Do we have bedbugs? I am desperate for advice!

[bedbugdesperation]

Dear Mumsnet,

For the last two months or so, myself and my DH have been struggling with insect bites that we seem to receive in bed. The bites look (and feel) very similar to mosquito bites, but we live in northern England and it is of course completely the wrong time of year for mosquitos.

I have researched this online and I am pretty sure we have bedbugs. (Largely because of what the bites look like and the fact that we receive them in bed!) However, my DH has also separately researched this, and he has shown me some things that make me think I might be wrong – for example, he has found info suggesting a bedbug insect is about the same shape as an apple pip, but a 5th of the size. That should still be easily visible to a careful look – and we have had many careful looks over the past few weeks – but we have never seen the culprits. They also leave rusty-coloured excretions (god this is so gross), and again, no sign of these. So ... could it be something else? In which case, what – and should our strategy for getting rid of them be different?

When this problem first reared its head, I bought an anti-bedbug mattress encaser, and put it on our mattress. I then took all our bedding (duvets and pillows as well as duvet covers, sheets etc) to a laundrette and washed them all together as hot as I could, and tumble-dried them hot too. This led to about a week with no new bites, but they have slowly built back up again. I suppose I will need to redo this chore, but what else should I be doing? I am desperate to fix this problem, which is both physically uncomfortable and increasingly emotionally distressing, as the feeling of a biting insect population living in our bed is very unsettling.

We have one cat who sleeps on our bed in the day time, but he is up to date on his flea meds. He had a flea problem a couple of years ago, and as a result of that experience I am confident that this is not a flea problem as the bites were totally different. He doesn't seem extra-itchy (unlike me and DH!) so I wonder if he is not being bitten.

Please help me decide what bugs are doing this to us and how to tackle them!

You should see fleas on cat if there are fleas. Post pics of your bites if you like.

Bedbugs live in skirting board areas and cracks in woodwork, mattress, so I don't think changing your bedding helps. Or not much. You should apparently see blood spatters on pillow if it's bedbugs.

I'd be ringing pest control company myself.

Sympathies. I only clicked because it sounds like my nightmare.

Bed bugs tend to bite in a line as they are lazy buggers. Are you getting single bites?

If you have a bedbug infestation there are usually signs on and around the mattress.

this is useful if you can bear to watch it .. (Mark Rober Bedbugs video)

Sorry
try again

I’m getting bites in kind of patches but I’m not sure if they count as lines - see pic! (Sorry it’s kinda of my upper thigh - most of the bites are on my legs/thighs and stomach.)

we haven’t seen any blood splashes on the bedding but I’ve been frantically washing the bedding every few days because of this which might mean we are missing splashes 😰

Do you have any pictures hanging near your bed? Worth a look behind them. I remember finding some there during my student days in similar circumstances. Yuk. Definitely get a pest controller in!

Washing the bedding won't do anything to fix the problem if it is bedbugs. Sorry. I speak from bitter experience. (And my bites looked a lot like mozzie bites due to the reaction I got.) You need to get someone in to examine your bed and mattress. Have you tried looking under the mattress with a torch in the dark? That's the only time I spotted ours. I can recommend these people but they're based in London, not sure how far in the UK they travel. https://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/educational/about-bed-bugs/ Even if you can't use them their website has lots of stuff on there about what to do and what not to do- a lot of pest control people are apparently total rip-off merchants who don't get to the root of the problem.

Their FAQ is particularly helpful I think https://www.bed-bugs.co.uk/faq/

(I promise, I don't work for them!!)

Check the piping around your mattress that's where they normally hang out. Also check your bed frame and behind headboard

You might need to use the torch on your phone because they are hard to see.

Could that be scabies?

Interesting - I've just googled scabies pics and 90% of them don't look like what I've got, but about 10% could be the same. I will go to a pharmacist tomorrow and see what they say. If it is scabies I think will be sort of relieved (even though they're also extremely gross) because it looks like treatment might be easier.

You can buy bedbug traps that'll give you a more definitive answer. They contain a hormone similar to human sweat and you'll know if you've got the nasty little blighters then. Can only recommend professional treatment if that's the case

That looks like cat flea bites to me

Sounds suspicious to me...
We had bedbugs (we think from dh having to sleep out in an HGV that wasn't his) and we didn't realise for ages. I didn't react to the bites, only dh did. We had seen tiny marks on the sheets but assumed it was him scatching the bites.

