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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Bed Bugs infest Child’s Stroller

Found in kids stroller
October 25, 2009
Hi! Today I observed several insects in the stroller where my 7 months son was sleeping. After excamining the stroller I found lots of them in different folds of the fabric aswell. I find this quite shocking and like to know what kind of insect this is. We have been experiencing lous earlier, but they’re longer and thinner than these buggers.
Trond
Norway

Bed Bug

Bed Bug

Dear Trond,
Throw the stroller away immediately and have your home or apartment checked out professionally.  This is an immature Bed Bug.  It is probably sucking your child’s blood.  There was just an article in the Los Angeles Times about using dogs to sniff out Bed Bug infestations in homes.  It is very difficult to eradicate Bed Bugs once they are established, and professional are required.

Thanks for your quick reply, although I cannot say I’m pleased. Have been running around the house whole night looking for signs of other infestations, but so far I’ve found nothing. My wife said that she’s been seeing the typical black dots in his strollers madras before, and they went off in the wash. She said she wondered why they came back, but we sure know nowL I don’t know why we’re not finding any other places they are hiding, since it has to have been there for some time. Dismounted our bed this morning, not a single sign there, nor in cracks, below or beneath it. But I sure left my wife in a state of terror knowing the bugs must be somewhere.
Regards
Trond

Comment from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The bed bugs in the baby stroller may actually be confined to the stroller.  Maybe the stroller was parked overnight at someone else’s house?  In a motel?  Hostel?  If baby is in the stroller with any regularity, then the bed bugs would have no reason to leave the stroller to look for another “host.”  The parents need to consider where else the stroller has been, and notify the other family or lodging establishment.  Bed bugs have been found on planes, trains (and automobiles?), so it is not out of the question to consider a stroller as another kind of vehicle.
Eric

Posted 25 October 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Bed Bug

Do I have bedbugs??
September 27, 2009
For about the past two weeks, I’ve been getting at least one bite per night. I don’t know what it is! Help!
The bites started mostly on my lower body with a few on my hands. The first few nights I woke up with severe itching and several bites – more than a dozen each night! The bites went from the soles of my feet and in between my toes to the backs of my calves and seemed to culminate in a giant cluster on my hip that swelled up to about the size of an Oreo cookie – it looked like a group of 6 or so bites. A couple mornings later I woke with a handful scattered just below my collar bone. I’ve had a few on my arms and one on my stomach, but I’ve lucked out and haven’t gotten any on my face (knock on wood).
At first the itching lasted a few days but for the last 3-4 days, the itching has been isolated to one day, is not as severe, and I have only been getting a single bite per night. As the bites have healed, they have left an area of hyperpigmentation… I can still see where the bites I got in the beginning were – they almost look like little bruises now, but they’re not tender.
I only got bit when I slept in my bed – I slept on the couch one night (I just couldn’t stand the bites anymore!) and was bite free! My husband has not gotten ANY bites, though!! Could whatever’s biting me prefer my blood to his? Are they maybe just on my side of the bed?
We have set off a bug bomb and changed the sheets. I also gave my cat a flea treatment just in case. Interestingly, I have been finding scabs around her collar (maybe a coincidence?) – this started a few days before I started getting the bites, but I have not seen the cat scratching herself. We also put out some adhesive rodent/insect traps, but have not caught anything on them.
Today I found a strange little bug that I’d never seen before. I found it on my knee… crawling about on my jeans in the middle of the day. I saved it in a cup and my husband took a photo when he got home. You can see our little bug in the photo next to a dime and the head of a pin. It’s super tiny and mostly round, about the size of a sesame seed. No wings. Six legs. Brownish, kind of opaque. Do you think this critter is the culprit? Can you tell me what he is? I was thinking maybe a baby bedbug… but obviously I’m no expert! I kind of hope that’s not what he is because where there’s babies, there’s got to be grown-ups!
I am sick of these bites and want the bugs GONE! Thanks so much!
Tarra
Astoria, Queens, NY

Immature Bed Bug

Immature Bed Bug

Hi Tarra,
We agree that this is an immature Bed Bug.  You can see a photo on BugGuide that matches.  During the day, Bed Bugs hide from the light, and they can be found between the mattress and box spring, between the base board and the wall, and behind pictures hung on the wall.  Good luck with the eradication.

