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Smeary bed bug feces on sheets?
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theprey
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Joined: Mar '08
Posts: 63
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 25 2008 13:37:54
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I'm trying to figure out whether my husband and I still have bed bugs after a rental-truck Vikane gas fumigation and a move into a new apartment that was treated before we moved in. (You can read a summary of our experience here: http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/any-advice-on-how-to-pack-uhaul-for-vikane-treatment#post-22428)
I think I may still be being bitten sporadically, but I can't really tell for sure, so I'm looking to other indicators. Periodically I wake up to find a black spot on my sheets -- this morning there were two -- and when I touch them, they smear.
I've read several times the debate between David (the UK PCO) and some other commenters about whether bed bug feces would typically smear on sheets, and I can't tell whether there is a definitive answer. David seems to imply that this would be uncommon, but others seem certain that they have encountered bed bug feces that are wet and smear when touched.
Does anyone know for sure whether this can happen? Is it possible that I am seeing very dark dried blood?
I dismiss most of the dots on my pillowcase as eye makeup, because they typically come off when I wash the sheets; most of the smeary marks I'm talking about, on the other hand, are in places my eye makeup typically wouldn't reach.
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lieutenantdan
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Joined: Apr '07
Posts: 1,146
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 25 2008 13:52:04
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I believe that it all depends on how fresh the poop is. If it is old it may not smear but fresh and I believe that it will, also depends on the surface.
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theprey
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Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 25 2008 14:21:39
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In this case the only surface is my sheets, which, if I'm reading the UK PCO's comments correctly, is an unlikely surface on which to find wet bed bug poop, especially regularly. Could the poop always be fresh when I'm waking up? And if it's not bed bug feces, what would cause this sort of thing?
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Hi,
I hate to confess I have been collecting and analysing such images for a while to look for patterns and associations.
There seem to be three types of blood spots on sheets:
1 Fresh human blood (red colour) - looks identical to a scratch or blood drop
2 Possible BB faecal blood (dark brown colour) - people have sworn they were fresh that day even though they look like older oxidized blood. Possibly generated from a fresh dropping produced while feeding, I have seen a picture of this which I think Richard Naylor took.
3 Black and engrained (black colour) - once washed into a white sheet blood will often turn black.By blood spot I mean mark that you could emulate with a drop of blood falling from a cut finger and possibly getting squashed into the sheet.
I am trying to put the pictures into a PowerPoint slide presentation, some of which I may be able to make available online or via pdf. But the work load is a little extreme at the minute so bear with me.
It's a hard subject to write about because you really need to see images to get the differences in colour.
David
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theprey
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Joined: Mar '08
Posts: 63
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 25 2008 16:34:58
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I appreciate it, David. I'll take some photos of my own spots and post them. I don't think they fit any of these descriptions, exactly.
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lil_bit_obsessed
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Joined: Dec '07
Posts: 495
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 25 2008 18:18:16
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sounds a little like my experience with eye makeup. sometimes when i was too tired i would go to sleep without removing my makeup, and i would wake up to the same thing, small black smearable lumps (likely mascara) here and there around my pillow. if you want to test it, perhaps try always removing your eye makeup before bed every night, and see if the little spots continue to show up? mine didn't.
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theprey
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Posts: 63
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Apr 25 2008 18:41:04
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Thanks, lil_bit_obsessed. I do remove my eye makeup, but apparently not very skillfully. I'll try to be more diligent.
These other spots, non-pillow spots definitely aren't eye makeup, though. They're not even in places my eyes reach!
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IveBeenBugged
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Joined: Jan '08
Posts: 280
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Apr 28 2008 15:27:35
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Ok from my own experience you can indeed find blood spots (possible fecal matter) that resemble dark brownish red spots that are not dried. They will smear. They are very hard to wash out of sheets.
I have an all tile white floor and after I first found the spots on my sheets (their were dried as well as a couple still wet ones which smeared when I touched them) I moved my bed only to find the same spotting leading to the wall that the bed was against. These spots were darker than normal blood from a cut almost brown but shaped much like a drop of blood from a cut.
I had moved my bed to this wall after 5 months in the apartment and this seemed to be when the trouble started. Before that no spotting on the sheets or anywhere else and no bite marks. It was only until after I moved the bed to an oppisite wall (that adjoined to my neighbors bed on the other side of the wall) that I started having a problem. It turns out she was being bitten shortly before I was but did not know what it was.
Once again they are very hard to wash out it takes more than a few washing to get the spots out. They would wipe up off the tile easily though they would smear the first wipe.
If I hadn't noticed these spots I'm not sure I would have figured out they were bed bugs as soon as I did. I went online and search about bites and signs of bed bugs. Shortly after I found the first bed bug and had my proof. Of course the landlord says I planted the evidence and is still in denial that the problem is on going.
Hope that helps some about the marks.
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Hi,
It has taken a little while but I have just added a new file to my website detailing the slides I presented on blood spots and the different types I have encountered.
http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/documentbase/bloodspotsPP.pdf
The .pdf file does take a while to load even on high speed broadband as the pictures are all full resolution.
Please let me know if they are useful. I will try and make a few more documents available where appropriate in .pdf's. Iy certainly makes sharing them a lot easier.
David
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dawnsimonds2
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Joined: May '07
Posts: 97
Posted 1 year ago
Mon Apr 28 2008 17:15:14
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Hi David,
So are you indicating that the attached photos are ALL signs of bed bugs?
Thanks,
Dawn -
Hi,
As it says on the first page only the ones identified as faecal blood are definitive signs of a bed bug infestation.
Fresh blood spots could be from any one of many sources and old washed in spots the same. I appreciate that any blood on your sheets will be an issue but the point I am trying to make is that only one type is a posative indicator of bed bugs while the others could be bed bugs but equally could be something else.
I hope that clarrifies it.
David
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OutOutDarnBugs
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Joined: Feb '09
Posts: 164
Posted 8 months ago
Tue Mar 3 2009 23:15:57
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So, a question about the types of material: If a bug was to drop feces on a wall, say on a non-porous surface (my walls are plaster... that's non-porous, right?), wouldn't the feces ball up, rather than become smeary like they do on porous stuff, like wood?
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