Your getting bites, but can’t find any bed bugs??!! If you’ve had a perfect look and can’t find any bed bugs or fecal matter, it may be time to conduct some research to make sure that you have bed bugs.
Unfortunately, bed bug bites share similar symptoms with several other types of insect bites, and there are a few other insects that look alike. Here are some of the bugs most commonly misdiagnosed as bed bugs.
- Carpet Beetle/Larvae
These are 90% of the time, what people believe are bed bugs. Carpet beetles, or more importantly their larvae, are small round and brown and have horizontal strips just like bed bugs. Carpet beetles do not bite, but 100% of people experience bites or welts when exposed to their tiny poisonous hairs. Look for these when you cant find bed bugs! The bed bug is the last photo.
- Book Lice
Booklice are commonly mistaken for bed bug nymphs. They are smaller, ranging from translucent white to grey or brown. They can often be found under wallpaper and along the sides of windows and windowsills. Their primary food source is fungi, pollen, mold, and fragments of dead insects.
- Cockroaches
Cockroach nymphs hide in cracks and crevices preferring to stay close to food, warmth, and moisture. They are most active at night. They appear white immediately after hatching or molting, and quickly turn a reddish brown, much like a bed bug. However, the cockroach nymph is more in the shape of a cylinder, whereas a bed bug is shorter and oval, or apple-seed in shape (not necessarily in size). Exposure can lead to asthma and trigger asthma attacks.
- Mites
Mites do not visually appear the same as bed bugs. However they are minimal, and their bites look very similar to that of bed bugs, although they are usually more painful. Mites will burrow under the skin and leave raised bumps where they have bitten. Unfortunately, you may not have a chance to see them identify which is which.
- Ticks
Ticks are parasites that live off the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. Ticks are vectors of some diseases that affect both humans and animals.
Canada Bed Bug
1281 W Georgia St #610B, Vancouver, BC V6E 3J7
(604) 239-1549
https://bcbug.com