Immature Bed Bug

Immature Bed Bug

Eric Eaton comments
September 30, 2009
Daniel:
The couple with the bed bugs needs to seek a professional extermination service, or have the landlord do so if they are renting.  Bed bugs are one of the few household pests that really requires the professionals.  The eradication process is very invasive, though, as you literally have to take apart the bedroom and furniture to get to the bugs.  Be prepared for at least three visits from the exterminator, and probably more to guarantee the success of the effort.
As for Tarra’s husband not getting bitten:  he is, he just isn’t reacting to the bites.  Every person’s immune response is different, and clearly Tarra is more sensitive than her hubby.  She should make sure her symptoms don’t worsen, and see a physician if they do.
Lastly, bed bugs often ignite legal warfare as well, as landlords seek to hold tenants responsible, even if they are not the ones who introduced the bed bugs.  So, I always recommend seeking legal advice when approaching this kind of problem.  Yes, good luck with the eradication!
Eric

Posted 28 September 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Bed Bugs in France

Are these Bed Bugs?
Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 4:39 AM
I found some bugs in my bed a few months ago and concluded that they were bed-bugs. I found a lot of them under the matress, so I sprayed an insecticide to get rid of them.
They seem to be back, but much smaller now. In the photo, you can see one larger bug (which I guess is a bed-bug), and two smaller ones. Are these just young bed-bugs, or something else?
Tim
Paris, France

Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs

Hi Tim,
Sadly, your identification is correct.  All three insects in your photo are Bed Bugs, and their immature status indicates you must have breeders nearby as well.  Ordinary spray insecticide will not rid your place of Bed Bugs.  You should seed professional assistance for the eradication of your infestation.  If you rent a flat, inform the landlord.  Bed Bugs often hide under the mattress, behind pictures, and between the baseboards and the wall.  Consult BugGuide for more information on Bed Bugs.  Since Bed Bugs feed on blood, they are most troublesome.

Posted 04 July 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Bedbug

Short, Flat, Red, and Tiny
Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 11:04 PM
Recently my girlfriend and I have been finding these in our apartment every few days, and we’re a little concerned. We took two photos:
I squished one in kleenex the other day and it seemed like lots of blood was inside of it.
Save us from the insect overlords,
San Francisco, CA

Bedbug

Bedbug

Dear Sir or Madam,
You and your girlfriend have cause for concern. This is a Bedbug, and indications are that there is currently an epidemic of Bedbug infestations in many large cities. Bedbugs feed on human blood, and they can survive for long periods of time without a meal. Bedbugs often hide by day under the mattress, between the wall and baseboards, or under picture frames. They emerge at night when the human inhabitants are asleep. The bite of a Bedbug can get red and itchy, but often the first indication of an infestation is the dark stains on the sheets from the bug’s excrement. The Bedbugs also emit a foul musty odor. Bedbugs can be difficult to eradicate.  On a positive note, Bedbugs are not known to be disease vectors.

Posted 04 March 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Bed Bug

Bed bug?
Good Morning,
A guest came across this little fellow in bed – is it indeed a bed bug? size is tiny, about 2 or 3 mm Many thanks!

Most people that write thinking they have Bed Bugs really have pantry beetles or carpet beetles. The good news is that you have correctly identified your Bed Bug. The bad news is that there are probably more.

Posted 12 May 2008 § ‡ Comments (0) °

More Information on Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs
I love your site. There’s an unbelievable amount of information there. I have a new bed bug site and was wondering if I could be included on your links page. Obviously, I would be happy to return the favor. http://www.bed-bug.org Thanks,
Rob

Posted 19 March 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Bed Bug Information

