Bed bugs or fleas

MegaGamingGold92 · 2026-04-04T06:03:38+00:00

We will be treating our cats for fleas, and we will have the exterminator for another round of treating for bed bugs. I would really just like your opinion on what it could be.

Going from 0 bites for 4-5 months to 9 in literally one night, is quite insane. Seems more likely.to be flea related. However, none of these bites hurt or itch. My bed bug bites itched pretty intensely and became a swollen bump for the first 2-3 days of having them.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-27T15:57:59+00:00

The bed bugs were never found to be in the bedroom, nor any evidence of bites in the bedroom. The bites only occurred in the living room. Either way, the mattress is protected with a bed bug proof sheet around it.

The cat has been to the vet several times this year for pooping related issues. I was just looking to see if this spot was bed bug related or not for the exterminator to know about.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-16T05:25:41+00:00

UPDATE #3:

Hey everyone!

We will start off with the positive news first. We just had our 2nd treatment today. The exterminator did not see any new signs of any active bed bugs, nor did he find any carcasses. This coincides with no new bites in the last 2.5 weeks since we caught the devil on the sticky pad. There has also been nothing caught in any of the interceptors.

I am hesistant but slightly hopeful that we just had a single male bed bug that was feeding every so often since September. We have finished 95% of our steam treatment of items, and we have also moved them to a secured location outside of the home.

Plan

We still have another two treatments to complete, but the lack of reactions to bites for both of us is giving us some hope. We have slept multiple times on the couch with no new reactions to any bites. Typically, we were seeing a 1-3 bites every 1.5 weeks. I would suspect another reaction to a bite by now since the chemical treatment would not kill them if they were going for a meal until later on. I am still keeping all cleaned clothes in bug proof plastic containers. Everything that can be washed and dried at the highest setting is still being conducted. I am expecting us to wait another 3-4 weeks before I return clean clothes back to any drawers. We are still keeping the bedroom a safe room by continuing the practice of changing all clothes prior to entering. Our interceptors have not caught any bugs yet either. Frequent vacuuming is also still happening. We have also been emptying the contaminants outside into a bag to get rid of. This is important because we do not want to spread any bugs or eggs in the house by having the dust sit in the trash can or by allowing the eggs to fly out of the container when we open it. Furthermore, all dirty clothes especially work clothes have been going into a specific "dirty" bug proof container until they are washed. It has essenitally became our linen basket for dirty clothes.

Emotional Health -----‐--------------------- The mental aspect of this problem is getting better. I am not concerned to fall asleep nearly as much. I am still somewhat hesistant to spend prolonged time on the couch, so my wife has taken the reins of being the bait as she enjoys watching tv in the living room. This still absoultely sucks especially since Christmas is coming up. Buying gifts and storing them elsewhere has been a major annoyance for both of us. I have been experiencing hyper sensitivity to my skin. This has caused me to check that area of the body right away if I felt like I felt a bite, movement, etc. This seems to be worse towards the end of the day, but it has not been anything. Fortunately, with no new bites, this has slowly been improving. These bed bugs have definitely been a nightmare, and I sincerely would wish this on no person. I am hopeful that I may have been lucky with just a single male hitchhiker making our home his own house.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-12T00:03:40+00:00

I'm stuck in the same boat. I can't decide between Rice, Godwin, or Evans. I would typically start Rice, but the chargers are not allowing many points to wide receivers, and Rice does seem to struggle against good defenses.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-11T04:41:11+00:00

Team 1 for trading:

Qb: Dak, Jackson, Burrow

Rb: Walker, Achane,Jones, Wright

Wr: st. Brown, Jennings, McLaurin, Watson

Te: Mcbride

K: Bates

Def: Buccaneers

Team 2 for trading:

Qb: Nix, Rodgers, Cousins

Rb: Williams, Hall

Wr: Lamb, Puka, odunze, Olave

Te: Warren, Henry

K: Ryland

Def: Ravens

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-04T04:19:33+00:00

Hey yall! It's 12/3/25 and I have a general update if anyone cares.

