Are you confused about whether bitten by bed bugs?
You can end your search here because you have come to the right place!
Bed bug infestation can be your worst nightmare because a few of them are enough to interrupt your good night sleep. Bed bugs are hated everywhere because of their particular feeling habit; they solely rely on human blood (and other mammalian blood in case of unavailability) to feed their appetite and reproduce.
Urban residents always need to deal with different insect bites and infestation throughout the year. That is why it is important to know a few things to take proper action is required. In this guide, we have deciphered some of the common confusion with bed bug bites and necessary actions that need to be taken to deal with the bloodsucker.
Sometimes it is difficult to understand bed bug bites because they can easily be mistaken with mosquito bites and regular rashes because of their appearance. Continue reading this guide to find more on the difference between bed bug bites and other insect bites.
It is sometimes normal to misunderstand the bed bug bites with mosquito bites or regular rashes because they somewhat look like the same. But bed bugs bites are a way itchier than the prior two things.
Besides, you don’t even realize you are being bitten by the bed bugs because they inject an anticoagulant fluid along with their saliva while biting, which prevents the blood from clotting. Moreover, this material also acts as an anaesthetic, because they don’t want to disturb you while having their meal.
Like an anesthetic, they try to numb the particular area of your skin, from where they suck the necessary amount of blood they require to sustain for a few days, probably weeks. They will only return when they feel hungry. An adult bed bug can sustain up to a month without having a blood meal.
In most cases, bed bug bites do not leave a scar; the bite site will take a couple of days to heal. But if you repetitively scratch the bite site then the upper the epidermal layer may tear which not only results in burning sensation and blood loss but also leave a scar behind. So if you feel the bite sites are itching vigorously then try to cut your nail short to avoid the urge.
If the scar fails to heal on its own after three days, you may see a dermatologist who will prescribe necessary measures and topical ointment to escalate the healing process and to sooth the area. If you want to get rid of the bed bug infestation, then call a local exterminator to check the situation. It will be easier for you to take the necessary actions in the future.
Blisters from bed bug bites are not common, but if you have sensitive skin, you may get a blister. Those who are allergic in nature may result in blister due to a bed bug bite. If that happens, we highly recommend you to see a doctor and follow the prescribed medication. Also, it may be high time to hire a local exterminator to solve your bed bug problem.
Individuals with extra sensitive skin may get hives out of bed bug bite because their skin is allergic to the saliva of the bed bugs. In that context, remember your blood group has nothing to do with; it’s entirely an external process and the sensitivity level of your skin. If somehow you break out with hives you should see a doctor ASAP to avoid further infection.
If you get bed bug bites during pregnancy, don’t panic! Just stay calm, because it will not harm your unborn child anyway. If you have sensitive skin, you may get rashes and red scars due to the bed bug bites, under such circumstances you should check with your doctor and also call a local exterminator to examine the situation and to evaluate the extent of the infestation.
Bed bugs do not spread harmful disease like mosquitoes and fleas, but sometimes dealing with bed bugs will be more annoying than other pests. This is because they are nocturnal, and they feed on human blood.
Bed bugs are tiny, reddish-brown insects that feed on human blood. After they bite, the bite site becomes swell it looks like small red lumps. The bites tend to appear in a cluster.
See the video to know more about the bed bug bites:
Bed bug bites can be identified from their unique appearance that they left after biting. The small red bite sites are itchy, sometimes feel warm while touching. People with sensitive skin may get hives due to severe bed bug bites; this is nothing but due to an allergic reaction from bed bug saliva. Consulting a doctor will be helpful under such circumstances.
Bed bugs bite to those areas which are attached with your mattress and pillow while sleeping. So, if you are looking for signs of bed bugs go and check your mattress first, in most cases, you will find them right below your bed sheet.
The bed bugs do not like to disturb their food source (victim) to get disturbed; other their feeding process will be disrupted. They tend to bite on your back, legs, thighs, waist, shoulder, etc. if you wear fewer clothes while sleeping, you may end up getting bed bug bites every place of your body, except your face and hair.
Check out our bed bug guide to know more about bed bugs and their bites keep yourself updated to avoid major bed bug problems.
Bed bugs are hated everywhere because of their peculiar food habits, which is nothing but human blood! They need to feed once in a week only, and they can survive about a month without having a single blood meal. This makes them hard to kill.
In case of unavailability, they may target any other animal and pet like dogs, cats, birds, etc. But they cannot reproduce without the human blood meal.
Bed bugs share a lot of similarities with common ticks, that is why we sometimes have mistaken them when we saw them on our pets. To know more read our guide on how bed bugs look like and have proper idea about them so that you can easily identify them to take necessary measures.
In spite of having some differences, sometimes people mistaken bed bug bites with mosquito bites because in the first place they look similar; round, red and itchy. Mosquitoes leave a reddish scar on their victim which started itch from the very moment they start to bite.
