Please bear with me as I try to keep my own story straight, I've been in a constant cycle between denial and being positive I have bedbugs. I'm sorry for the length but I wanted to be descriptive!

I live in Superior, WI, and I work as a caregiver at people's homes and apartments. This one apartment complex we go to has a serious bedbug problem, we have had over four clients in that complex that have gotten bedbugs. One time maintenance even told my coworker that the bug she found was a wood tick! Another coworker saw a bedbug crawling on the hallway wall.

It all started in early March when I was at a client's apartment who used to have bedbugs (months prior, but received heat treatment) and I sat down on his couch for a while. A couple days after work, I was sitting at my desk and noticed a tiny (pinhead size) bug crawling on my hand. I killed it and wondered if it could be a bedbug nymph... I saw another one on my hand again a few hours later. Then I stripped my bed and under my quilt, cover sheet (tucked under), and fitted sheet, I found a tiny dead grayish/black/maybe dark brown bug. I found it weird that it could make it's way under three layers of sheets and blankets. I immediately threw it in my trash can, only to dig it out minutes later and inspect it again. I was honestly trying to convince myself it wasn't a bedbug, it was wood tick size and had the little lines like bedbugs. I wish I wouldve taken a pic before throwing it out again, because I couldn't find it when I searched again, making me feel crazy...

Also, I had a few itchy welts, and two were right next to each other on my back. One on my neck and one on my ankle. The bites have been one of the most difficult parts, because before any of this happened, I'd get itchy bumps every once in a while from a possible food allergy or from having animals that I'm allergic to. So I never know if these welts are a bedbug bite or just some reaction to food/materials that I've always had. What makes me wonder, though, is that I would wake up with itchy welts that I didn't have the night before.

I called Plunketts Pest Control and got an inspector in, since I no longer had the dead bug to bring to the office. I dried all my clothes, backpack, jacket, put them in plastic bags and left to my boyfriend's for the weekend. The Plunkett's man came while I was gone, and called me and said no signs of bedbugs. I asked if he unzipped my futon (I did this and found what looked like bug legs?! and possible bugs?! but then again I think I piece of fuzz is a bug at first glance), he said he didn't have to because if they were inside the futon, he would've seen other signs outside the mattress. So I paid $98 and felt like things were okay again (kinda)!

I think I saw maybe three more of the tiny bugs since Plunkett's left, but I really don't remember. I would still get itchy every once in a while, but my friend who worked in pest control said that your body can also trick itself into being itchy out of paranoia. The first night I came back home I had a vivid dream where I found 3 live ones and set them on my night stand (they weren't there when i woke up, thank god).

Now it gets worse. Early in April, I went to a client's house where the bedbug was spotted the day before, so apparently she had an active infestation (same icky apartment). I wore shoe covers when I went there, but I took my damn jacket off and hung it on a dining chair!! I didn't spot any bedbugs around the kitchen/dining room. Then I went home and forgot to throw my jacket in the dryer

The same night around 2am, I saw one of those tiny bugs crawling on my phone screen and knew the nightmare was about to return. I think I saw a total of seven over the next week and a half. I always spotted them on my laptop or phone screen, or on my arm while sitting at my desk, which is a couple feet from my bed. I've killed every one I've seen.

I've found two welts next to each other on my neck, which were extremely itchy and lasted for over two weeks (maybe because I itched them too much). Other welts were found on my ankles, and a different sort of itchy, not raised, red spots have been found on my arms.

I took apart my bed again and found nothing but a dead pseudoscorpion in my bed. It was definitely a pseudo because it had those big pinchers. I washed and dried all my bedding, and things were kind of back to normal again. One time I saw a big spider in my room so I thought maybe the little guys are baby spiders? I never thought I'd say I HOPE I have baby spiders in my room, but in this case I really hope that's what it is.

I saw the little bugs very rarely, and recently went a week and a half without seeing anything at all, until yesterday. I was working on final projects and I noticed one on my computer. The longer I sat in my room, the more I saw! I took a video of one of them as well as a couple pictures, but it's hard to get a good pic because they are always moving. I spent around 7 hours in my room and saw around 15 or so of these tiny things!! Most were on my computer and phone, but it was like one after the next! I let some of them crawl on my hand for a bit to see if they would bite me, but they never did. Some are a little bigger than others. I saw two at the same time by a crack in my window sill. This morning, I've already seen at least four, and I've been up for an hour. I actually noticed two crawled OUT from my keyboard on my macbook, and one ran back inside the keys when I tried killing him.

