed bugs (I just got some 'bites' on the back of my legs... but these turned out to just be pimples after watching them for a few days) - but I am now a recovering paranoid 'survivor' as it were.

As for your friend getting bites - a few of my friends have gotten bites when visiting me. I have hungry chiggers laying in ambush in every blade of grass of my lawn (which must be stepped on to make it to my front door). I also have the 155th flying pest brigade of mosquitoes living in my back yard which have an amazing record for finding anything breathing and feeding. (I got bit 12 times when I was outside for 2 minutes! TWO MINUTES!). Bites alone do not a bed bug make.

I guess that's the moral of the story. Now you did find/squash something months ago - maybe you had ONE of them? Maybe it was something else? I am not sure obviously, but... do put some hope into it not being bed bugs.

- Newblood!
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 15:52:05
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Newblood,

Thank you so much for that story. Although I haven't done anything quite as rash as buying a house yet, I have spent a fair amount of hours and cash. I also scrapped a dresser and my old bed frame. But basically if my story ends up being similar and it turns out I don't have bed bugs I will be relieved just to move on...

So carpet beetles also bite then? And they were causing your two to three bites a day? How did they get past the climbup protectors?

Thanks again!

-Jon
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 16:11:25
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At one point early on in this process I found some carpet beetles, but they since seem to have been killed off from dusting/vacuuming.

A quick internet search suggests that they don't bite....

So I suppose I'm still curious about the very end of your story, Newblood. What turned out to be the real culprit?
buggyinsocal

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 16:33:11
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Technically, carpet beetles don't bite. However, don't let that technicality stop you. Carpet beetle larvae have their hair-like things that cause what looks and feels exactly like a bite when they come into contact with our skin.

If all the other signs are negative for bed bugs, and you have seen carpet beetles, I would definitely take New Blood's story to heart. Even if you did have bed bugs, which I remain unconvinced of, if you have bed bugs and carpet beetles at the same time, you're still going to need to get rid of the carpet beetles in order to later determine that any treatment for those bed bugs (if you do indeed have them too) is effective since those hair-like things will make you think you still have bed bugs.

In other words, my advice is this: Treat for carpet beetles now; clean up all of those hair-like things in the process (which is time consuming and labor intensive, but necessary), and then if you still have bites, you can worry about whether your self-treatment is knocking a really good at hiding and leaving no evidence behind population of bed bugs down or not.

Having been through a bed bug infestation myself and seeing how fast they reproduce in substantial numbers--and having seen how hard bed bugs are to treat effectively, I don't buy the idea that you've actually got a few rogues that are escaping your treatments. I think you'd have a lot more than a few. and those would start making a lot more who would also have to poop and eat, and you'd have evidence somewhere.

However, I understand how terrifying the possibility of a bed bug scare can be, so I get that it's going to take a lot more evidence than a few people on the boards telling you what we think based on the details you provide to convince you.

If that's the case, though, my previous point still stands: you'll have to eliminate all carpet beetles, larvae, and their hair like things to measure accurately whether other pests are present.

It also might be useful to search the fora for posts on carpet beetles as the topic has been pretty extensively discussed over time.
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 18:15:00
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Thanks, buggyinsocal.

I really hope it's carpet beetles.

Every week I vacuum the carpet and dust with DE around the edges of the room. Will this not kill off the carpet beetles? Or do I need to get a professional involved?

I haven't seen any carpet beetle evidence for a while now. At least three months, maybe longer. I assumed they had already died as collateral damage in my (possible) bed bug war.

-Jon
NewBlood

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 23:01:18
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Hey Jon,

Carpet Beetles aren't biting me per say - the larvae have all of these little.. hairs all over their bodies. When they molt and change into larger larvae or adult beetles the cast skins are left - the hairs break off and go scattering about in the air - and when they come into contact with me I have an allergic reaction some time later on. Live and dead ones seem to cause this to me.

I don't tend to find carpet beetles when I actively look for them - but about once a month or so I find one in my climb-ups, or notice one trying to make it's way to the ceiling. I was also coming into contact with them in my car (which played host to a carpet beetle larvae extravaganza - having 100+ of them easily under my tire storage thing in the back - which I tore apart looking for bed bugs in my car), and I've found them at work (only once, but that's enough to let me know they're there) and at my families home too. This would explain why I constantly am getting the marks no matter where I go.

Whatever it is that is bothering you I hope you find the cause - I just don't want to see someone else go down to crazy town without just cause for the trip. If you ever do find them, or discover it's something else that is the cause let us know!
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 23:11:55
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Thanks for the clarification, New Blood. This is really sounding very plausible, though haven't seen any carpet beetle evidence for a while. I definitely had them at one point and maybe those hairs are still floating around?