Bed Bugs (Cimex lectularius)
Dear Bugman
I have just been reading your page on Bed Bugs (Cimex lectularius) and can tell you Bed Bugs do travel on hosts having myself been a transport for some. Many of my colleagues have also had incidents with them. They are the largest cause of Delusitory Parasitosis within our industry. Early identification is the only way to stop heavy infestations as a female can lay 3-5 eggs per day once fed. 200-300 in two months. Blood smears or stains on bed sheets is a very good warning sign, as well as black specs to the joints of furniture as they swell up to twice their normal size having fed. So when getting into their harborages after feeding will excrete some blood that dries to a black tear drop shaped mark. They will normally harbour 20cm away from a possible host. The nymphs will feed on excreted blood, so will not always bite. Back to their traveling, recently I have been involved in the insect monitoring in a world renowned Museum with a textile insect pest problem. We have found Bed Bugs on our insect detectors in the galleries, so someone visiting the museum has them on them. Lastly and for me one of their most amazing habits is that they can go up to a year without feeding. So you could go to sleep in a bed no one has slept in for six months and they will get you. Regards
Mark Walsh
Rentokil Pest Control

Hi Mark,
Thanks for all swell information.

Posted 19 March 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Looking for people with bed bugs

Hi,
Thanks for your interesting and informative Web site. I saw that you have a few postings on your site about bed bugs. I am a reporter with The Baltimore Sun and I am writing a story about the increasing prevalence of bed bugs in Maryland. I have spoken with many exterminators and entomologists, but I would also like to speak with regular people who are dealing with bed bug problems. Could you please post my phone number (410-332-6129) and email (julie.scharper@baltsun.com) on your Web site and invited people to contact me with their bed bug stories? Thank you very much.
Julie Scharper
City Desk Reporter
The Baltimore Sun
(410) 332-6129

Posted 02 March 2006 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Blood on Sheets sign of Bedbugs!!

Bedbugs
I sent you an email befor you got the extra bandwidth. In fact after I sent the email I was not able to view your site again untill tonight. I would hate to think it was my email that broke your bandwidth limits. At any rate, I don’t belive you received my email as most of your other emails seem to be posted/replied to very quickly. That being said I will do the best I can to reconstruct my email. Please feel free to omit/change any parts of this email as you see fit. BTW, your page loads are much faster now.
When I was younger I studied entomology, and even won second place for my display at the state fair. That is why I was very suprised that I had no idea what I was looking at when I saw bed bug for the first time. Your site helped me identify them. It was nice to be able to see all of the different variations and stages of growth. I also w anted to make a small contribution to the knowledge base. One of the signs of an infestation (according to annother web site my girlfriend visited) is small streaks/smears of blood on the sheets. I observed this in my own case, but did not think much of it (although I guess I should have been a little bit more curious about it). I attached a few pictures of my sheets, I don’t know if they will be of any use as they are not very clear since the only camera I had at the moment was my camera-phone. Perhaps they will help someone out though. I’m guessing it happes when I roll over in my sleep and I inadvertantly squash them. And I presume the bigger streaks are from bigger bugs, or ones that have been eating better.
I have never seen a web site with this much information and this many pictures. It is a great web site and I intend to continue using it. Thanks…
Neely
Baltimore, MD

Hi Neely,
Thanks for the information. The streaks are most likely digested blood that has been eliminated by the bedbugs. Here is what Hogue writes: “When indoors, the Common Bedbug feeds exclusively on human blood, invading the bed at night for its meals. Although the bite may cause immediate pain in some individuals, the first indication of its presence is often only dark stains on the bed sheets from the bug’s excrement or the itching of bites the next day. Heavy infestations of bedbugs also are accompanied by a characteristic disagreeable musky odor that comes from the bugs’ scent glands, which are similar to those possessed by Stink Bugs. Some people assume that the source of infestation is dirt or old colthing, and these mistaken ideas probably stem from the bug’s ability to withstand long periods without food. Infestation always begins, of course, by introduction from other preexisting infestations. and the bug easily finds transportation on clothing, bedding, or overstuffed furniture. During the day Bedbugs hide in crevices in walls and floors, behind wall decorations, and in furniture.”

Update (12/20/2005)
Eric Eaton just provided the following information: “I attended a symposium about them, and they leave behind sticky black speckles when they defecate. I have heard nothing about blood continuing to run after their feeding, so I doubt that this occurs. The wound resulting in the stains must be due to something else. Bed bugs are already problematic and set to get much worse globally. Anyone travelling, or considering purchasing mattresses and boxsprings (especially used), should be alerted to this menace.”

