Please help me. I'm being eaten alive. What could this critter be?

[Littlefish]

For the last 2 weeks I've been being bitten by something. It is very tiny (about 2mm long) and black. It bites many times in a single attack and the bites are instantly painful. I managed to see one today by dropping my trousers when I felt it start biting.

Unfortunately I'm reacting really badly to them and they swell up almost immediately. About 3 hours later, they calm down to a large red patch, about 4cm square, but are still really, really itchy.

I'm dosing myself up on anti-histamine and using anthisan cream on the bites themselves, but I obviously can't keep doing this indefinitely.

We don't have any pets, and we have tiles or wooden floor downstairs. I've washed all the bedding.

What is it, and how can I get rid of it! Any bright ideas?

what does it looklike? a beetle? a ladybird? a snake??

Just very tiny, bettle like I suppose, but I couldn't see any obvious legs or wings. LOL at snake

Fleas? Check sofas, rugs etc. I once borrowed a blanket from my SIL- who has cats. The eggs hatched and bit the first thing they could find-me. I ended up having to spray everything.

any of these?

i just googled tiny biting beetle!!

could be bed bugs?

Sounds like a flea. Any chance it could be from birds?

I worked in a hospital years ago that was infested with fleas from stray cats. It was a nightmare.

Do your neighbours have cats or dogs? they can survive off the animal in this hot weather.

i would say fleas is most likley i use johnsons flea guard carpet freshner but the best stuff is the stuff you get from the vets

they can live in your sft furnishings so make you sure you hoover everywhere paying particular attention to corners and edges under sofas and down the sides of cushions etc and they should be gone soon

Does it appear to be living on you, or just popping in for a snack?

Are you always in the same place (room) when it bites you?

Where abouts is it biting you?

Right - a few answers for you.

I've been bitten on my legs, arms, neck and worst of all, one got inside my bra and bit me 5 times!

We have leather sofas - could fleas be living in there?

We don't have any pets, and no pets have visited in the last 6 months, but both neighbours have dogs.

I don't think I'm always in the same room when I get bitten.

Mumofmonsters - I'm just going to look at your pictures.

If it is fleas, how easy are they to get rid of. I've already washed all the bedding and hoovered all the carpets upstairs etc.

Could fleas be living in my car (yuck!), I got bitten today either in the house as I was going out, or while I was in the car.

i dont think that fleas can live in leather coz they need somewhere to bury thier eggs but it ould be that they are in the bottom of your curtains, rugs, upstairs and travelling downstairs on your socks?

yes you can get them without having pets if you have been in contact with them elsewhere. i have cats but it is my dp who brings home the fleas on his socks from his workplace they have constantly complained theer are fleas in the building but the owner wont do anything about it till some one catches one as proof!!

they are relatively easy to get rid off if you thourough, hoover and spray all soft furnishings, rugs, etc till probelm has gone

Oh yuck. I'm itching all over now just thinking about it.

The really odd thing is that I'm the only person in the house who's really suffering. DH has had only 1 bite whereas I've had about 30.

Dd had about 20 on her legs at the same time, but then nothing since then.

I have a blanket which I take to yoga every week. I wonder if they could have come back to the house on that and then been multiplying! I've washed the blanket once, but I'll do it again.

Do I need any special sprays or powders for the house?

You can get a special can of flea killer to 'fumigate' the house, I got some from Wilkinsons a couple of years ago. Pets at home stock them too. It was called 'flea fogger'

We treated the pets and tried special 'antiflea' shake and vac type stuff, but it was the cans that cured it.

It was awful, I was getting bitten to death and I felt really embarassed, I saw one on my clothes when I was at work once

We're off on holiday for 2 weeks on Thursday, so I really need to get it sorted before I go, or I'll come back to find the house about a foot deep in the little b**tards. .

Sadly, I think I'm going to have to presume it's fleas. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Really unfair too, seeing as we don't have pets.

If you get the spray from the vets (or maybe even a fogger - I've never used one) it should work on most things, we found lots of dead spiders afterwards!

Thanks marmaduke. I'll try and find a vet on Monday. There's also a garden centre near us that sells animals, so they might have some.

It might be berry bugs also called harvest mites

Every summer when I was young I would be absolutely covered in bites - and my Mum still suffers when she's been in the garden - you literally have your underwear imprinted on you by bites - very itchy too.

They are normally worse where there are fields nearby. But the fields that were round my childhood home are now full of houses and the berry bugs are still there! nasty little things!

Oh meep, I wish it was those as we live near fields. However, they are very black and so sadly, I think I have to assume that they are fleas.

I think they might be in my car as I got bitten as soon as I went out in it yesterday. It would make sense as I brought my blanket back from yoga last week in my car. It usually lives in the sitting room and dh got bitten while he was in the sitting room yesterday. .

He's hoovering my car out for me today.

Just a quick update. Dd has woken up with her ankles covered in bits, and, worst of all, about 7 bites all around her vulva and bottom . I've put lots of cream on her and given her some piriton to try and stop her itching.

I've phoned the council and they are sending someone out on Wednesday morning to deal with the little bas*ds. I know that I could do it myself, but I'm at work for the next three days and then away for 2 weeks, so I really just need to get it sorted.

Today is a very un-fun day which is going to be spent tidying and hoovering everywhere so that the flea-man can get at every possible square inch of floor!

Thanks for all your help ladies

I just read this and was going to suggest calling the council/rentokill. They'll do every single room really thoroughly and are the best way of getting rid of them. The fact you don't have pets means you're the only ones getting bitten ... if you did have pets, you might not notice them and they could really make themselves at home!

It doesn't matter that you don't have carpets. The man who came to do my house (this was years ago ... we do have cats, had gone away for nearly a month, cats in cattery, as soon as I came home, they sensed 'food' so hatched out ... eurgh they were everywhere, even in the duvet), said that he'd gone to a house that had a cleaner coming in 3 times a week (made me feel better about my home hygiene) and they blighters were even living in a fully tiled bathroom.

Hope it's all sorted out soon

Thanks wishingchair - we have a cleaner too. I had to phone her this morning and tell her about the flea-man coming! She was horrified! We've been told that they will treat all around the skirtingboards and floors. How do I know if they're in the duvet?