Was it a bat bug or a bed bug?

October 5, 2012 3:10 PM

Every picture I've seen suggests that I found a bed bug. But no bites or blood can I see. Was it a bat bug instead?

In the last year I've twice found what looked exactly like a bed bug - once on sheets and once on a pillowcase stored in our linen closet. Our cat occasionally sleeps in there. But neither Mr_Itoku nor I have been bitten, nor have I seen blood castings or anything like that (obviously after I found the last one I washed everything in the closet on hot!). We have had several bat incursions in the house. So, what are the chances they were bat bugs instead? I've looked at pics of both and can't really tell the difference. I've ruled out other bugs, including ticks.

posted by media_itoku to home & garden (6 answers total)

I can't speak to bat bugs, but I can tell you that back in the dark days when I had a bed bug infestation, the other person sharing the bed with me "never got bitten." I looked like I was coming up in welts; HIS body simply didn't react to the bed bug bites. Lots of (lucky) people don't ever show signs of having been bitten by bed bugs, though they were indeed bitten.

I never saw any blood spots, but I did see very small black markings - like someone had briefly touched a felt tip marker to the mattress. This was the giveaway, as that's their fecal matter.

I hope you're right and they're not bed bugs. Getting rid of them was a battle royale for us.
posted by artemisia at 4:19 PM on October 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

You’re sure it’s not fleas?
posted by bongo_x at 4:32 PM on October 5, 2012

So you've found only two bugs over a year? That makes me wonder a bit. If I were you I'd visit bedbugger.com and get information on bedbug traps then see if you can find any more bugs. You'd be able to take a bug to get ID'd by a pest control place, or take photos and get it ID'd on the internet.

It seems possible to me that you and your partner are both non-reactive, but weird that you have had bedbugs for a year (if you have them) and can't find any evidence. That's a long enough time that, given their reproductive cycle, you'd expect them to be findable around the bed, or marks on the mattress, etc.
posted by Frowner at 6:28 PM on October 5, 2012

I had issues with what I figured for the life of me must be bedbugs, but turned out to be easily managed "tropical rat mites", common to the SF Bay Area and spread by local critters including raccoons, skunks, possums, squirrels, etc.
posted by otterpop at 8:04 PM on October 5, 2012

I've had bed bugs. I think if you found them on the linens, you found bed bugs. Most of the other types of pests are not going to be hanging out on the linens, but on you.

Note that many people who have bedbugs never find an actual bug themselves, at all. That's how elusive they can be. I didn't.

It's perfectly possible, as well, to be among the lucky (apparent) minority who aren't allergic to the bites. It would be unusual for two such people to be in the same house/bed, but not at all impossible.
posted by dhartung at 11:32 PM on October 5, 2012

If you see another one capture it in a bottle, and examine it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:41 AM on October 6, 2012