AboutJack DeAngelis Expertise I can answer questions in any area of entomology (study of insects, spiders, mites, ticks, and other terrestrial arthropods). Contact me about home and garden insects, insects that bite and sting, and insects that damage homes such as carpenter ants and termites.
Experience 20 years as university extension entomologist, now retired; currently publish a website about home and garden insects.
Publications see www.livingwithbugs.com/resume.html
I'm being bitten by something that seems like bedbugs but now I'm not so sure. We moved into a new apartment in Boston and within the first couple days my roommate was being bitten by something. Her mattress was brand new. After 3 weeks or so I started getting bites too (I thought maybe this was because she lent me one of her shirts, as it occurred around the same time). I did some research online and and thought that our problem sounded similar to bed bugs. I get bites that are similar to mosquito bites. They turn red and itch like hell. I get them a lot around my ankles and neck and they are often in groups of two or three. The weird thing is that I don't necessarily get them at night. I sometimes get them during the day while I'm out of the house. One day I was sitting at school and got a ton of them around my neck (I think maybe it was from my scarf). I've now washed all of my clothes twice (though I didn't put all of them in the dryer because I didn't want some of them to shrink). The first time was after we put a bug bomb in the apartment, the second was after we called an exterminator and had him spray for bed bugs (the exterminator also thought it was strange that I wasn't being bitten at night). I'm using the same laundry detergent that I've been using for the past half year or so. Another weird thing is that I haven't really seen any bugs. Once, several weeks ago I thought I saw a bug crawl out of my shoe in my closet. I was very small but I didn't get a good look at it. Then the other day I saw a somewhat similar looking but crawl out of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. It was very small. It could fit on a pencil eraser. I've attached a photo. I don't know that this bug had any connection with what is biting me though. It looks a bit more oblong than pictures of bed bugs that I've seen and it also had a clear spot around its middle that I haven't seen in any pictures of bed bugs.
Can you tell me what is biting me and what I can do about it?
Thanks,
Casey
Answer Casey,
The "bug" in the photo is a cockroach, probably an immature one. Cockroaches don't bite so this is not the cause. However, if you have immature cockroaches there are very likely more and you should do something about the situation. If the apartment building is old it might be very difficult to control cockroaches but you should still tell your apartment manager. Here's some information about cockroaches http://www.livingwithbugs.com/cockroaches.html and you can follow the links to control information.
The best way to check for bed bugs is to carefully examine your bedding especially mattress seams and other places where a bug could hide. Here's an article about bed bugs http://www.livingwithbugs.com/bed_bug.html with a picture for comparison. If you have bed bugs they should be fairly easy to find. They won't be crawling around the apartment but rather hiding in "nooks and crannies" around the bed and bedding.
Finally, there are only a few insects and mites that actually bite people but a lot of things that mimic insect bites. Here's another article about "mysterious and unknown bug bites" http://www.livingwithbugs.com/unknown_bug_bites.html including some things that mimic true bug bites. (Sorry for all the "homework".).
Post a follow up if you have questions after looking over this material.
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