I Woke Up With Bites All Over Me in Spring Hill. Is It Bed Bugs?

You woke up this morning and something bit you overnight. Multiple times. You did not feel anything while you were sleeping but now you have red itchy welts on your arms, your neck or your shoulders and you are trying to figure out what happened while you were in your own bed.

Bed bugs are one possibility but they are not the only one. Here is how to figure out what you are actually dealing with.

What Bed Bug Bites Actually Look Like

Bed bug bites tend to show up in clusters or lines on skin that was exposed while you were sleeping. Arms, shoulders, neck and the upper chest are the most common areas because those are the parts of your body that are typically not covered by blankets. The bites are small, red and itchy and they often appear in a pattern of three or more in a row or a cluster which is sometimes described as breakfast lunch and dinner.

The bites themselves are not painful when they happen because bed bugs inject a mild anesthetic along with an anticoagulant when they feed. Most people do not feel the bite at all while they are sleeping. The itching and redness develop hours later as your body reacts to the saliva injected during the bite.

Not everyone reacts the same way to bed bug bites. Some people develop significant welts that are intensely itchy. Others have almost no reaction at all and would never know they were bitten without finding other evidence of bed bugs. If you share a bed with someone and you are getting bites but they are not that does not mean bed bugs are not the cause. It may just mean you react more strongly than they do.

What Else Could Be Causing the Bites

Before you conclude you have bed bugs it is worth considering the other possibilities because the response to each one is very different.

Fleas are one of the most common alternative explanations in Spring Hill homes especially if you have pets. Flea bites tend to show up on the lower legs and ankles rather than the upper body because fleas stay low to the ground and jump onto people from carpet and furniture. If your bites are primarily on your lower legs and you have pets fleas are worth investigating before bed bugs.

Mosquitoes that got inside overnight could be responsible for a small number of bites showing up in the morning. But mosquito bites tend to be more random in location and fewer in number than the clustered pattern bed bugs typically leave.

Allergic reactions to laundry detergent, a new soap or fabric can sometimes look like insect bites. If you recently changed a product that contacts your skin and the rash is more widespread and uniform rather than clustered in a pattern a skin reaction is worth considering.

Mites from birds or rodents that have gotten into your attic or walls can also bite people at night and cause reactions similar to bed bug bites. If you have had any rodent activity in your home recently that is worth mentioning when you call us.

How to Check Your Bed for Bed Bugs Right Now

The fastest way to determine whether bed bugs are the cause is to inspect your mattress and bed frame. Pull back the sheets and look carefully at the seams and edges of the mattress. Bed bugs hide in the folds and seams of mattresses during the day and leave behind evidence that is easier to spot than the bugs themselves.

Look for small dark spots that look like ink dots. Those are bed bug droppings and finding them in the seams of your mattress is a strong confirmation of bed bug activity. Look for tiny pale shed skins which are the exoskeletons bed bugs leave behind as they grow. Look for small rust colored stains on the mattress surface which are blood spots left behind when a fed bed bug gets crushed.

Check the box spring the same way. Check the joints and crevices of your bed frame. Check behind the headboard if it is attached to the wall. Check the nightstands on both sides of the bed. Bed bugs stay within a few feet of their food source which is you while you sleep so the inspection area does not need to extend far from the bed itself initially.

If You Find Any of This Call Us Today

If you find droppings, shed skins or blood spots in your mattress seams call us the same day. Do not wash all your bedding and move to the couch thinking it will help. Washing bedding does not eliminate a bed bug infestation and moving to a different room causes bed bugs to follow you and spread the infestation to a second room. Do not spray the mattress with store bought insecticide. Bed bugs are increasingly resistant to many over the counter products and exposing them to a repellent spray often causes them to scatter deeper into the mattress, into the box spring and into the walls where they are harder to treat. Call us and we will come out, inspect the full bedroom and tell you exactly what you are dealing with. Our bed bug inspection in Spring Hill starts with confirming what is actually there before any treatment decisions are made.