Pest Control - Re: Bed Bugs? or something else?

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Re: Bed Bugs? or something else?

tforms1@yahoo.com

2006-06-03, 2:21 am

> Bedbug bites will usually occur in places where you have tight fitting
> clothing on.......They don't very often bite out in the open in places like a foot or
> just on your arm they will usually be where your arm was touching something

Really? Why is this the case?

> In luggage, soiled clothing, just about anything they can catch a ride on
> they will catch one. Trust me they don't care if it is first class or coach
> seating they will take what they can get.

I left my luggage in the trunk.
I will took out the clothing tomorrow and wash them.
The other stuff in my luggage I will inspect then bring into the house.
The suitcase itself I will put in a garbage bag and leave out in the
sun for a few days. (read about that online) to hopefully kill any
bugs.

> Bedbug bites look likes a wagon wheel they are red with a pale white center
> with spokes coming from the center towards to outer edge. Very distinctive
> and easy to tell what they are if you have ever seen one before. I guess the

Really? interesting.
Like I said, I looked at pictures (google images) and bed bug bites,
mosquito bites, hives, rash, dermatitis herpetiformis, ALL look the
same! lol.

All the bites look the same: small about the size of a medium pimple.
Looks just like a minor mosquito bite, or a clogged pore.
Some have a little crusty tip because I have scratched them so much,
some burst.
The only one that looks different is the one on my left bicep, its
about the size of a penny and is crusty, because I scratched that the
most.

> Doctors you have went to haven't ever seen one and that could be why they
> don't know how to ID yours. There are many doctors that have never seen a BB

Well, the dermatologist thought it was exczema first, then she saw all
the bites on my chest/stomach (about 12) and she said she is not sure
what it could be.
She said it could be bed bugs.
She took a biopsi of 1 of the bites to see whats happening (will know
in 2 weeks)

The big test is this:
this weekend at home and next week at a different hotel.
If I have more bites after this weekend and next week, then it most
likely are not bed bugs and is something else. Allergic reaction?
Skin problem?

I just hope I didnt bring any bugs home last weekend.

Thanks!

bugs@bugs.com

2006-06-04, 5:21 am

Chris has ask you some very interesting questions and you have responded
with some even more interesting answers so I am going to allow him to
address those.

What I am going to do is address some of your issues that you have brought
up in various posts. I am doing it in this post so sorry to say you will not
have the posts here to apply them to, but I feel you will know what they are
in reference to.

1) How is it that you stayed in these rooms for most of the year and didn't
get bit and all of a sudden you started getting bites? Bedbugs can lay
dormant for up to a year without feeding, because of this many PCO's will
think they have killed them out and will stop doing a service for them
allowing them to regain in strength. Again I am referring to Dr Harold
Harlan when I say this he was gone and had no one to feed his BB for almost
a year and he thought they would all be dead when he got to them and to his
surprise they were for the biggest part alive and doing well. So you stayed
in a room that could have had them they just didn't bite you for a long
period of time and you were lucky.

2) Why do they only bite around areas of tight fitting clothing? They feed
along areas of clothing around places like the elastic or the waistband or
in tight fitting areas, they also feed in areas where a sheet will lay
against the body, this creates a higher temperature area and a higher
humidity area because of sweat. The ideal areas for BB to feed is an area in
the temperature range of 83 to 90 degrees F. They also like a humidity range
of between 75 to 80%, these conditions are better met in the places I
mentioned than they are on an open leg where air conditioning can get to
them. They do not like cool air and will not feed in it. In fact you can
freeze BB's out but that is a radical treatment requiring below freezing
temperatures for more than a month. Heat is another way to get rid of BB's.

3) You said you found 4 bugs a Spider a Sow bug and a small white bug and
another bug. Bedbugs in the nymphal stage are a whitish color some call it
clear but it is actually a pale white color, so you may have found a nymph
BB. They are flat and look somewhat like an apple seed when they have their
first blood meal they will turn color to the brown or reddish brow color
they will stay.

4) You looked under the pillows and didn't see anything. I don't imagine you
did, that isn't where you would have seen anything, take the mattress up and
look under it, look under the box springs up inside them. Take the headboard
off the wall and look behind it, look along the baseboards, look in just
about everyplace you would not think to look then once you have looked the
place over real good start over and do it again. I am saying this simply
because you are not trained to know what to look for, not out of
dis-respect. Here is some of what you may see, and this will also be another
of your questions answered. BB's will feed to a point where sometimes they
cannot get back in the crack or crevice they usually hide in so they need to
expel a little of the blood meal, so you will see some small spots of blood,
not large ones like you cut yourself but small ones like you nicked yourself
and it almost bled. Also they leave behind droppings they are a rust color,
those will be just about anywhere, the blood stains could be just about
anywhere, they also expel some of their last blood meal while feeding to
make room for the new blood meal so stains are left due to that. You may
find eggs, a female will lay eggs, she attaches them to the underside of the
mattress with a cement like material and they are white with a small light
brown tip on them. She can lay 1 to 5 eggs per day with about 200 to 500 in
a lifetime, so if they have been there for a longtime there could be quite a
few egg sacs that are already hatched that you will see. The odor BB's will
leave is from a scent gland on their hind part or the coxae, this is what
trained professional can smell.

5) The bites all look the same, as you stated you have scratched them to the
point of having scabs on them so at this point they would all look the same.
You wouldn't be able to determine if it was a BB bite by looking at it
because of the scab, it probably has the markings covered up. But I must say
I can just imagine what you are going through and they are pretty painful so
I don't blame you for scratching them. Also BB's will usually bite in a row,
several bites to complete one blood meal so it could have been one bug
biting you or it could have been a couple biting, I would guess it was
different ones biting in different areas, say the ones on your bicep was one
bug, the ones on your chest one bug, etc etc.

6) You stayed in room 6 and 8 or something like that tells me that this is a
smaller motel/hotel. I would say that when the Pest Control comes around
they don't go into every room, especially if it is occupied, am I correct?
Have you ever seen a Pest Control Company there? I would say they don't go
into every room and by not doing so they are not getting rid of the problem
nor are they ever going to get rid of it. My suggestion to you would be to
find another Hotel and see if things change at least for your next stay.

7) At your home I wouldn't take any chances by trying this myself I would
call a professional and allow them to handle this. However if you want to do
it you will need to use something other than just the DE, get you some
Suspend SC and a sprayer, you will also need a hand duster and a small
container of Drione Dust. Use the Drione in all the cracks and crevices
where the tip of the hand duster will fit again look the place over again
and again for places to put this stuff. Don't be scared to look in
nightstand and other furniture as well. Then once you have put out the dust
us the Suspend mixed according to the label and spray it according to the
label. I know this all may sound confusing and if it does that is why you
should allow a Professional to do it, but if you choose to do it good luck.

8) Could it be Hives, rash or dermatitis? That my friend is for a doctor to
figure out, not us Pest Control Operators, however it is very possible it
could be but you should see a Doctor about that, if they say it is then take
their advice and see what happens if it gets better then good for you, if it
doesn't then you will have your answer. In all of the training I have gotten
in my better than 15 years in this industry the one thing that people keep
drilling into us is we are not Doctors and do not try to make a medical
judgment, so I am going to go with my training and not make a judgment, but
I will refer you to a doctor and let them make that call for you. I hope you
can respect that.

I hope this answers some of your questions. If you have more please post
them and let us know.

--
I wish you all the best
Tim Wise

www.onepest.com
www.askourpros.com

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