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question about feces/stains
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I found a stain on my box spring, it is black and looks somewhat like the photos of fecal stains except that there is no dimension to it (it is more like a magic marker stain, not lumpy). I read that if you rub it with a q-tip moistened with saliva that it would smear quite easily if it were bb feces. This stain does not smear easily, if I rub it very hard I can get a tiny bit off onto the q-tip but I have to rub really hard and I don't get much, just a vague brownish. I called an exterminator for advice but they said they couldn't advise me re: stains. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Maybe bed bug or some other insect poop such as a roach. On box springs makes me believe that it may be bb. Some bb poop will look like a magic marker spot depending on the surface. poop on non treated white pine wood acts this way. Could also be dirt.
Take a picture and post it. -
Can you instruct me on how to post a photo?
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nobugsonme should be of help, PM nobugs.
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Actually, good news. Cesar from Freedom came over and said he does not think I have bed bugs. The stain was not a bed bug stain.
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Hail Cesar!
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Magic marker stains...yeah that was what i thought the "stains" on my bed were. I thought my 2 year old took a felt tip pen and made a light streak on my pillowcase..but I was wrong..another subtle bed bug sign I missed...Lol.
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I have been finding little black pepper balls in the bed. They do not stain. I usually pick them up with some clear tape and tape it to a white piece of paper. I've shown the PCO but he doesn't think that it's feces. Not sure what it is. Has anyone else found these sorts of things in bed too?
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Yes.
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Are they bedbug feces?
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I've found that, too. I would say that's probably too much of a coincidence to be nothing.
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Or one may be noticing dirt now that we have learned to inspect for bed bugs.
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We're finding them too. We read somewhere that BB feces can look like poppyseeds.
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but if you wet it wouldn't it turn into blood?
i found some black poppyseed like fecal matter and i crushed it
wet it and it did nothing -
Then it is unlikely to be bed bugs fecal material.
Mixed with a small amount of saliva it will always smear and be a dark blood colour.
If the specks crumble and do not disolve in saliva then again they are unliekly to be bed bug related.
David
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OKAY! YES SWEET!
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David.
I noticed you said saliva, I thought water or proxide would also produce blood. So what would all of us who have the poppy seed black specks have??? This is not dirt as it has been very consistent in how it looks and feels. -
Hi,
I say saliva because it is readily available to all of us and does the job well.
If you want to test positive for blood try Luminol (it’s what CSI use).
As to what these pepper flecks are I have no idea, the ones I looked at today appear to be blood but the shape and consistency make me conclude that they have not been digested by bed bugs. now it is possible that they are small drops of blood that seep out of a wound or pin hole in the skin but what causes then is the million dollar question.
At this stage I am sorry but I don’t have answers other than from what I am seeing they do not appear to be connected with bed bugs.
All the info I have on the matter has now been uploaded to a fact sheet at:
http://www.Bed-Bugs.co.uk/documentbase/pepperflecks.pdf
I am however unlikely to continue research on this subject without more samples in front of me and some way of funding the time it takes to analyse them.
David
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This is too bad as there seems to be a number of peole who do have these. This is the only thing that I have to go on, these and bites. I have never seen a bed bug.
One other thing I did coat my whole bed in vaseline and having read what you (David) wrote in another post this was not such a great idea so another question how do I remove vaseline so I can get my wooden bed sprayed??? -
Hi oceansaway,
Sorry removing vaseline you are on your own with that one. I do bed bugs not petroleum jelly products.
The best source of removal information will most likely be the manufacturers. I know it dissolves in some solvents but I am not sure if you want to use strong solvents that close to your bed.
David
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Hi David,
I had something like this, sometimes on my bedclothes. Gross.
My take is that this is something to do with what one researcher called the "micturating" of bedbugs (and accompanied with a suitably graphic photo). Nasty fact of biology. I think I have seen other pictures around of bedbugs doing this after biting. Not for the squeamish, of course.
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Hi,
I know the act that you mean although micturate is specifically to urinate.
However as I have said the samples I examined were not of the correct colour and consistency for it to have been bed bug faecal material.
I do not deny that the sample is most likely blood I am just adiment that it is not blood that has been processed by bed bugs. I had previously inspected the property myself just a few days before and it showed no signs of either faecal traces, cast skins or live samples.
As I said in the analysis the situation now seems to be clear and we might never know what caused it.
David
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Wow David, you need to start CSI London: the Bedbugs..
David, you posted on another thread about searching for fecal spots once a month on your own mattress as a preventative. I have looked and looked and can not find that thread.
If you have time, can you explain how you do your monthly check of your own bedroom. Is it simply pulling off all the sheets, looking the matress over closely, or is it more thorough, such as removing the mattress from the box spring,checking both sides, then checking the box spring then removing the box spring and checking the frame?
I truly don't mean to drive you nuts with questions.
I found those black pepper specks between my mattress a 4" tempurpedic topper. I suppose a dozen flecks on mattress but since the topper was on top of it no way it was oozing blood from bites. So you don't think those pepper flecks for faecal traces?
I always thought the pepper flecks were faecal traces...sheesh, I am so confused.Again David, thanks for any information!
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Hi bitten123,
I run two profile, ones from work and one from home, the home id is BBcoukHome which is where i think I posted the inspection comments.
The simplest explanation of what to do can be found here:
http://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/index_files/May2008BBNewsletter.pdf
David
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thank you David, that was very informative. I now understand how to check more thoroughly. I still wonder what the pepper flecks between my mattress and the tempurpedic topper were... I really thought the pepper flecks were the same as the marker type ones in confirming faecal traces. I have so much to learn.
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Hi bitten123,
Until I had some samples to "play" with the other week the pepper fleck and bite combination was something of a mystery to me. At least I now know that there is a 99% chance that they have zip to do with bed bugs.
As I have said in the PDF the problem now appears to have gone and trust me these are people who would be on the phone if there was an issue. The first call in was on my cell at 9pm one Friday evening and I attended site to inspect on the Sunday afternoon. I even offered them pick of the mattress protector samples I have in the office if it was ongoing (on the grounds it may have been a dust mite allergy). I will post back if they do get back in touch.
I did however have a case similar the other week where after an hour or so chatting on the phone I was not convinced it was bed bugs and given that it was a 6 hour drive to get to site would only take the case on as a pest inspection if she could not find a consulting entomologist and that a dermatologist ruled out all potential medical conditions. Turns out from an email today that it was in fact a medical condition and she is being treated. I have emailed asking for details and permission to write a case study about it but at 84 I don't think she reads her email as much as us posters do. I will post as and when information is available.
David
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Thanks again David, it is nice to know a detective is on the case...
You gotta love an 84 year old who can use a computer, sounds like a neat lady, glad she didn't have bedbugs after all.
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Yes she was certainly a real character. It turns out her sister was a client of mine when I first started and just before I was off the crutches. She managed to catch me at about 4:45 in the office and had me on the phone for an hour or so.
The email was a bolt from the blue as I had not taken her as a silver surfer but then again she did not sound 84 either. Had she been in London it would have been something I would have followed more closely but as a highly densely populated city it has more than it's fare share of entomological oddities and just general oddities for that matter.
David
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