My daughter has woken up with bites like this several times in the last few months, usually on her arms or stomach. I am trying to figure out what might be causing them so I can get it treated. I appreciate any help. Apologize for the giant pic but thought it might help to see them more easily.

That's what ant bites look like on me. Puss filled top, that I'll just pop.

Ants in a top bunk bed? Does that seem likely? Agree that they look like ant bites. She didn't have them yesterday and woke up with them today. They're not itchy.

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Seems like the kid would know if 6 fire ant bites happened during naptime/bedtime.

Classic bed bug bite location and grouping. Have you done a good search?

Google bed bug bite images if you haven't already.

jenn96 said:

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Ants in a top bunk bed? Does that seem likely? Agree that they look like ant bites. She didn't have them yesterday and woke up with them today. They're not itchy.

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Well ants to climb and crawl. So yes it's possible. Also the ants may have been on a blanket or toy.

CS78 said:

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Classic bed bug bite location and grouping. Have you done a good search?

Google bed bug bite images if you haven't already.

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That was my first thought as well, especially since they don't seem to appear until morning. Some things to check for in this article:

https://www.nozzlenolen.com/blog/post/what-do-bed-bug-bites-look-like

And here:

https://www.atoncepest.com/how-to-tell-i-have-bedbugs/

Well, now I get to run screaming through the house. :/ Thanks for the info. I'm going to start looking for signs of bed bugs.

jenn96 said:

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Well, now I get to run screaming through the house. :/ Thanks for the info. I'm going to start looking for signs of bed bugs.

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Bedbugs are extremely small, but adults can be close to the size of an apple seed. In fact, they are often described as "apple seeds with legs". The adults are also pretty quick too. Look at all parts of the bed, not just the mattress. I once had a patient who I told needed to look for bedbugs and she stated she already had, so I then told her to look at all parts of the bed. She actually called me back and told me that she found them in her fabric-covered headboard. Also look for small dark dots near mattress seam holes, which are the feces the small ones leave behind and they go in and out of the mattress.

Picture is classic for bedbugs. They feed, crawl a aways, feed, crawl, etc., so the bite pattern is often a line of sorts.

Good luck,
C

Thanks, I'm looking everywhere. Ugh.

They are on the increase. If you recently stayed in a hotel and her lugguge was on the floor, you may have unknowingly btlrought some home. Or, if she had a sleepover and a friend brought a bag that was recently in a hotel room.

Never had them, but I'm paranoid enough to pull back the sheets and check the corners of the bed in hotels. I also keep my luggage on the rack and don't let clothes stay on the carpeted floors before putting them in a dirty clothes bag.

I told EPA when they banned Dursban inside that this was going to happen.

You would be surprised. My 3 year old son kept getting random ant bites, like one or two not a lot.

This went on for like 3 days. Day care didn't know when he got them and we didnt see him getting one. After that I went to his bed, and sure as hell there were like 3 ants in his bed. Tough SOB never said anything and had no problem sleeping. Felt like terrible parents.

We use a normal pest service in normal increments. Called my pest guy and he nuked them. Sons room was on the second floor.

Ant bites hurt. A kid is going to know about ant bites.

I'd guess bed bugs.

Look for little blood droplets on the sheets or pillow.

Get a flashlight.

Inspect bolt holes, buttons, bottoms of wooden frame, under the seams on the mattress...

You can make a bedbug trap to see.

Thoughts and prayers if they are bed bugs. I'll try to find my old post about my battle with bed bugs.

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2834898

Couldn't you just strip the beds, open closet doors, close the door and then bug-bomb the hell out of it? Are store-bought bombs effective for them?

A friend of mine got bed bugs from glamping in those teepees in Wimberly with his wife. They brought them home with them and couldn't get rid of them. Ended up having to heat his entire house to an absurd temperature to kill them. Warped all the cabinets in his brand new custom home.

Not very often. They will go dormant and hide it out.

Jack Squat 83 said:

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Couldn't you just strip the beds, open closet doors, close the door and then bug-bomb the hell out of it? Are store-bought bombs effective for them?

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nope.

Get a propane heater and heat the room up to 140deg. Hold that temp for a few hours. Much more effective and cheaper than insecticides.

hudmoon said:

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Get a propane heater and heat the room up to 140deg. Hold that temp for a few hours. Much more effective and cheaper than insecticides.

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Plus, if the heat doesn't get them, the carbon monoxide will!

So for once, kill it with fire, is actually the answer

Call ABC Pest Control, ask for Frisbee.

A temp of 125F or higher for several hours will kill every arthropod in the room, bed bugs included.

I believe 122F for ~10 hours is the standard bedbug treatment. Takes a while to permeate the walls.

Just an update - I searched the beds, mattresses, under beds, in-between furniture and pulled every sheet and mattress cover off (and washed them in scalding water for good measure) and saw NO evidence of bed bugs, either droppings, eggs or bugs themselves. I know that doesn't mean they're not there but at least we don't have a massive infestation. I am going to be vigilant and keep looking and change the bedding even more often (including the underneath mattress cover stuff) but I'm less freaked out.

My daughter spent the earlier part of the evening at a girl-party where they all piled sleeping bags together to watch movies on the floor so it's possible the bites actually happened offsite, but I'm going to stay on it just in case. Thank you all for your responses!

I'd toss the sleeping bag just in case unless it's a crazy expensive one.

Or, just heat it way up in an enclosed container for a while. The dryer or the higesy heat setting a couple of cycles might do it.

I washed it in hot and dried it over 2 high cycles. It's still in the dryer. I may just toss it, it wasn't expensive.

Doesn't really look like bed bug bites to me.

Blood spots on the sheets are fairly indicative of bed bugs.

And will continue happening and happening.

When my sister started getting bitten at night, she thought bed bugs but couldn't find any sign of them. It took her cutting a hole in the bottom of the box spring and looking inside there to find them up against the wood frame. No signs anywhere else except in the box spring. Literally burned it, washed everything, sprayed the room with Precor 2000, and all was good.

Looks like it could be blister bug rash.

My daughter brought some bed bugs back from a HS swim meet where they stayed in a hotel. I could not find them by searching at all.

Eventually we went scorched-earth and threw the (admittedly old) mattress and box spring away. Only when we were moving it did I find the feces trail of where they were going in and out of the matttress. Never did see the bugs themselves.

We sprayed everything with 91% isopropyl alcohol and cleaned it as we removed every stick of furniture from her room, cleaning and spraying every surface. The we used Cimexa Powder all over the room and sprayed under the baseboards.

https://www.amazon.com/CimeXa-Insecticide-ounces-bottle-Rockwell/dp/B0085HRWI8/ref=asc_df_B0085HRWI8/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167152392179&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12710056747084042423&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027906&hvtargid=pla-329402406914&psc=1

We started putting stuff back and bought her one of those cheap mattresses from Amazon (they are great btw!) and haven't had any problems since. I really think she just brought one home from the hotel and it layed eggs in her mattress. We didn't find any evidence of the things in the rest of the house, although we did treat the whole house with Cimexa.



If you stay in a hotel, you can leave your luggage in the car after you get back. Let the sun warm up the car and it will kill the nasty things before you bring them in. In the summer it only takes a little while.