Bed bug bites usually appear some time after the bite, usually within 1 or 2 days. I only had a brief skirmish with them, I noticed myself itching in the afternoon at work. They actually bite in the early AM hours (like 4-5) except in unusual or very severe cases.

The bites should only appear where your skin is exposed while sleeping. Occasionally one may crawl up a sleeve, but they shouldn’t appear anywhere you’re covered. (You might have something else instead of or in addition to bed bugs. If your visitor didn’t stay overnight but got bit, it’s likely that it’s something other than bedbugs)

There are many things that bite, what distinguishes bedbugs are that they look and feel just like mosquito bites (and except for the itch/allergic reaction, never cause any other illness), and the pattern of bite appearances is key to identification (both in terms of time and location). To name a few other bugs I’ve encountered, there are fleas, chiggers, and mites.

Now that I’m home, I’m terrified to sleep in my bed. We washed the bedsheets and mattress pad and I vaccuumed the carpet. Unfortunately we don’t have a small vaccuum so I have to either heft the Hoover onto the mattress or wait for my grandma’s Dirt Devil tomorrow.

I’m afraid to sleep on the bed: partly because of paranoia, partly because of what I might find tomorrow morning. I suppose if there are terrible blotches tomorrow I’ll photograph them and post them.

I have never had this problem till he started staying at these hotles. What can I do and use I’m getting married tuesday and my legs look horrible my dress is a semi short one! Help what kind of sprays do they have as well as stuff for my legs!!!!!

I will be sure as to post a pic of the bites tonight!

Thanks for your excellent site!
Three weeks ago I went on holiday. When I awoke after the first night in the accommodation I saw insects crawling on my bed. I was very lucky the sun was streaming in directly onto the sheets as the room was dark. I touched one of these little black spots and there was a tiny streak of blood on the white sheet! What?
I had not felt any bites and in fact did not see anything for two days. I began to suffer from a blinding headache and felt very ill and hot.

The night of the second day in the unit I stepped out of a hot shower and saw my body covered in CLUSTERS of red welts just starting to swell and itch.
I was very lucky to find an after hours doctors who recognized the bites immediately, he told me to tell the managers of the accommodation. I explained I had done that the first morning, but they had disbelieved me to the point of calling me a lier! The doctor said I must go back as the owners had a responsibility to investigate and treat this infestation. They refused to believe me so I went to the local council environmental health officer who took it very seriously. I asked her to send her entomologists which she did the next day - definitive diagnosis very bad infestation of bed bugs.

The second week the doctor diagnosed my condition Severe TYPE IV Allergic Reaction to the bed bug toxin. Not everyone gets this thank God, but I was very ill and almost wanted to end it I felt so down. It also affected my immune system he said as I had to take masses of harsh medication. This had flow on effects to other health conditions.

I read others on this great site talk about “the Nightmare” - I agree it was very nasty and I felt disbelieved and quite “crazy”. I have scars where from the bites, and I had to bag and bin many nice items which were damaged or could not be treated. But the worst thing was being treated with such cruelty and disrespect.

I have lived, worked and travelled around the world, across all the continents and I have never had this happen to me before.
It was a bad experience and I thank you very much for this site - it is very comforting to read exactly the same symptoms as mine, I often thought I was going mad - I was told I had brought it on myself or made it up or exaggerated the terrible itching and swelling and bites, although I knew all this was untrue, to be honest I had started to believe it. Now I know other folk out there have been through the same I feel so much more normal and even a little sane!

Many many thanks
T’na
Brisbane
Australia

I have treated myself with antibiotics to get the bites to heal up. I also used an OTC poison oak/poison ivy medication that is made to “dry up” the weeping pus from those rashes. At the time, my bites were doing just that and the cream made a HUGE improvement within just a few hours of application. The itching I have to treat with benedryl. The hands/feet itching is pretty much gone.

Since I’ve done all the cleaning up……I have only noticed a few new bites. The strangest thing is that I get new “itchy” places in the middle of the day…while working….while driving……but I don’t ever notice anything actually biting me.

How can bed bug bites just “show up” at such random intervals?

I never saw any bed bugs myself, and couldn’t find anything on the mattress that looked like blood stains like the pictures here (mattresses were cream colored, should have been easy to see them?). When my landlord put them out for the trash man, he said he saw some little red bugs on it.

What I have seen: spiders. Wolf spiders and what could be: baby wolfies, small brown recluse or yellow sac spiders. I have not seen any “necrosis” type reaction in the bites I have, so don’t think these bites are due to spiders. The pics of bed bug bites are most similar to what I have.

WHAT I HAVE DONE TO TREAT:
Threw out my bed. No carpeting anywhere but living room, so swept and mopped with bleach ALL floors before putting in new bed. Washed ALL bedclothes, even the ones in the closet not in use. Steam Cleaned the living room carpet. Threw out all the bed pillows and throw pillows from my room (even the dog bed). Washed all the throw rugs in the house. Gave the dog a bath. (Twice: at first I thought he might have brought some poison ivy into the house on his fur).
I have not used any pesticides so far, but plan to just to make sure they are all gone (and to make sure I don’t have any imaginary itches).

CONCERN:
What if they have migrated to my sofa? My daughter was here a couple of weeks ago and complained of itching/bites without even knowing about the problem. The sofa has the many pillows for the backrest part instead of one singular piece, and has a sofa bed inside. How can I treat the sofa without also exposing myself/my daughter to skin contact with the pesticides? SHOULD I JUST THROW OUT MY FURNITURE TOO? Believe me, after all this itching, rash, and bother, I’M WILLING if necessary. I itch when I sit in the living room but don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater just because I have a case of heebie jeebies (imaginary itches).

Any suggestions are appreciated. I can’t stand having these bites all over me and certainly don’t want to expose anyone else to them (i.e.-no company at my house!).

Some of the bites are big and some of them are small, they are all red and sort of round. I don’t see a trace of a bed bug. Can you help solve this annoying mystery? I would really appreciate it.

Go to a pet feed store and buy Diatomaceous Earth. It is 100% safe, chemical free, and all natural. God bless mother earth for that. It is also very cheap. The parasites have a waxed shell and the powder (ditomasis fossilized earth) sticks to their bodies and dehydrates them. They eventually dry up and die.

Put it:
Under your mattress
Along the baseboards in your place
On your bed frame
Under all your furniture

My family and i were bitten all over. I was pregnant at the time and was so worried about diseases. All went well in the end. You’ll have powder (the fossilized earth-it’s a white powder) all over your place but it is worth it. They can lay dormant for up to 18 months.

In your walls, baseboards, and any where they can find wood. So we have had the fossilized earth laid out for about 6 month. Since then i have found a few dead ones and 1 live one. We are in an apartment and are planning to move in a few months so we will leave the powder down until then.

We don’t want to take them with us. Good luck everyone!

Note: Diatomaceous earth consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. Diatomite is used as an insecticide because it absorbs lipids from the outer layer of insects which causes them to dehydrate.