Whereas, when a bed bug bites, you won’t feel it at first place because they inject an anticoagulant with their saliva at the biting site. This fluid acts as an anesthetic and makes the area numb while biting. After hours of getting bitten by the bed bugs, you can feel their bites which are itchier than the mosquito bites. Mosquito bites are single and more painful, whereas bed bug bites appear in a cluster (or single) and itchy.
Check this video to know what the famous entomologist Jef White is saying about salient features of bed bites and how they interfere with the victim’s life:
Tick bites also appear somewhat like bed bugs, but they are slightly larger than the bed bugs. Ticks are more dangerous because they can spread serious disease like Lyme.
Bed bugs do not live on their host, they need the blood meal to feed and reproduce, whereas ticks attached with their hosts which required to be removed properly to prevent further infection. After feeding bed bugs return to their hiding places, which is between 10 feet from their food source.
Flea bites are also sometimes confused with the bed bug bites because of their appearance. But there some key differences between bed bug and flea bite, you need to check which part of the body they appear as well as the number of bites in the particular area.
Feet and ankles are the common target place for fleas, whereas bed bugs only target those areas attached to your bedding material while sleeping. Beg bugs bites tend to appear inline, pattern or clusters which are a differentiating factor between fleas and bed bugs.
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Bed bugs can be easily mistaken with the chiggers but remember on chiggers love to live in grassy, dark, moist and damp places instead of in your mattress. So don’t get confused if you found tiny red bloodsuckers in your mattress, those are nothing but bed bugs.
While bed targets the areas that are attached with your bedding material to bite, Chiggers target the waist portion while leaving welts behind. Still, if you think you chigger bite don’t waste time, try some chigger repellent like this one.
If you have prior experience with an out breaking hives, you can understand how painful it is. Well, anything can be a trigger for hives. Especially if you are allergic in nature then keep an extra eye for hives. These are more dangerous than bed bug bites.
The hives tend to spread red welts all around your skin, which are painful to deal with. Under such a situation, the best you can do is to see a doctor, preferably a dermatologist who may prescribe some antihistamines to heal the infection.
You may wonder why we are comparing these two? This is because the poison ivy release oil named as urushiol, which results in a nasty, reddish rash with an irregularly colored area. You can easily distinguish those with bed bug bites because bed bug bites appear like a reddish cluster, not like splotchy rashes.
Rashes cannot result out of anything, in case if you have sensitive skin, you may come across these regular rashes. They can be due to your food habit, allergic reaction, pollen, etc. In most cases, rashes are not painful or itchy like bed bug bites.
By appearance, they look different than the bed bug bites. The rashes are more or like sand particles while the bed bug bites are lumpy in nature which appears in cluster.
You can check the video to see a closer look of a bed bug’s bite:
Rashes mostly result from skin irritation, so sometimes they may feel warm while touching.
Maybe you are familiar with the term Chicken Pox; sometimes it is confused with bed bug bites due to the blister-like scars which look somewhat similar to the bed bug bites. But the good news is chickenpox can be prevented by vaccination. In both cases, the biting scenario is annoying, for bed bugs it’s reddish itchy and warm whereas, the chickenpox scars are blister-like rash.
Bed bugs tend to bite at particular areas that keep on touching to your mattress while sleeping, like your things, elbow, waist, back, etc. whereas in case of chickenpox you will get itchy blister-like rashes all over your body. The chickenpox blister contains body fluid, but the bed bug bites do not contain fluid inside.
The predominant thing that you need to remember after getting a bed bug bite is to remain calm. Don’t panic!
There are a hundred of home remedies for bed bug bites but most of them are not effective. Some useful tip includes:
Keep your nails short to suppress the urge of itching. If the bite site feels warm while touching, then try using ice bags. If not available wrap a piece of ice with a cotton cloth and then apply it to the target areas.
Not all individuals feel the same after getting bed bug bites. Some people do not feel the pain of bed bug bites, whereas sensitive individuals feel it severely.
Please note: If the bed bug bites do not heal naturally within a week, do not waste further time and see a doctor, who might prescribe a topical ointment to soothe the bite site to escalate the healing process.
It depends on the individuals if you have sensitive skin, it may take one week to 15 days to heal, whereas some individuals don’t even realize they are getting bed bugs. Do not feel lucky if you are one of them, because in the case of bigger infestation you will not realize the problem.
To avoid a further problem, call a local exterminator to examine the extent of the infestation. If you want to remove bed bugs from your home, go for chemical-free ways rather than using harmful insecticides. You can use bed bug heaters and vacuums to get rid of the bed bugs; these are safe, only uses water and heat to combat the bed bugs.
If you are interested in taking preventive measures against bed bug infestation, try using mattress encasement as well as pillow encasement. Another useful tool is bed bug traps, which are designed to attract bed bugs inside of the trap and stop them from going back. So, in case if you bed bugs, you will get to know about their presence in the very first place.
Endnote: Now, if all the signs are confirming about the presence of bed bugs, its high time to call an exterminator, to take further action.
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