![]() So, if you’re finding this fecal proof in areas of your home aside from your bedroom, you have a flea (not a bed bug) infestation. Unlike bed bugs, though, fleas will live in any part of the house. Evidenceįleas, like bed bugs, leave behind a trail of tiny black speaks of excrement. Symptoms of their midnight feasting may begin within hours of being bit. These bugs leave behind extremely itchy, red, and sometimes sore welts. (Though, their personal preference is animal blood.) Flea bites are often itchy and irritating, as most people’s bodies react to the flea saliva (that they secrete into your bloodstream) like an allergen.įleas look for easy targets, meaning that they might munch on you while you sleep, especially if you have a pet that sleeps with you. They then piece your skin with their mouthparts, which includes a tiny needle (proboscis), and begin to suck your blood. To prepare for their first bite, fleas use their strong claws on the ends of their legs to attach themselves to their host. ![]() Are usually on the upper half of the body, around the face, neck, and arms.Cause a dark red spot in the middle, with raised skin.Are usually on the lower half of the body, or in warm, moist areas like the bends of elbows or knees.May appear grouped together in threes or fours.Cause small dark red bumps on your skin.The following indicators can help you differentiate between a flea bite and a bed bug bite, as you’re painstakingly aware that you’re getting bit at night, but aren’t sure if it’s a flea bite or a bed bug bite. Fleas tend to bite around the ankles and legs, but may also feast in your armpits, around your waist, and in the bends of your knees and elbows. Bitesįlea bites look like small red spots, which may have a distinctive red "halo" around the very center of the bite, and often come in clusters or lines of three or four. These flat-bodied, wingless parasites have brown or brownish-red bodies and are covered in hair, allowing them to root to their host and easily move under their host’s fur or hair. These pests are very tiny-the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. These dark stains are their fecal spots, which are basically dried up, digested blood. EvidenceĪ sure way to identify if you or your children have been bitten by bed bugs is the evidence of the dark, rusty-colored stains that they just left behind on your clean, crisp beige-colored sheets, your son’s dinosaur-themed bed sheets, or your white mattresses. It may even be days until the symptoms appear. In fact, you may remain completely unaware of their midnight attack until the bites "appear" later in the day, when they become red, itchy welts. You probably won’t awake when a bed bug is snacking on you. ![]() This is just an hour or two before sunrise and only lasts a few minutes. They pierce your skin with an elongated beak, through which they withdraw blood, when you’re in a deep rhythm of sleep and are experiencing a temporary paralysis of the muscles. Their pattern of biting may appear as a line or a zigzag, in accordance with the edge of a sheet or mattress.īed bugs are smart. They typically nibble around your armpits or your neck, behind your knee, or on your inner thigh. Bitesīed bug bites occur in clusters and are concentrated around areas of exposed skin. If they’ve already found and fed on you, though, their body is balloon-like, reddish-brown, and more elongated. That is, of course, if they’re hungry and looking to feast on your blood. They’re long, brown, and have a flat, oval-shaped body. Bed BugsĪdult bed bugs are tiny-the size of an apple seed or smaller. I’m going to identify what they look like, what their bites look like, and what evidence they leave behind. These, folks, tend to be one of the following five bugs: bed bugs, fleas, chiggers, mosquitoes, or spiders. You may not even be able to see (or find) these culprits. They’re quiet while you snore, most promise not to immediately wake you, and their probable not-so-friendly evidence often comes as a very unwelcome surprise as you awake in the morning. There are a few bugs that may visit you (and bite you) at night while you peacefully sleep. Have you ever woken up with a welt on your leg, a line of red bumps across your belly, or itchy ankles? Has your child ever stumbled down the hallway in the morning, seen with a huge yawn, backwards pajamas, the wildest of stuck-up hair (not atypical) and red dots on their cheek (very atypical)? Who wants to wake up with the horrifying realization that some-biting-thing has been in your bed at night? Who wants to start the day wondering what bit me or feasted on my child during the nighttime? Not me.
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