My boyfriend and mom keep telling me it's okay and there would be a bigger infestation by now. I have never seen an adult. It also doesn't help that my quilt is dark orange and my sheets are navy blue, so it would be hard to see a blood spot. I've only found one spot on my memory foam that could be a fecal spot (tiny black circle), which has been there since before the inspection. Never have found castings.

I also live in a very drafty house, and it's finally getting warm out, if that info helps...

I'm going to attach the images and video from flickr, but if the image URLs don't work, here is a link to my flickr page (ignore the old photos, ha). The bug ones are labeled and they're the last four uploads. Two videos and two pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/octopus-ride/with/26245893393/

ADD ON - I'm having a hard time finding the photo URLs so the link will have to do. You should still be able to see the four uploads.

Please look at the videos because that's probably the best footage I have (pictures are hard). Next time I see one I'm going to have some tape ready. The color of them seems to vary a bit, but I've noticed they almost look like they have two black stripes, possibly eyes in the front and waste in the back. When I squish them, sometimes it leaves a black smear, sometimes brown, haven't really seen any red tint...

Thank you guys so much and again sorry for this being so long. I should be studying for finals right now but this added stress is driving my absolutely insane!!

I found this little critter crawling on my bed sheet this morning in my home. It is brown, oval-shaped, and very small (around 2 mm). I do not see the pointed head on this guy that I see in some pictures, and I did not notice the long legs out to the side.

5 days ago we returned from a 3-day trip where we stayed in a hotel in NYC and flew both ways. My husband and I did not notice any bugs during the stay or in the 5 days we have been home (I did a quick check of the mattress upon check in). I have not completely unpacked either. As far as any bites, at some point in the last week I noticed a few bites from something just around my left ankle. I didn't think anything of it and can't really even identify when I got them-could have been anywhere; they haven't been too bothersome. Other than that, no other bites on me or my husband.

This may not be what I am hoping it is not...but when I saw it crawling on my bed the first thing I thought of was bedbugs. I guess my question (along with ID), is: Would we have already seen the bugs yet? We checked into our hotel 8 days ago and today is the first time I am seeing a bug, and also, would we have been bitten up by now? Thank you for your help!

Link:
https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7746/27748652735_c7854611f6_z.jpg

Hope the picture works.

Can you help me ID the bug, and possible bed bug feces. The bug is about 4-5mm long, and looks too skinny to be a bed bug, but it is flat and has survived nearly 2 days in a baggy, which is creepy. It just keeps squirming around in there. It crawled out of my shirt yesterday morning. I noticed the stains on my sheets last night, for the first time.

bug
feces 1
feces 2

I live in an apartment (for 2 months now), and I am getting more bites than I ever have, though if it's bed bugs, maybe it doesn't always manifest with me. I wake up sometimes and my face and arms feel swollen and hot. Management would not allow me to get my own inspection - had to use the Community exterminator. I found them to be not very thorough or skilled, though they said he was a bed bug specialist. There are a lot of bugs in this apartment, in general, but the possible fecal stains on my mattress increases my level of worry about bed bugs again.

Thanks.

I just found this tiny bug crawling on my arm - about the size of two periods on a Target receipt. Hoping for an ID if possible. Thanks!

My sister has been getting bitten by some kind of insect while she is sleeping. The bite shows up the next morning as a red welt that is extremely itchy. These bites occur both in clusters and just in random spots by themselves. She has checked for fleas several times by walking around with white knee high socks and she has seen nothing. Her and I have also inspected her mattress (Even around the seams) several times and there are no bed bugs or anything that looks like small blood stains. She has, however, killed many of these around her apartment but we cannot figure out what they might be in order to get rid of them. Or even if they're the problem. We only assume they are because she has killed so many. I have linked to a picture that she took and a zoomed in version of the same photo. Please help us identify this bug. Thanks in advance.

Okay so 6 weeks ago I found a bed bug crawling on me and ended up with 3 bites. We turned the house upside down and found 2 more (one on a window sill I had just cleaned, and one on a stuffed animal in our room. We sprayed with Temprid everywhere on all furniture, walls, etc, did the everything dried in hot", cleaned, etc. had the house inspected, no signs of bed bugs. 2 weeks later, found a nymph crawling on my daughter's bed after we had just put on the bed encasement in there. We sprayed again. One week later I found one partially alive on top on my dryer, but it obviously wasn't functioning well. A week later we found a dead one in the corner of our room (not sure when it appeared), and then today I found one in my daughter's play area. I had just finally relaxed enough to put everything back in her area since we've had no bites and no sightings. It's not a whole bed bug, the legs, antennae and things are missing, but it looks too dark to be an encasement. Can they be dark and just be an encasement? Could another bug had eaten it, or did it just disintegrate? If we're only finding dead bugs, do we still have an infestation or could we have beaten it? I keep relaxing and then we find something.... or do we need to spray again and go through the whole process all over.

