Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Detection / Identification of bed bugs
Battling unseen bugs with tons of bites and finally found one. What is this?
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scaredtodeathofbbs
newbite
Joined: May '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 7 years ago
Mon May 21 2012 19:00:10
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I've been lurking for a couple of months and desperately need help.
My situation has been going on since the end of January 2012.I let a friend in a bad situation stay with me for a couple of months, sleeping on my big 80's poofy couch (with lots of potential hiding spaces). A few weeks after he started staying here, I started getting random bites. They were extremely itchy. I went to my dermatologist and she "ruled out" bed bugs, scabies and mites. She took a skin sample and looked at it under the microscope, which I think only definitively rules out scabies.
She advised me to wash everything in hot water and vacuum thoroughly, which I did.I started suspecting bed bugs after he left and I was continuously awaking with bites.
I called a PCO and they just checked my living room and found nothing.
I purchased food-grade DE and lightly dusted it around the sofas, perimeters of rooms and around my bed; cleaned all of my floors thoroughly with Murphy's oil soap (my entire apartment is hardwood floors), washed everything in hot water again, etc.I inspected everything thoroughly and pulled my box spring covering off, checked the mattress, etc. I have found a few black poppy seed type specks, but that might be anything. They were hard and did not smear. Still getting bitten.
At this point I have 100+ bites on me. I rent a Bisell cleaner and steam clean my couch and love seat. Literally, it is so poofy that a small kitten could probably live behind the cushions and I couldn't see it.
Still no sign of relief. I buy high quality mattress and box spring encasements and avoid sitting on the couch and love seat as much as possible. What do I do? These bites are all over me and intensely itchy, to the point where some of them have scaled over and I have drawn blood from scratching so much. I've used prescription cortisone creams, Prednisone, antihistamines, Benadryl, tea tree oil, oatmeal baths, etc without much relief. My boyfriend is itchy and has been bitten a few times, but not nearly as much as me. Also, my friend that was staying with me now lives in the UK and is still getting bites as well.
I finally found a live bug crawling on the ceiling but it doesn't have stripes like a bed bug.
Can you please look at the pictures of the bug and my bites and tell me what else it might be?
http://s1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg497/scaredofbbs/I'm at my wits end.
Thank you for taking the time to read my long post, I really appreciate any advice.
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scaredtodeathofbbs
newbite
Joined: May '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 7 years ago
Mon May 21 2012 19:15:33
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I forgot to mention this as well -
A couple of weeks ago I was taking care of a rash of new bites and when I turned around to put some on my back, a dark brown bug that was fairly large was on my back! I didn't get a good look at it because I flipped out and brushed it off and it left a bloody pinprick on my back.My bed has been isolated for the last couple of weeks and I made my own climb up interceptors which have caught nothing. I've also woken up several times around dawn, itchy with a flashlight and found nothing. Just the one on my ceiling and the one on my body. Ugh.
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rs1971
oldtimer
Joined: Oct '10
Posts: 755offline
Posted 7 years ago
Mon May 21 2012 19:45:06
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The bug isn't a bed bug. No one is going to be able to ID the marks on your skin, though if I had to guess I would say that they are probably some kind of non insect related allergy. In any event, if you had a bed bug population large enough to be causing all of those marks, you would almost certainly be finding evidence by now.
-rs1971
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scaredtodeathofbbs
newbite
Joined: May '12
Posts: 3offline
Posted 7 years ago
Mon May 21 2012 20:25:57
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Thank you for your response. Is it possible to have bed bugs with no sign of them for months? My boyfriend and friend are still itchy and have bites, so it seems like it wouldn't be a non-insect related allergy.
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brooklyn_bites
junior member
Joined: Apr '12
Posts: 78offline
Posted 7 years ago
Mon May 21 2012 22:52:48
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Did your doctor outrule fleas? Do you have bites around your ankles at all? This bug you found looks like some sort of beetle; nothing that would bite you.
The bug that you killed that was on you... was the blood yours or did it belong to the bug? What did it look like? Size?
I'll agree you don't have bedbugs or scabies.
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oldtimer
Joined: Nov '11
Posts: 4,863offline
Posted 7 years ago
Mon May 21 2012 23:29:33
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Your bug photo is a beetle. It is NOT a bb.
hope this helps ! paul b.
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Koebner
senior member
Joined: Aug '10
Posts: 747offline
Posted 7 years ago
Tue May 22 2012 9:39:38
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Over-use of DE (almost all amateurs &, sadly, many pros, use too much DE) can contribute to drying & sensitisation of the skin. Add stress to this & generalised skin outbreaks become more probable. You may be reacting to an environmental allergen that your body can normally ignore but the stress & the DE can make your skin more reactive to allergens. Stress alone can make an almighty mess of one's skin.
Have you run a flea trap yet? It's still statistically more likely that you have fleas than BBs. You don't need pets, just one ready-to-lay female flea wandering, or hitchiking into your home.
Have you seen a proper dermatologist? There are many conditions that can leave you looking "bitten", for example; "raindrop" psoriasis, some kinds of contact dermatitits, pruritis, many more besides.
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LupusButterfly
newbite
Joined: Jul '13
Posts: 1offline
Posted 6 years ago
Wed Jul 17 2013 14:57:54
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The insect in the photo appears to be a tick. See Google images for ticks.
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