I think I might be going crazy but was hoping anyone could give me insight on whether I should be worried. Full disclosure: I have never had BBs before but they are one of my worst fears. I also have pretty terrible anxiety.
I live in Toronto so there's obviously a BB problem here. I moved here over a year ago, and even though I didn't know about it at the time, the building I moved into had no complaints on bedbugregistry. I lived there for a year and never woke up with any bites that I remember and never found evidence of them. Then again, I never really looked but my sheets never really had anything on them and I don't ever recall seeing blood on the sheets.
On August 30 I moved to another building that wasn't on bedbugregistry. For the month, I am temporarily storing my furniture in my friends 1br apartment in the same building while we wait for our 2br to be ready. When I was moving my stuff here, I found a bug scurrying across the mattress when I took the mattress cover off (cover, not protector). I don't recall it being flat, nor do I recall it squishing out blood when I squished it - but I was so freaked out at finding a bug in my bed that I killed it quickly without really examining it. I don't really remember what it looked like, and admittedly the farther away from the event I get, the more I've convinced myself it's a BB. That night, I thought it might have been some kind of beetle because I did find a larvae in a tote in my closet, as well as one on my box spring when we took the mattress off.
So my furniture is being stored in the living room and I am staying in my friends apartment while she is elsewhere. It's been almost 10 days and I have just been living in fear. I inspected my bedding after the move and found no traces of them, nor did I find any on my bedskirt or mattress cover. I haven't been able to inspect the bed too much because it's against the wall and I'm a pretty tiny person and can't really move it by myself. I have inspected the one side of it though and the mattress looks clean. The box spring does as well except for a few rather large rust-coloured spots on the bottom of the one end which I'm not sure if it's blood or if it's from moving the box spring in a truck: http://i61.tinypic.com/97pbnc.jpg Should I take my box spring apart when I have help and inspect it??
I haven't really had any bites - I've found some weird spots on my foot the past 2 days - 2 of them but they were only itchy for maybe 2 minutes and haven't since. I also had 2 appear on my leg but I have folliculitis so I'm not sure if that's what it is or not. They're not really itchy or big or anything. But these spots/bites/whatever they are combined with finding that bug under my mattress cover has left enough doubt in my mind to put my anxiety into overdrive. I know pics of bites aren't determinative but here: http://i58.tinypic.com/2u8ci6b.jpg
I guess my question is - could there be rather large blood stains from BBs on a box spring without there being any evidence of them anywhere else? Even after sweeping my room after moving all my furniture out I didn't find any evidence. I've also inspected the bed I'm currently sleeping in thoroughly and found no evidence and have stayed up until 4am without seeing one, and also woken up several times in the middle of the night and thankfully found no bugs in the bed. Would they have migrated to where I'm currently sleeping if I had bedbugs? And after 10 days, would I see evidence of them if I had them? Would we have noticed them if I had them when moving my furniture into the truck and into this apartment? Could the fact that I'm spraying myself and my bed with tea tree oil be preventing them from coming during the night (I read somewhere they don't like tea tree oil and I'm desperate for anything).
I'm just so scared and anxious. I'm a law student and have a pretty intense semester coming up and can't go with another sleepless night because of this. I've ordered encasements for my mattress, pillow and box spring just in case (which I guess is a good investment either way since I live in Toronto) but can someone please weigh in on whether I am just a complete crazy person or whether I should be worried? Thanks so much.