Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Uncategorized
will they hide in plain sight?
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itchyincharmcity
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Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 262
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 12 2007 15:20:59
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Friday night I began the neverending laundry, and for the first time I found live bugs. But they were not in my clothing. I noticed some small bugs hanging out on the wall, actually at the very top of the wall in the 90-degree angle where it meets the ceiling.
I picked them up with a piece of tape, about 6 of them. One suddenly ran really fast and got away, it scared the carp out of me. Id idn't expect it to be that fast. I am not certain they are bed bugs, they are so tiny and not exactly like the photos. Probably because they are photos of live bugs and mine are sort of squished. I think they could be nymphs, they're the right size and color. I found one that is long like the live fed adult but it could also be a piece of fuzz. I will save them for the PCO to examine on Friday.
However, I thought that they like to hide out in nooks and crannies. These guys were hanging out in the open, on the wall opposite the bed. I guess the wall/ceiling is kind of nook but it was not at all secluded.
So, bug experts, I ask you: is this typical bedgbug behavior? Will they sit around where they can be easily spotted?
Thanks.
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paulaw0919
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Joined: Jul '07
Posts: 1,034
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 12 2007 21:53:30
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I don't think that sounds like typical bed bug behavior.
Was this during hte day or evening?
Yes I would show your samples to the PCO. I would not give them to him to keep but I Definately would send them out to an entomologist for confirmation one way or the other. -
They don't usually hang around in daylight, in groups.
This can be a sign of a large infestation.
It can also be a sign that someone used something that "flushed them out" of their hiding spots. If a PCO had treated your home, they might have used something like that.
Are you in a multi-unit building? If so, a neighbor may have used a fogger or their PCO may have used a flushing agent.
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itchyincharmcity
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Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 262
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Nov 13 2007 11:58:20
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Yes, I am in a multi-unit building. When I told the manager I feared bedbugs he gave no indication that anyone else had them. But I suppose it is possible my neighbor called their own PCO or set off their own bomb rather than go thru proper channel.
"Atypical behavior" sounds good, but the words "large infestation" strike fear into my heart. I have not found anything in or on my bed, nor in any of the clothing and trash I have dealt with in the last few days. I did find one very flat, very dead brown bug in between some papers and books, not a good sign. I have not been bitten in ten days, which is encouraging, and I think I would react becasue I was super-itchy the last time.
So I am assuming I have them until I hear otherwise. Even if the PCO says they are not bedbugs I will try to use the bites to get him to spray, because now I am so scared that I won't ever get any sleep until I'm treated.
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angie
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Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 399
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 26 2007 12:21:48
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I know for a fact that bed bugs are seen during the day. I have actually watched them try to find a spot to hide but unfortunately they didn't make it. I believe that they get lost in a sense and then are trying to find any spot to hide until night. I have seen them at 10a.m. to 5p.m. and they were always on the move. Yes, we have a heavy infestation in a multi unit building and the other tenents and the property manager who lives in our building all are denying any bugs. They are content with living with the bites and the yuck! We are the only family constantly complaning and the only ones who have been srayed numerous times.
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lieutenantdan
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Joined: Apr '07
Posts: 1,162
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 26 2007 13:16:19
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Have you samples confirmed by an entomology department like Harvard. I have seen samples of brown-banded roach nymphs that can resemble bed bugs. One needs more than 10x magnification to really see these suckers and professional experience to confirm.
Roaches do like to hang out where you found your samples. Do send them to an entomologist for confirmation. And of course I do believe they could be bed bugs. Get confirmation and please let us know. -
itchyincharmcity
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Posts: 262
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 26 2007 16:16:37
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Of course my PCO snatched the samples, what is with that? I have seen a lot of people say that the PCO took them. I was so anxiety-ridden that I didn't even notice until he was gone. Why would they want that? I find it hard to believe they run back to their office and whip out the microscope. Anyway, I had to hunt down some more bugs and it was not easy, In the last week I could only find four and I swear no two looked the same. But I am sending them off to Harvard right now.
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lieutenantdan
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Joined: Apr '07
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Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 26 2007 16:24:46
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itchyincharmcity,
I will tell you one possibility why they want the bugs. Because if they are not BBs they could say that they are and rip you off.
Too bad but it is how things work at times in the good old US of A. -
parakeets
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Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 913
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 26 2007 16:42:04
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I met a woman who told me her bedbugs (she had bedbugs decades ago before they disappeared from the USA for a while) used to congretate in the corners of the ceiling of her apartment. Mine certainly went up to the ceiling, but they tucked themselves into the crown molding and ceiling light fixtures. I saw more bedbugs during the day than I did at night, probably because I was sleeping at night.
Is the laundry in the basement of your building? The bedbugs would get no meals by going "down" and the spot where they are congretating in the laundry room might be the closest they can get to their nightly meal (an apartment above). Unless people sleep in the laundry room--and some buildings do have that problem--the bedbugs will be travelling "up" for dinner.
