Any ideas what might be biting my son?

[Restlessinthenorth]

I'm at my wits end and looking for suggestions. A couple of weeks ago, my son woke up with what I presumed were small bites of some kind. I was mortified and worried it might be bed bugs as non of the rest of us have any bites at all. I therefore threw away his, mattress, bed frame and bedding, and thoroughly cleaned out his room

As a temp measure, I've put him in his sisters room on a brand new blow up bed, with brand new bedding. Yet the "bites" keep on coming. My house is super clean, and this is driving me to tears. Still no bites on the rest of us. I don't know what to do!

Any suggestions and ideas for making it stop very gratefully recurved!

I got a special guy in to blitz my house. Cost me 150 quid but he came and sprayed everything then came back a week later to do it again. I haven't been bitten since. He also talked me down and explained it's nothing to do with you being dirty or the house not being spotless etc. Can happen to anyone.

I agree about calling the professionals. Home treatments never worked when I had a few infestation years ago.

Don't buy frontline, fleas are immune these days.

Try Advantage.

Fleas, definitely. Treat the house with Indorex spray and get flea treatment via the vet.

They look too large for flea bites to me. I react to every bite, but that size looks more like mosquito than flea. Does he play outside a lot ?

I agree that frontline doesn’t work. Advantage or stronghold are better. I used to be the only one in my house who got itchy from fleas. No one else was affected

He does play out but not a great deal at the moment. I don't think it's a mozzy. It's definitely happening overnight. Can't find any evidence on the dog or bedding etc

I have indorex on order. I'll get treatment for the dog as suggested! Thank you all

If there are no fleas at all on your dog I think fleas are really unlikely. Also flea bites are much more common on ankles or lower legs, and are normally smaller.
Most bites take some time to show up, so an insect bite that happens in the afternoon, might not be swollen or itchy until the next day. That looks as though he has been bitten where a loose top has ridden up, so possibly in bed, or while in the garden.
For a flea to get into his pyjamas it would need to be in the bed, if that had come from your dog sleeping on that bed, then your dog would be biting and scratching, and you would be able to see fleas if you comb well.
I would be surprised if this was a flea, and I would also be very cautious about spraying insecticide willy nilly around the house.

My DD got bitten last week 2 nights i a row: first night her arm (picture attached from today) and on her thigh the next night. All bites vere next to each other and looked like your picture. I thought it was a spider.
Smear some Sudocream on these spots. It helped my DD.

Bed bugs?

Spiders rarely bite, and not multiple bites.

Bed Bug bites

Bed bug bites only have reactions on a small amount of people. Google them. There’s a site called bedbugs.com or something similar. Be prepared to lose your mind but it will tell you how to find them if you have them. It’s incredibly hard to find them unless you have an infestation. You need to use a credit card to slot down hiding places etc.

I’ll warn you though... life will never be the same if you go down the rabbit hole of trying to find them / do find them. The effort it takes to get rid of them, you’ve be ecstatic to have fleas.

Bed bugs don’t bite everyone. And you’d need to get the pros in to properly eradicate them. They are virtually impossible to get rid if yourself.

I can sympathise entirely.

We had fleas, but the little bastards only bit me and man alive - I thought i was losing my marbles!

The bites were all over my body and the itching was keeping me up at night; especially the bites around my ankles.

I used my steamer on everything that i possibly could and washed the bedding with Dettol detergent.
To my chagrin, none of it worked.

We bought the Indorex spray and it worked like a charm. One dose around the whole house was all it needed.

All the best, OP. 👍

They could be hives, indeed they look very like them. An allergic reaction to something?

Check what flea treatment your vet recommends - they don't give frontline here anymore because the bastard fleas are immune to it.

I had these as a child - flea bites as others have said. My mum got some tablets from the vet that killed the fleas and the bites went away.

Looks like mosquito bites to me.

Definitely flea bites. I am the only person bitten in the house too. Indorex definitely the best. It only needs one in the house and it finds me. Indorex on the soft furnishings too, works a treat.

Just another thought- My DD ages about 8 had what looked like bites in a row like that radiating out from her spine , sore and a bit itchy- and we went through the same bed bug panic. Then they crusted over like chicken pox and I twigged that it might be shingles. Confined by doctor because of the look of them and the placement .Unusual in a child and there was some talk of sending her for immune tests but she has always been well otherwise so they didn’t and she’s not had it since. She had chicken pox very mildly- it sure if that’s why.

I'm like your son - massive reactions to any kind of bites, often triggering a spate of hives too. I'd recommend he puts ice on them as soon as he realises he has one, then DO NOT SCRATCH - this makes it so much worse. An oral antihistamine plus bite cream and loose clothing are all helpful. In terms of fleas - hot wash and Hoover on a 3 day loop. We had them with our cat despite keeping up to date with flea treatment and we just had to be very very strict with spraying, hoovering and washing until the little blighters gave up.