Is this a bed bug?
August 19, 2017 9:03 PM   Subscribe

Is this a bed bug? Link to flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm38PYM8 It seems to match a lot of descriptions I've found online. Unfortunately I did squish it due to freaking out which apparently doesn't help with ID'ing.
posted by scribbler to Science & Nature (11 answers total)
 
Best answer: Nope. Congrats! (based on the lack of ridges.)
posted by acidic at 9:10 PM on August 19, 2017


Hmm well another factor is that the tail-like thing sticking out of the end (at the 3.5 mark on the ruler) is not something I've ever seen on a bedbug. Unless that's a leg that has been very contorted by the squishing.

Anyway if you are still concerned then maybe try looking through a magnifying glass or catching some more; you can buy plastic traps to put under your bed legs.
posted by acidic at 10:20 PM on August 19, 2017


Response by poster: Ahhhh, I will tell my landlord and at least hopefully get a pest control person to come and investigate. The squishing probably didn't help. I found it in a chest of drawers. I haven't seen any other signs EXCEPT that I do have one bite on my lower back, which could very well be a mosquito bite but..... I think it's better to be cautious. :(
posted by scribbler at 10:55 PM on August 19, 2017


It’s some kind of small beetle. Bed bugs are basically flat, or at least don’t have that kind of rounded back, and they don’t have clubbed antennae. And they have ridges across their backs which would be visible in these photos.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:52 AM on August 20, 2017 [4 favorites]


Basically, nothing about it looks right apart from the size and colour.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:54 AM on August 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


I would say no. Bedbugs aren't rounded like that. Squishing it may have helped in the ID, too. Think back to the squish test you administered. How did it squish? Bedbugs are completely soft (completely nasty) and when you squish them there is no resistance. Most beetles have a crunchy carapace which resists squishing. So: crunchy = non bedbug, soft & squooshy = bedbug. (Almost impossible to break = flea or tick but that's not what you've got here, I'm including them for SCIENCE. )
posted by mygothlaundry at 5:26 AM on August 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


Maybe Attagenus brunneus?
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 6:30 AM on August 20, 2017


Response by poster: Not meaning to threadsit but an update for clarification and/or posterity - I don't recall one way or the other whether it crunched or not (I "lightly" squished...). Definitely rounded, I thought at first it was a small ladybug, and comparing to pictures and videos online that looks different. No blood when it squished but it did ooze a little white-ish stuff.

Thanks for all the answers.
posted by scribbler at 8:44 AM on August 20, 2017


Yeah no, bedbugs are super super flat and when they're round, it's because they're full of blood, which comes out immediately when you squish it. No white stuff.
posted by acidic at 9:21 AM on August 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


I think thats some kind of small beetle.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:36 PM on August 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


Agree it looks like a beetle, not a bedbug.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:30 PM on August 21, 2017


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