PCOs might just have taken the samples to study them. A lot of companies have an entomologist or other expert that they consult with. I hope there was no other reason, though if it is the landlord's PCO, who knows?
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itchyincharmcity
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Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 262
Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 26 2007 16:48:18
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Laundry's on one, I live on four, so I hope they are not living on all the floors in between!
While I feel OK about the tech who showed up tpday to treat, the inspector was a bit sketchy. He looked at my samples and said "I don't have my reading glasses but yeah, those are bedbugs." I think the fact that I reported a bug bite plus the fact they they have been in the building in the past was enough for him, he didn't even need to see them.
Yes, the PCO has a contract with the building, visits every Friday. He told me he doesn't even know what they charge. She the $$$ angle is a possiblility. Id on't care, I am so freaked out I just wan tmy pesticides!
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LEStenant
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Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 6
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Nov 27 2007 20:57:59
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I actually once saw a bedbug crawl across my kitchen counter and hide on the outside of a coffee mug where the handle meets the cup. It was a brown cup, and if I hadn't seen it happen, I never would have spotted it there. My apartment is small, but no one sleeps in the kitchen! They can and do go everywhere.
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cosbear
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Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 75
Posted 2 years ago
Tue Nov 27 2007 23:48:51
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Howdy y'all:
When I first found out I was infested we had bugs real bad. We found out later that they had come from the apartment next door after those people moved out because of the bugs without telling anyone about them. So when they came it seems they came in a pretty big wave. In that building they could just walk under the walls from one apartment into the next. To make matters worse we were two bachelors living together and though we kept common areas very tidy and the kitchen and bathroom spotless. We were two guys after all.
The thing I hate most of all to admit is that I sleep in over sized t shirts and full length sweat pants and socks most all the time. I washed my pillow cases once a week when I did laundry, but felt the sheets didn't need to be washed more than once every month or two since my bare skin almost never touched them. I'm blushing now. So it took a couple months before I noticed them in my bed. By then there were lots of them hiding under the sheets and on the mattress cover. They were all sizes and I could see where they had been hatching. There were lots of egg casings and exoskeletons. Funny thing was at that time I didn't have much of a reaction to the bites and thought I had a rash. Over time my bite reactions got much worse. That was the only time I ever saw them congregated. All the other ones I saw were always alone.
Of course I had never seen one before that and even if I had I wouldn't have known what it was or worried that it was a parasite. I've seen many similar looking bugs outside that are plant eaters. The first morning I found them we stripped both our beds bagging the bed clothes and went to the laundromat where they had big washers and dryers. I also had stripped off my mattress cover. That day we isolated our beds it was easy for my bed but not so successful for my roomates, but we didn't know much yet. The next day we got our first treatment and I swear after that they were everywhere. I have seen them in every room of our old apartment. At first I was catching 20 or 30 a day at least. On the carpet, on the walls, the ceilings and just about every piece of furniture they could climb. I saw them in the day and in the night with the lights on or off. They often would get in the crease where two walls came together or where the wall met the ceiling.
I think the fact that I wake up just before dawn when they are supposed to be most active every morning whether I want to or not helped me to spread them all through the apartment. I'd get up and go to the bathroom and then turn on the coffee maker and go sit on the couch and watch the news. I don't know how it is possible that I didn't notice them I guess I'm in quite a fog when I wake up. So our less than a year old living room furniture got very infested with the hitchhikers.
It was getting pretty cold out at the time and every time I was out of the apartment for a few hours I would turn off the heat and open the windows. When I would come back I would find 10 or 15 of them on the ceilings spread throughout the apartment. My best guess is they were going to the place that was the warmest. I kept doing it because it drew them out and I could catch them. While there was still a lot of them it worked every time I tried it. Another thing I noticed was that they would come up the wall behind my computer desk. I think that was because I was breathing right at that wall. Of course they couldn't get me that way and of course I caught every one of them. They could have just come across the floor and climbed my leg. I think they were attracted to the carbon dioxide though.
It was during that time I learned of the wonders of packing tape. I was a great way to catch them without getting blood on the white walls or the furniture. On the ceiling I would use a stick with a rolled over piece of tape on the end. I didn't want any to escape and that tape is so sticky it made it easy to catch every one. That first couple of weeks I could just sit in one place and watch them them come for me. I could see them from accross the room and watch them walk right up to me and start up my sock. Reach down and catch them.
It was a living nightmare. Thank God my bed was secure because it was the only time I relaxed at all. I hope no one here ever has them that bad. My roommate has never had a reaction to a bite, but that experience has caused him to have bb nightmares ever since. They are a lot fewer and farther between these days but he still has them sometimes. He had never even noticed them either until I tore his bed apart and showed them to him. I guess we are a couple of nonobservant old coots eh. Later... cos
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Sticky packing tape rules! Then you can stick them to paper and scan and document them if you like... Who says I'm obsessive?
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cosbear
junior member
Joined: Nov '07
Posts: 75
Posted 2 years ago
Wed Nov 28 2007 9:01:02
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Great idea NotSoSnug that one never occurred to me. Later... cos
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