If you will indulge me with one more question, have you been treating for carpet beetles? How do you make sure all the hairs are gone? Is vacuuming enough?

-Jon
thebedbugresource

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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Mar 3 2011 23:55:05
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Even if you were killing them at a rate that equaled their reproduction ... where are the dead bodies? Where are the fecal stains? Where are the cast skins?

A diligent human inspector would be able to find these signs.

The squished bug could have been any number of things. The hemocoel of insects carries blood (usually yellow/green in colour) but can in some cases look reddish when squished in with other organs and "stomach and intestine" contents.

Carpet beetle larvae hairs can pose a problem for some people (but this is rare). Usually if this is occurring there are large numbers of larvae.

Stress can be a major factor in people breaking out in hives (which can resemble bites). I have seen many cases where people have worked themselves up so much about bed bugs that they break out; and they never had bed bugs to begin with.

I am at a loss for what to tell you the alternative is because I am not intimately familiar with your living space, your habits, or the situation. A dermatologist can only really help you to rule out things (i.e. allergies, rashes, etc.) and may not be able to pinpoint it either.

Sean
NewBlood

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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Mar 4 2011 11:28:16
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If you will indulge me with one more question, have you been treating for carpet beetles? How do you make sure all the hairs are gone? Is vacuuming enough?
-Jon

Hey Jon - I haven't bothered to treat for carpet beetles. Over the summer the 'bites' pretty much stopped (well... from carpet beetle larvae - I was pestered with OTHER insects instead) but then began in earnest again once the winter months started again (which is when I began finding them again). It escalated pretty bad one day when I went up into my attic - which has old carpets on the ground up there.

As for making sure their gone - they stopped occurring for a little while in the summer through no action of my own, save putting in brand new carpet in the house (which I was going to do anyway since I moved in and the old carpets were pretty nasty). Since I have zeroed in on the cause of my marks I haven't been too concerned with the larvae themselves - I kill them when I find them and am happy to know my marks are caused by them instead of bed bugs. The hairs are very very tiny and can fit between some fabrics too - so wearing clothes isn't going to stop the hairs from getting under them. I know it's weird right? But that's what happens!

Vacuuming regularly actually spreads the hairs about too - unless you are using a hepa filter (I think). I believe I was told to spray down the carpets with water to keep the hairs from floating about, but without a good plan for it it didn't really seem to do much. When I had them in my apartment I was vacuuming every day - the entire apartment - for about a month - and the marks didn't stop. Even now I keep my house pretty spiffy clean. I believe that you would need to hire a PCO to get the areas they like to stay poisoned and clean often too - to make sure no remains of them are around - and then maybe the marks will stop. If it's carpet beetle larvae causing your bites. Kinda like bed bugs though the beetles can just come back (they are outdoor insects) though - and one carpet beetle can lay ALOT of eggs. T

Their dead bodies STILL let loose with the hairs too - so ALL the dead bodies have to be found and removed or you'll have the tiny hairs floating about.

- NewBlood
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Mar 4 2011 21:50:07
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Did your carpet beetle reactions come in rows of two or three?

I get a lot of bites in rows which is part of my reasoning for suspecting bed bugs.
thebedbugresource

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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Mar 4 2011 23:39:03
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Bed bugs do not typically bite in rows, or in threes. This is a myth spread by the media.

Sean
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 5 2011 1:49:39
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Really, that's a myth? I hear it mentioned a ton on this site in particular. The whole "breakfast, lunch, dinner" thing. There's no validity to it?
jonathap

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Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 5 2011 1:52:19
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This page of this site, would seem to suggest that biting in rows is not the rule, but is still a common enough occurrence:

http://bedbugger.com/bed-bug-bites-photos/
NewBlood

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Mar 8 2011 16:18:39
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jonathap - 3 days ago »
Did your carpet beetle reactions come in rows of two or three?
I get a lot of bites in rows which is part of my reasoning for suspecting bed bugs.

Hey Jon - they DID OCCUR IN ROWS. I very much remember circling the marks on my left arm a year ago in April. The marks were all lined in up in a row - about 15 - 19 of them. They didn't appear all at once that way - but over the course of a few days/weeks. This had me convinced it was bed bugs at first too but nope - just carpet beetles. Odd eh?
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Mar 11 2011 0:12:32
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While we were in the midst of an active, confirmed bed bug infestation, my Daughter's bites were in lines of two, three, or more

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