Bed bugs or mites? (Bed bud or mite) What's the difference!

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: I read the following ancient post, but could not respond as a follow-up, so am reposting and giving an answer... : I've researched this quite a bit on the internet, and found little information. : Bed bugs or mites? (Bed bud or mite) What's the difference! : Posted by Chris on February 12, 2005 at 21:19:51: : I've read so much on this forum that now I am confused. Can you have bed bugs and never see any evidence of them? I read that they like to hide along the seams of your mattress but can they hide in the mattress under the fabric? Some people have stated they get itchy bites in many different regions of the body from bed bugs. Are the bites always itchy? Are bed bugs known to discriminate where they bite? Can bed bugs reside somewhere else..such as the clothes in your drawers or closet? If you have bed bugs, then you probably get bit every night. Can several nights even weeks go by in which you would not get bit even if you have these insects? : Now mites. What are they? It seems the symptoms of whether or not you have these bugs are the same as bed bugs. How do you know you have mites (bird or rat)? What does a mite bite look like? Do they itch? Do the mites discriminate where they bite you and when? : I ask all of this because I am getting bit by something that likes to bite me only on my stomach, hips, & thighs. : ____________ : My response. : I ran across a similar situation. I was traveling, and that night, in the hotel, was bitten by a few unseen bugs. I did not notice this until the next morning when I began to itch. At first, I thought, bed bugs, but later I found out that these pests, although similar in nature, were microscopic. I could never actually see the bug(s). I did not realize what was going on that first day, but by the second day, with additional bug bites on my torso, I figured, must be pests in the bed. By then, business complete, I checked out of the hotel and headed for my rental house. I did not realize at this time, that some of the pests had joined me, via suitcase(?), for the trip to my rental house. Also unknown, I must have fed the one or two pests (my blood?), because two and a half months later, when I returned to the rental house... the infestation was on... must have fed the pests allowing them to reproduce. When the pest first arrived at the rental house, I was unaware of their presents. Must have only been one or two? So, two and a half months after the mites arrival at my rental house, I returned, jumped in bed that night and holy cow, like a dozen bed bug like bites by morning. Second night worse than the first. I was scratching like a hound with fleas! I took action at this point. Striped the bed, and placed bedding in the washer with one tablespoon of Clorox bleach, then placed the bedding on the clothesline to dry. (This was not effective, as I will momentarily get back to.) Fumigated the bed with insecticide, i.e. sprayed top and bottom of mattress, and box spring, then closed the room to stew in insecticide for an hour (or more if you can.) I then aired the room re-covered the bed with bedding, and voila, problem solved - not! That night, more mite bed bug like bites than before... The mites had apparently survived the wash... The secret is apparently, to run clothing and/or bedding, through a heat cycle. The cloths dryer will work, or gather clothing and / or bedding, and place in an enclosed hot car. Your other research will describe desired temperatures to kill off the bugs. Rather than heat treating the bedding, I went back through the bed fumigation procedure, adding the sheets to the top of the bed (after having fumigated the mattress) and fumigated the sheets, followed by placing the blanket on top of the sheets and fumigating the blanket. I then closed up the room, and let it stew again. After an hour plus, I removed all the bedding and washed and dried it... Voila, no more mite bed bug bites. : At this point you have about licked the problem, fumigate, and heat treat every suspect article of bedding or clothing. The bed bug mite will hide in clothing just as easily as the bed. One other action is to purchase a bar of insecticidal like soap. I found some Dermacare Jabon (soap) Escabicida. Although this soap is designed to kill scabies, it works equally well on this bed bug mite. I might add, not to frighten you, this bed bug mite was not scabies and not nearly as troublesome as that would be? Instructions coming with the soap are to soap up and let soap remain for a minute. I found relief within a day of using the soap and securing fresh bedding and clothing. Instructions for the soap call for using it a minimum of 3 days. : I'm no pest expert, it might be a good idea to get a pro to look at the situation. Hard to imagine, but my rental house was so remote, it was just about inaccessible to a pro... : Best of luck to you, Clark

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