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Waiting on Word for Identification
(3 posts)-
paranoidhypochondriac
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 4
Posted 3 months ago
Sat Aug 8 2009 11:33:35
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Hi, all...I tried not thinking about them. Ignorance is bliss, right?
About a month ago, I started feeling itchy/skin-crawling all over, but those symptoms subsided with a visit of a friend and then a weekend spending all day in school in A/C. I figured it must've been the horrid Boston heat/humidity during that time or delusional parasitosis. The more I read, the more I itched. Tea tree oil body wash and medicated lotion help A LOT. I no longer itch.
But lately I've been noticing what looks like tiny pimples on my legs and razor burn/cuts from shaving (which I'm prone to). Then I got paranoid. Stupidly, I had gotten a couch off craigslist 4th of July weekend. I removed the original covers and bleached the crap outta the surface. No problem until the stressful week before my friend visited. Then problem went away.
But in the past week I've seen four different-looking bugs. I killed two without thinking. After reading here, one was segmented and long and looked more like the book louse (which makes sense as I have a penchant for old books). But the other deceased was small, bright red, roundish with lots of thin legs). I now have in two pill bottles a black spider thing caught in a dust bunny and a live red thing that's a doppelganger of the dead thing. So now the bottles are on their way to the Harvard School of Public Health Bug ID program (why no pics). I'm more than willing to pay the nominal fee for peace of mind as opposed to an exterminator's initial fee. My initial questions as I wait:
1)If anyone has used this Harvard service, how long did it take? Was it helpful?
2) I'm going away in 5 days to a rented house in Michigan for a wedding. I'm definitely watching that video on how to inspect a place and what reading up on what to do to protect myself from bringing any home. But while I'm away, what can I do to nab the theoretical little suckers?
3) After constantly checking the mattress seams, the box spring and shining a flashlight on the underneath of my bed at night (previous roomie's cats tore away all the black covering) I've yet to see any of the hallmark signs. Will there be more signs after being a week gone?
4) Let's say I DO have them. My landlord and the apt. have an iffy relationship. We're in a weird situation in which we have the apartment for the next year for sure, as she said she'd just amend the dates. Will it be cheaper to get her to call the exterminator/have property management deal with whatever infestation if I've signed my new lease? Would you recommend waiting until August 26, when my new roommate moves in and "discover" the issue while her parents are around and more paperwork is signed? We're in a 6-unit building connected by basement on either side to other buildings, so I want to make it adamant to her that this may not be my fault. Should I just go over her head and notify the property management company?
Please some words fortitude as I navigate this potential problem. My roommates and I are grad students living paycheck-to-paycheck with nominal savings. The dread has gotten so bad, I spend as much time away from home as possible and often feel queasy. I'm hoping the bug id's come back as something more treatable.
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spideyjg
oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,405
Posted 3 months ago
Sat Aug 8 2009 14:26:09
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Why not post pic up here? Get a digital camera with a macro function and a magnifying glass.
A good enough shot one of our PCOs or Entomologist could either ID it or at least confirm it is or isn't a BB.
Jim
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paranoidhypochondriac
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 4
Posted 3 months ago
Sat Aug 8 2009 16:04:19
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Thanks for the offer. I had already sent in the sample to the Harvard entomologists. Plus, my camera's broken! If I see one, I'll get my roommate's camera.
I only saw two : one crawling over my laptop as I was using it, and one in my sheets, around 10:30 p.m. with lights ablaze. Both were bright red. I thought BB were only so brazen during a full infestation, but there are no signs on my sheets, and I have white ones. Plus, I've been waking up a couple times a night for the past week before dawn, and each time, I shine a flashlight under my bed covers and see nothing. That at least helps me back to bed.
I've looked online for similar pictures, but all I've seen closest are red spider mites or clover mites.
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