Til I turned the mattress upside down and took a torch to the bedframe one evening... then I saw them.

Then I literally torched the bedframe... ripped out the carpets the same night, binned the bed, the wardrobes the lot! Had a council pest control person in to check and fumigate the house (you have to move all furniture and boil ALL clothes etc) Nightmare as even though they were confined to our bedroom, you have to do the whole house.

The fact that you are getting bites in bed would make me assume they probably are bedbugs :(

So sorry you've got those, OP. Try pharmacist for itch relief & advice.

I got bites in bed, and it was fleas from the cat. Used to catch one or two every night. Sprayed the whole house with indorex and problem was sorted.

I've been bitten by bedbugs in two different occasional, both times abroad.

The thing I really remember about them is they get really really itchy at nighttime. Apparently this is because they come out at night, and so that's when they irritate you to help them find you 🤢

Do yours get itchier at night time? It's hard to tell if they're bedbugs by your picture. Do you have any more notes anywhere?

IME (don't ask!) bed bugs bite in a row - not clustered like you have but a literal line of bites.

Personally, I'd repeat the hot wash of bedding. I'd Indorex the sh*t out of the room while the washing was happening. Then I'd keep the cat totally OUT of the room for a while (and possibly change for bed outside the room in fresh pyjamas each night) and see what happens.

I come up with exactly the same when I'm bit by cat fleas. Really itchy and awful.

I had bedbugs last summer. I got cellulitis from the bites and was in hospital for a few days on IV antibiotics. They are really visible (the bugs) and hid in the skirting and in the creases of the mattress. I’m afraid pest control had to come three times to treat them. The bites were so like mosquitoes that I was convinced it was, until I physically saw three bedbugs in my bed.

From my research, it is very hard to get rid of bedbugs by yourself. Sorry, it’s not at all nice and so stressful, but let the professionals deal, and my advice is stay in your bed rather than sleep in a spare room or on the sofa, as you want to try and contain them to one room if you can.

Casing will have trapped the ones in the creases of the mattress inside, but not the ones which are living in the cracks in the skirting, floor, rug etc. The size is irrelevant - old ones are big, new ones are very small. They are ovoid though, like a pip.

It can be very difficult to find them because once they've fed they go back to their hiding place to digest and lay eggs, I think for up to a couple of weeks. This means that until they are well established they can appear to have 'gone' for a bit. Until they haven't...

You might see one if you go to bed and stay there for 15 mins or so before puttng on the light and having a very good look around the walls/floor/sheets. They are attracted to the carbon monoxide you exhale and will start to move from their hiding places towards you. They don't move that fast, especially when they've just fed.

Agree with PP who says Indorex the shit out of the room and if you're still getting bitten in a few days, call in the professionals. You'll need to get all the bedrooms done and probably the living room.

Keep sleeping in the room or they will follow you to the next room. Don't allow anything to leave the room unless it is bagged up and then put directly into the washing machine.

We currently have bedbugs and it's a fucking nightmare. We are spending £££ on pest control.

Signs that you do have them:

1. Small black spots on the sheets, pillows, duvet or mattress, or on your bed frame. These are the small marks they leave after biting you. They look like a dot left by a biro or black felt pen.
2. Blood spots on the sheets.
3. Look in the very small cracks between planks of wood or metal - is there any evidence or something there, it can look like fluff or something in the gap
4. Small little light brown things that look like leaves or a tiny beetle wing on the floor. These are their shed skins as they grow in size.

If you do have them, you will know about it when the population suddenly booms, about 3 months into an infestation - the oldest ones are larger than you would expect at this point.

Tbh it's such a nightmare that I'd say if you have any concerns whatsoever just get pest control out at the earliest point as we're not finding it easy to get rid and now I can't bloody sleep.

Who knows where we got them from!!!!??!!

Also - take the casing off before they fumigate otherwise they will still be alive inside and you'll eventually be back to square one. Apparently they can become dormant for up to a year!

BASTARDS.

Seen your pic - yes it does look like our bites. Sorry OP!

It's hell. I can't sleep - it's worse now I have seen them.

One trick - get up in the night and look under your sheets with a torch. You might spot one.

It's really fucking grim.