What bit me - bed bugs or spiders?! Please help!

[fmama]

Dear Mumsnet, we bought an second hand French-style rattan bed, put a brand new mattress on it, new sheets. We’ve had it for a couple of months now, and I keep getting bitten - 3-5 bites every week. My husband doesn’t seem to get bitten. I have looked everywhere for the signs of bed bugs, as best as I can, all along the edges and underside of the frame, grooves, joints, and shone a torch into the void between the woven rattan panels - found nothing. Could you all have a look at my bite marks and help identify what it might be? Thank you very much for your help.

Not bed bugs - I have been bitten alive by bed bugs at a caravan park... looked nothing like that!

Yes defo not bed bugs. No idea though!

I would say spider bites, not an expert though. Google spider bites, there are some really nasty pictures but some look much like yours. I have also been bitten in bed a couple of times over the years (not fleas or bed bugs) and my bites looked very similar to yours.

It does look like a spider bite. Or what I had last year that the doctor said was a spider bite. I had to have antibiotics as spider bites can be quite germy, apparently.

It’s weird to be getting bitten so regularly by anything though. A very territorial spider?

I reckon it's fleas and you are reacting to their bites more than is usual.

This is why I would only buy antique furniture from a reputable dealer.

Wood worm, bed bugs, etc.

Yes looks like spider bites with the punctures. Suggest you clean the room fully and maybe try a deterrent spray or essential oil...

I've had bed bug bites and a spider bite - I'd say those are flea bites. They will have laid eggs which have laid dormant until they get a whiff of carbon dioxide from a new victim (presumably you don't have any pets, otherwise they would have chosen them as host).

Give it a spray with some suitable pesticide, or give it a good sprinkling with diatomaceous earth from Amazon!

Not bedbugs. Looks like spider bites. I would buy some pest control spray and spray the lot. I do it every month now after having the dreaded bedbugs what followed me home from hospital 😑

Yes, and it would also seem to bear a vendetta against me as there are 4 of us in the house but it only bites me! However, there isn't actually a regularity, I'm sorry for not explaining it better. I was trying to say I'm not getting bitten everyday, there seems to be 1-2 new bites every few days, there isn't any sort of pattern, and perhaps a total of 3-5 bites over the course of a week. Location wise, I'm bitten all over, this territorial insect with a grudge seems to go for anywhere on the limbs it seems: back of elbows, elbow crease, back of knee, inside thigh, underarm, shin, calves, lower arms, etc. I wear long pyjamas so maybe that's why the main torso is spared, and perhaps the sleeves and trouser legs ride up during sleep. I am trying to keep calm and logical about this but every new bite drives me closer to the edge... I don't know what to look out for! Thanks for helping me think this through!!

Yes, this. I regret this so much... it seems so obvious now, I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me before? And it wasn't cheap either. Never again!

Poor you!! I am terrified just at the idea of bed bugs, that must have been a horrible experience at the caravan park.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts - it is quite comforting to know that it is most probably NOT bedbugs, although the idea of it still lingers at the back of my mind as the worst case scenario. It is nonetheless driving me slightly crazy not knowing what else it could be. I am trying to keep it together and have found your tips very helpful - active things like researching and trying out pesticides, pest control sprays, essential oils, "diatomaceous earth", etc.. I feel I have pored into every crevice and I am already doing 90degrees washes, didn't know what else I could do. I was mentally prepared to be told to buy a new bed, but I am so glad not all hope is lost - I will try everything and hope something will work! Thanks again for your time.

I think they're fleas. Give a liberal spray or "Indorex" and see if it stops

Spider bites have two holes.

Fleas or midges. It's not abnormal to have a bug reaction to them.

They aren't spider bites - I agree with another pp that spider bites have two holes, not one. They have a pair of fangs and make twin marks (and yes, I have been bitten by a spider, so I've seen what they look like - and got an infection from it. Horrible).

I reckon it is fleas, sorry.

Gnats or mosquitos?

Spider

Flies bite too and are itchy.

Those look like flea bites to me. Get a can of Indorex and spray the bed frame and the carpet, and go around the skirting boards. Make sure the room is well ventilated as it is very strong.

Good luck!

Flea with slight allergic reaction.