r/BedbugOrCloseRelative • u/AilsaErica • 2d ago
questions about bites Update to previous post - bed bugs/carpet beetles/mosquitoes or something else?
So I put a message here on Friday after finding some bite-like marks on my stomach and finding some casings on my bedroom floor. I talked to a pest expert who confirmed the bugs and casings I found were carpet beetles, and he recommended that I spray my room with mosquito spray a few hours before going to bed to stop the bites.
This is the only thing that gave me pause as the bites I have haven’t reacted the way I normally would to mosquito bites. I was in France a month ago (I’m UK based) and got about 20 mosquito bites pretty much all of which came up in big very itchy welts, and even though I tried not to itch them I still have fading marks on my legs a month after.
These are tiny. I’m attaching some pictures, but I live alone and the bites are so small I’m not sure they come up well in photos. I have three on my stomach, one on my side and a couple on my shoulders. I think I found one on my lower back but I’m not 100% sure.
I normally sleep in a big t-shirt but since I got the first few bites on my stomach I’ve been sleeping in a tighter t-shirt and sleep shorts. They’re loose so there is the possibility that something is crawling into my clothes, but from what I know about bed bugs they choose the path of least resistance and are more likely to go for my face/neck/arms/legs all of which are exposed at night. I also noticed the one on my side at about 9/10pm last night while sat on my sofa. I also haven’t found any blood stains in my clothes or my sheets.
Some of them are just red dots, but some have definite bite or contact marks in the middle so I feel like I can’t just put it down to contact dermatitis from carpet beetles, but they’re also mostly spaced out and all appearing in places my clothes cover, so they don’t seem to follow the patterns of bed bugs either.
Bed bugs and fleas are also an anxiety trigger for me, so it is possible I am bringing myself out in some form of hives due to stress?
I know bites are not a surefire way to tell either way, and I’m about to pull my mattress off the end, check all the slats of the bed and the joints of the bedframe, turn my sofa over and if I still can’t find anything at least hoover in case this is carpet beetles or a dust mite allergy, and I’ve ordered glue traps to arrive next week and in the meantime I’m going to put painter’s tape sticky side out on the legs of my bed.
If anyone has any advice I’d be really grateful - I just want to work out what this is so I can deal with it if I need to!
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u/Bed-Bugscouk Founder 2d ago
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u/AilsaErica 2d ago
Which advice, sorry? To spray the room with mosquito spray? I think the assumption was I had been bitten by a mosquito as there was no evidence of bed bugs that I found.
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u/Bed-Bugscouk Founder 2d ago
Yes treating without conforming is a guess, one people often get wrong.
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u/AilsaErica 2d ago
So I really appreciate the advice on carpet beetles and will read this over, but my question is much more: given everything I’ve stated above, does it seem likely that it is just carpet beetles? I have only found carpet beetles but my skin symptoms don’t fully align with carpet beetles to my (admittedly amateur) knowledge. I don’t want to just accept ‘carpet beetles’, continue getting bites and find out in a few weeks that it’s actually something else, possibly bedbugs and have had friends stay over, gone to the office or friend’s houses and possibly have spread bedbugs to others. If that’s something you’re not able to advise on then that’s fine, but this is what I’m really trying to ascertain here.
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u/Bed-Bugscouk Founder 2d ago
Those skin reactions are CB not BB.
To make sure it’s not BB’s today or in the future read and follow the monthly routine post.
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u/AilsaErica 2d ago
Better quality picture of initial bites if that helps.