Wondering if It's possible.... It just looked a hell of a lot like a Bedbug?

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Wondering if It's possible.... It just looked a hell of a lot like a Bedbug?

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Daze0san

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Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 1

Posted 7 months ago
Mon Jul 27 2009 15:28:32
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Hi, everyone.

I have spent the last 3 months doing lots of research on Bed bugs. My father works in the home health care field and it seems as though bed bugs are becoming quite common among his consumer's homes. They have been struggling for 2 months after a new employee admitted that he may have brought them into one property. It seems that they never actually got rid of them but just moved them along to another home.

Since I just moved into a new place less than 2 months ago and have a young daughter, I have been trying to gather as much information as I can to either prevent them or be ready if they come. I have found very little on preventing them and am guessing that there really is very little you can do to prevent them short of throwing out all your possessions, covering your home in steel and never leaving or letting any one in. Well, that may be a bit extreme but trust me I have thought about it.

I went out on to my porch today and saw a small bug that looked so much like a bedbug that I panicked and stomped on it immediately... Crushing it so badly that I was unable to get a better look at it after my hasty first reaction. In a somewhat crazy attempt at drawing another one out into the day light for a better look I emptied every bottle of bug spray I own (7 bottles in all) and even half a bottle of bleach. Yeah it's been a couple hours and of course I have seen no others.

So I guess after all of that my question is... Are there any bugs out there that resemble bed bugs? The only thing that made me doubt that it was in fact a bed bug is that it was completely black... I have no bites on me nor does anyone else in my home. Most of the ones I have seen in pictures if fed are black in their bodies but their legs are still a translucent brown. Am I just not being observant enough? Or is it possible that this bug could have been a bed bug even though none of us have bites on us? And the fact that it was outside and crawling around in the daylight was bit of a shock to me as well.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I know it's limited without an image but any guesses at what it could be could be very helpful in my researching. I just don't want to call out the exterminator if it's unnecessary.

Oh yeah, during my research I seen that bed bugs can let off a nasty smell and I was just curious how potent that could be. Since I moved into my new place there has been two places in my house that have a wretched smell and I have yet to be able to find the culprit of the odor. I have sprayed, cleaned and put out many things to get rid of or even just mask the smell and nothing has worked. Could the smell that they cause be that strong?
slowpoke

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Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 26

Posted 7 months ago
Mon Jul 27 2009 17:42:24
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DazeOsan, I don't want to minimize your concerns, but it looks like you might be letting yourself get into a bed bug panic. Once you start reading about bed bugs, and read some of the many stories on forums like this, it's pretty easy to think you might have them.

As one who's going through that myself, I just want to encourage you not to let things get away from you. It's important to be informed and prepared, but if you let it go too far, every bug and eventually every speck will look like a bed bug. That may have been the case with the bug you saw.

I've found lots of bugs in the last few weeks, and at first glance I swore to myself they were all bed bugs - especially the little black one that even bit me. It wasn't. None of them were.

About the smell, among other things that can cause a foul odor is mold.

You've already taken the most important preventative measure, by informing yourself. You can take further protective measures -- mattress and pillow encasements, etc. -- as much as you feel you need. But try to keep things in perspective.

That's my two cents. Good luck.