Hello everyone! I’m from the US, but currently living in southern Japan and I think I may have picked up some bedbugs on my recent travels.
I got home May 9th, woke up the 19th with 8 or 9 small, not itchy bumps. They’re mostly in pairs. Thought it was weird, went to bed the next day, woke up with no new bumps, so I figured it was nothing. Third morning I got an additional six, the next morning two, the next none, and so on.
The first week's worth of bites
I went to the dermatologist and explained my symptoms. She was under the impression that it was from a fuzzy caterpillar whose spikes get stuck in your skin and can cause an allergic reaction. The only problem is that I haven’t seen any nor gone out in the woods where they might be. She said if it was bedbugs or tatami mites, then I’d have big swollen spots. (These developed later, unfortunately.)
So I asked a friend to call around for exterminators. There are only two companies in my city. One said they do bedbugs. They came, gave the place a very short once over and declared that I had cat fleas. I do have a cat— he doesn’t go outside, he isn’t itchy at all, and I can find no fleas or bug bites on him (the vet gave him some Revolution just in case).
The exterminator gave me two buggybed traps and told me to call if they caught anything. I’m not sure if they’re the actual bedbug type or the flea and tick type—the website has both. The exterminator seemed to be relying heavily on a photo guide to bedbugs and then he told me he has a smoke bomb that will kill them in one treatment, and that if they come back within a month, they will re-bomb for free.
By then, I had found this website with its dire warnings against bombing. I decided I should probably do it myself then. I ordered food grade diatomaceous earth off the internet. I don’t actually have a bed frame, just a bunch of little stool-type things holding up the box spring. I pulled up the mattress and put each foot of each stool into a baking cup of diatomaceous earth, but then I read a little more about inhalation dangers. I was worried about not covering the entire foot—but is this overkill? Should I mix it with water and paint it on the legs? I have asthma and the cat will definitely stick his face into it, so I want to be cautious:
I’ve turned over the bed and the sofa, looking for bugs or fecal stains. Found nothing. The buggybed traps have nothing in them despite me getting bit in the same bed. I got another four bites last Saturday after a week of no bites and only one in the week since then, so I was thinking this was all in my head when I noticed this fellow climbing on the wall near the sofa:
Advice going forward if it is a bedbug? I'm leaving in two months and the apartment is being redone after I leave. I want to minimize bites and prevent bringing any bugs back to the US. (I think you already have enough of them there, eh?)
It's been rough finding treatments here in Japan. The DE they sell in stores is made for painting walls and has other stuff in it. Another shipment of food grade DE will take two weeks to arrive, and any bedbug proof mattress cases I can find on Japanese Amazon will take 3 weeks. I don't have a dryer, but I've been taking my laundry down to the laundromat and living out of plastic bags. I've been vacuuming and throwing things out. Any other tips for things I could do myself?
Also, thank you very much to all you guys who are taking your own time to help on this forum. You're awesome!