I hope this critter (pictured) is not a bedbug...

October 14, 2010 10:40 AM

Is this critter I found crawling through my leg hair (jpg) a young bedbug? I have not noticed any bites, no red or black marks on my cream colored sheets. I got a dresser via craigslist but so far have only draped clothes on top of it, not inside. NYC.

Most pictures of bedbugs look more round and like ticks, but I did see a few photos of less mature bedbugs that looked kind of like this. The coin is a penny.

If it is a bedbug, and I assume that it must have come here in the dresser, would it be sufficient to treat the clothing draped on the dresser (hot wash/dry) and use a heat gun on all the crevices in the dresser?

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (12 answers total)

Looks like a flea, and not a bedbug to me.

Do you have animals?
posted by scblackman at 10:44 AM on October 14, 2010 [5 favorites]

It looks a lot more like a flea to me, although that's pretty small for a flea. Perhaps it isn't a human flea?
posted by shakespeherian at 10:45 AM on October 14, 2010

flea
posted by orme at 10:49 AM on October 14, 2010

Someone with cats who you drank coffee with?
posted by Namlit at 10:51 AM on October 14, 2010

Yep, it's a flea.
posted by brianogilvie at 11:01 AM on October 14, 2010

That be a flea butt for sure.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 12:13 PM on October 14, 2010

Totally a flea. Whew, you got off easy.

Do you live on the ground floor? Sometimes they come up through the cracks if there are rats in the basement.
posted by hermitosis at 12:21 PM on October 14, 2010

Definitely a flea. Get some kind of flea doom spray from a vet or a good pet store and spray the shit out of your furniture, carpets, bed, etc., leave it for a few hours to work its magic then vacuum like a mofo.
posted by essexjan at 1:52 PM on October 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hello Mr. Flea. The good news is that aside from occasionally finding one on yourself and going "ahhh!' they're not a big deal. Plenty of flea killing stuff at any pet store. (If you have pets, use something like Frontline or Advantage).
posted by wildcrdj at 2:08 PM on October 14, 2010

Yeah, that's a flea. I've just got done picking the goddamn things out of my leg hair after a serious infestation.

Get your pet (assuming you have one) treated, buy some flea spray and go to town.

Top tip if you do have to pick more off you - keep a glass of water with a drop of washing up liquid in it by your bedside (if they're in your bedroom, they will go for your legs when you get out of bed, because they're warm). Pick them off and drop them in the water - bye bye mister flea.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:51 AM on October 15, 2010

Definitely a flea. I used to have cats. They used to get fleas, sometimes. I am very familiar with fleas. That, my friend, is a flea. Crush it. Crush its tiny head. Then get some spray.
posted by Decani at 4:17 AM on October 15, 2010

It's a flea. On people they like to bite on the "tauter" skin on wrists and ankles.

If you have an infestation in your living space then in addition to a flea-specific pesticide you need to become an obsessive vacuumist.

Really, you need to vacuum constantly for about a month in order to break the flea life cycle if you have an infestation.
posted by de void at 12:54 PM on October 15, 2010