Found this dead bugger under a sofa seat cushion.
Is it a bed bug? It is about 2mm long.

Hi what is this, a piece of bed bug ?? I found on some carpenter tape placed around boxspring encasement. It's small used my cellphone microscope attachment for closeup pics. Why would it just be a piece of it, is it a casing? Thank you in advance!

Hi all I found 2 black stains on my bb cover and I wanted to know it there are bb related

thanks for your time

-paul

Found little bugs on the wall next to my bed. Not big, around 1 to 1.5 mm

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Also found some black coloured spots on the cupboard 5 feet away from my bed. Looks like eggs or feces. Tried to rub it using wet cloth but it doesn't smudge.

I am looking for other signs of bed bugs but fail to find adults and stains on my bed.
Any experts can ID these bugs? Sorry for the low quality images.
Thanks!

Hi. Found this dead, headless thing on the rug next to my bed, which means it might have been stuck on the bottom of my slipper:

Side A:
http://i.imgur.com/8yusQ3B.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ia0qrs6.jpg

Side B:
http://i.imgur.com/rxtCeSu.jpg

for scale:
http://i.imgur.com/KO0DM1Z.jpg

Thank you!

Hi,

I just found this guy on the bed. I`m a bit scared that it is a bed bug. I hope someone can help me with an identification.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48541988/bug.jpg

Thank you

Just want to double check this is a psocid and not a bed bug.
Thank you.

OK, I KNOW I have these suckers. This isn't my first rodeo. But family has only been getting bites for 2 weeks and two PCOs and I have failed to find physical evidence. I am going CRAZY- debating doing heat treatment without evidence. Is this nuts? That's 2,000 down the drain, but I can't go through much more of this agonizing waiting. (There is ONE canine detection firm in St. Louis that I can find, and I can't seem to get them to come out).

Hi friends. Tragicially, this is my second rodeo, but I'm two cities away from my first and I am desperate for a knowledgeable PCO. Any recommendations? Seems like there's only ONE canine detection firm in STL....anyone know any others? Having trouble getting them to come out. I know I have them- I just can't see them.

Okay so I recently helped my cousin move in and then out of a home she found out was infested with bed bugs after just 2 days of staying there. When I helped her move in we obviously were not aware of the bugs but she found them the very next day. I didn't spend the night or move anything out after I found out. Just went over, took a step inside to talk to her and stepped back out. She read that it's possible for the bugs to get onto clothing and hitch a ride home with you, but I thought I made a pretty conscious effort to not get close enough for any kind of contact between me and the bug. So it's been about 3 or 4 days now since the move out and as I was getting ready yesterday, I put clothes on that were near the clothes I wore to her house and I put my shoes on only to look down and see a flat, brown, round bug that I knew exactly what it was. It was an unfed adult bed bug, at least I'm 99.9% sure it was. The first actual one I've seen since helping my cousin and the ONLY one I've seen on any of my items. I immediately killed the bug, took my bedding off and threw it in the trash outside. Upon further inspection, I haven't found any other bug, trace of a bug or larvae or encasings/skin sheddings. I'm just very worried because I live in such a big home with a few other people in a roommate situation and don't want this to spread or anything. What should I do since it is an early detection? Most effective methods to help please, please, PLEASE!!!!

I reported bedbug problem to the Irvine Company apartment resident service office. They told me that I have to use their vendor and pay for the treatment myself. The vendor came for inspection. He made several conceptual mistakes about bed bugs. He said the bugs are not able to penetrate bed sheet or mattresses. I knew from reading this forum that he is incorrect. So I don't trust that he can do the treatment effectively. What's more, he quoted 1200 for heat treatment for our tiny junior one bedroom apartment (only 670 sqft in total). The vendor is also not willing to check if the cause of bed bug is other units (there are over 100 units in this building). When questioned about the possibility of whether other apartments in the building were the cause, the resident service said that they have had maintenance checked the other units, which I know is a lie, because their maintenance crew has not been trained in pest control at all (They said so themselves before).

I insisted that I choose the vendor myself. The resident service office agreed at first. Then I've been looking into different vendors near Irvine. But after less than a week, they told me that I haven't been able to set up a treatment, and that I missed their deadline. So now I have to use their vendor and pay for everything and get all the preparation done in two days for the treatment. Or I have to pay for the exterminator company "That Guy" for them to do the preparation as well. They kept mentioning that this is supported by Irvine Company's legal team that they can force entry into our apartment within 24 hour notice...

I feel very uncomfortable about their plan of force entry. I feel threatened. Honestly, our condition is not that severe, the inspection people were only able to find one bug on the bed skirt and nowhere else.