Posted 10 December 2005 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Bedbug INFESTATION

Bed Bug Species and Solutions BugMan,
One of my pictures is a juvenile and the other an adult (or elder juvenile). I know these are from family Cimicidae. Can you tell from the picture whether they are human bed bugs, or a species that prefers birds/bats?

If it is one of the latter, I may be tempted to head to the roof to seek out roosting flyers. I have only seen them on the walls, and my mattress looks uninhabited, yet I have snagged about 60 juveniles and 5 adults off the wall/ceiling. I have noticed around 10 bites over the past two weeks that may be due to them, but that doesn’t seem like enough to sustain them all. Since realizing the bed bug problem, I have isolated my bed from the walls and other furniture, and I have tried to make the legs of the bed unappealing with some household insecticide at the base and some duct tape sticky-side-out part way up. If they were indeed not in the mattress, and were prevented from traveling up the legs, would I still be in danger? I know they can crawl on the ceiling, so are they crafty enough to drop down onto the bed to feed? Any help or advice would be most appreciated.
Nathan in Saint Louis, MO
P.S. Best case scenario for me is to keep this info from my landlord for a while, for reasons too detailed to go into. However, I wouldn’t want someone else in the building to inherit my problem or for the problem to become unmanagable. My hope is that these bugs are primarily interested in bats or birds, and that the bug problem may go away if those animals do. Or, that I can take measures to eradicate them myself.
P.P.S. You perform a great service. Kudos to you.

Hi Nathan,
Sorry for the delay but you seem to have a rational approach to the situation. Had your letter not been so detailed, we would have simply responded with an affirmative Bedbug identification. We checked with Eric Eaton to see what he could tell us about the species. Here is his response: “Wow, great image! Hope it makes its way to BugGuide eventually. It is absolutely impossible to identify even the GENUS without putting specimens under the microscope. Subtle details like the patterns of setae (hairs) are among the only clues as to what they are. He should submit specimens to the county health department and/or county extension service for an accurate ID. This could have lots of implications, from landlord negligence to bat conservation issues, so it really needs to be addressed. Sorry I can’t be of more help myself. Eric” So Nathan, in closing, we echo Eric’s advice to seek out the County Health Department. Being unsure what your reasons are for keeping this from the landlord, we really feel he should know. This story is not being posted on our homepage, but going directly to the Bedbug archive in an attempt to reduce hysteria among the desperate homemakers in our readership.

Posted 11 July 2005 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Bedbug, most likely

Help with a bug please
Hey i was hoping you could help me identify this bug and give me some help on what i can do to get rid of them. The bug is a brownish red color, pretty small, 4 legs from what i could see. When i killed one it was definately full of red blood. Human blood i would imagine. They are crawling all over my bed and have been biting me leaving me with an itch that usually lasts until the morning. I tried using a bug gas bomb to get rid of them but had no luck. I took a picture to help. Thanks alot.
David

Hi David,
Your photo isn’t detailed enough to be certain, but the general outline of the culprit as well as your description leads us to believe you have Bedbugs, Cimex lectularius. According to Hogue: “The species may be recognized by its small size (its length is about 3/16 to 1/4 inch), dusky red color (which changes to bright red when the bug is ingesting blood), and flatness. It is entirely wingless, even as an adult. When indoors, the Common Bedbug feeds exclusively on human blood, invading the bed at night for its meals. … During the day Bedbugs hide in crevices in walls and floors, behind wall decorations, and in furniture.” Seek professional help.

Posted 06 June 2005 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Really Stinky

Hello, my name is Kat and I live in Bakersfield California in the country. Recently I have found small skinny black bugs that smell really bad when crushed. They are really annoying me because at night if I lift the covers there is always one or two crawling around. What can they be? And more importantly, how can I kill them? They might live in the cotton fields around my house or in the alfalfa. There are almond trees too. Any help would be appreciated!

Not so good Kat. They sound like Bedbugs which will bite.

Posted 08 June 2004 § ‡ Comments (0) °

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