I really don't want to use their vendor and don't have the luxury of paying 1200 for one treatment with a not so knowledgeable expert... What should I do? Can you give me some advice? Thank you all.

It's been a hot minute since I last posted. My first post was in the introductions section doing just that, introducing my situation. That was at the start of June. I was terrified, overwhelmed, and much more emotionally charged over the situation then as opposed to now. Since then ALL of my belongings are in hefty bins sealed with gorilla tape in Public Storage for the next 18 months. I have been to the laundromat and dried all my clothes, linens, towels, stuffed animals, etc. I have dropped delicate, sequined, leather, etc items off at the dry cleaners to handle. I spray just about anything and everything in rubbing alcohol. My mattress, box spring, and a big comfy chair I had have been tossed. I kept my headboard because it was not on my bed at the time of sighting and I kept my frame because it is metal. I've been sleeping on a raised air mattress since then with no sheets or anything on it. I have a studio apartment so the furniture that remains is empty and are things like my dresser, nightstand, and desk.

I had my first chemical treatment was about two weeks ago. Saw many dead bodies afterwards and have seen the numbers of live ones go down dramatically. It's been several days since I've seen any. I'm not allergic to their bites, so I'm one of those people who you'd never know is even being bit. I've never seen a bite mark on me or had a single itch, even when their numbers were at their highest pre first treatment. My second treatment is coming up on Wednesday. My landlord will be removing my carpeting and I will be going over floor samples soon to choose wood laminate floor as my replacement. My landlord is also really stepping up his game lately and also scheduled me for a roach spray for next month. I have not seen any roaches (thank god!), but since he offered since they are spraying other apartments as well, and given my current situation, I took it. I think a lot of people are opening their mouths complaining about issues, so I think my landlord is finally taking actions that should've been taken a long time ago. My parakeets have been boarded at the vet since the start of the first treatment and will continue to stay there until probably at least a week after the final treatment. I realize that will cost me a lot of cha-ching, but they are priceless and I refuse to let any chemicals harm them.

I live in Los Angeles and today temperatures reached over 100 degrees, they will be the same tomorrow, if not even a little toastier. Both today and tomorrow I plan on being out all day with the windows and doors closed with no AC on. I know doing that is not the most effective way to kill bed bugs because they could go find cool pockets to hide in or possibly travel to another poor unsuspecting tenant's home (one of the reasons I worry about my bed bug issue never going away living in an apartment). But I was curious if the combined efforts of this convenient heat wave, my chemical treatments, and the usual laundering, etc I mentioned is a recipe for success to beat my teeny tiny vampire nemesis? I know there's no 100% guarantee regardless, but I wanted to check in to see if I'm on the right path and if my prognosis could be on the bright side? Thoughts?

Hello! I'm new on this forum and I'm writing from Munich, Germany. My englisch is very bad, so excuse for this.

My 13 year old son discovered bites at end of march. We didn't do anything and didn't know anything about bed bugs. I'm pregnant and have to stay in hospital. In this time my boyfriend and my son noticed, that we had bed bugs. This was 4 weeks ago. Our first treatment by a PCO was one week ago. Since that we haven't seen any bugs. Our two bedrooms and living room were treated. We are going to have 2-3 more treatments. The PCO is optimistic, but I'm afraid. I can't sleep, have nightmares and I think, I'm doing somthing wrong. The PCO told me, that I have to wash all the clothes at 60 degrees or throw it away, because freezing does not help. We don't have big zip bags in Germany, so I'm putting all in classic trashbags and tie this as close as possible. But I think all the time, this is not enough. It's not enough to only wash at 60 degrees and let the clothes dry outside and this bags are not secure. I'm thinking I will never get rid of them. My next problem is that I have to move in about two months to the city my boyfriend is living in. I'm afraid of takeing the bugs with me.
I need moral support. I'm not able to take this anymore.

Daughter, who is very reactive, has been bite-free and her room bug-free for 14 days. Passive monitor clear, no fecal, no cast skins. This is huge, as her bed was ground zero of a major infestation. I spotted a single live bug running across the top of our bed five days ago and called PCO, who's coming today for a 5th treatment and to re-inspect the rest of the house.

We're very close to the end of this and are going ahead with our vacation plans that we booked months ago. Leaving next Friday, July 1st for two weeks (yes, we're fully armed with the tools and knowledge to protect ourselves during and after vacation). My worry is that because vacation falls during our 30-day countdown and we won't be around to do bed checks for two weeks any possible surviving bugs will take over and we'll have to deal with this all over again when we get home.

Any suggestions? Should we invest in active monitors in the two occupied bedrooms at the very least?