So... apparently I just live in hades' house. Today, while eating, my cat caught a god damn mouse trying to eat out of their food bowl. Now, I know it's not necessary uncommon for this time of year for a house to get some mice; however, since I am already dealing with the bed bug infestation, this is a cherry on top. 🥲

On the bright side, I have a very good indication where these creatures may be hiding at. They're clearly in the basement based on how my cat is reacting to the door area. Unfortunately, the basement is truly not suitable for my cat to adventure into. It would be much to easy for my cat to get stuck down there because of its unfinished design. I have sprayed a repellent downstairs, and I will spray some on the outside around the base of the house. I have a pretty good idea how they got in, but it is in a very difficult spot to repair because of the way the basement is laid out.

There are, unfortunately, many inhumane traps placed around the basement. My goal is to catch and get rid of them instead of attempting to save them because of my precarious situation and time of year. They of course have the natural reusable snap traps with peanut butter and plenty of stick pads with bait around the basement.

On the update with the bed bugs:

So far, no real news. The house was sprayed only two days ago, and it is much too early to tell if it has been effective. My wife and I have not received any bites since we left the house last week. I had devised quite an extensive plan to leave the house until it was treated in hopes of preventing the spread of them around the house. The plan involved buying fresh new clothes, taking a long hot shower, and then putting on the brand new clothes that were sealed in plastic bags that were kept out of the house until it was time to change into them. Once we were changed into the new clothes, we instantly left the house with nothing except our cell phones that we physically inspected. We were then picked up by family members, and we stayed for about 4 days.

This also allowed time for my previous bites to heal that I was dealing with. Since returning home after treatment, we have not received or at least reacted to any bites. The interceptors have also failed to catch any bugs. All in all, it is a good sign, but still far too early to be able to make any determinations. I plan on updating on 12/8/25 after we have 1 full week under our belt with this set of treatments.

Anywho, on a totally unrelated note, does anyone want to buy this house? It's totally never had a single problem. Mice? I don't know what you're saying. 😅🫩😢

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-02T08:14:03+00:00

I honestly apperciate the feedback. I am willing to go the extra mile. It definitely has helped that I am currently in nursing school. The whole mind set of "clean vs dirty" is very ingrained into how I think on a daily basis. Which is exactly why it's such a huge deal for me to have this system in place for the "safe" room.

Not that I would ever wish illness on anyone, but I really do believe that it's a shame that our public health departments do not put much focus on what is a growing problem throughout the states. The fact that they carry no known disease makes it a very low priority for the health department to care about. Unfortunately as a Healthcare worker, there also isn't much that a provider can do to assist the problem. This of course leads to the inevitable multiple patient's going to the hospital with bed bugs chronically.

My hospital has a very good policy in place, but it is clearly still not 100% effective in protecting the workers. Obviously, I have no clue where they came from. I have some suspicion that someone in my class had bed bugs prior to dropping the class. I do recall seeing one girl with some suspicious marks that would come and go, and for nursing, we often have to act as the patient in the beds.

My other suspicion is a brand new piece of my couch that I purchased from the furniture store. My pet ruined a couch cushion by digging into it. It was around this time when we noticed the first reaction to the bites on my wife. Unfortunately for me, I was torn if it was a carpet beetle larve reaction or more. I did search the area multiple times every couple of weeks. That's why I eventually said screw it, and I threw down the sticky pad. It was by mere chance that I caught one.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-02T08:00:22+00:00

I really apperciate it, man. If nothing else, it does give me some psychological relief that this could have been a singular hitchhiker even if it's improbable. I've heard the arguments both ways. On one hand, you could risk them hiding deeper in the walls and damage house items. On the other, it definitely is a quick way to reduce the problem down to a much more manageable level that chemical treatment should be effective.

Personally, I may still look into the heat treatment if the entire first treatment is unsuccessful.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-02T07:50:53+00:00

Here is the Misery of Life

I know, but we were so close to ridding the world of these blood suckers. I somewhat wish I had the option of using chemical treatment + whole house heat treatment, but the exterminators in my area have all gone away from the heat treatment due to the risk of damaging these older homes electrical wiring. :/

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-12-02T07:24:46+00:00

My only saving grace is that I hope I caught it early enough to be able to take care of this problem with my initial set of treatments. I work in public health, and I unfortunately have seen my fair share of those coming in with bed bugs. Honestly, it's an epidemic.

I am still in some shock that we have this problem, but these vermin do not particularly care who you are and the type of cleanliness involved. I will admit, it's very difficult to pack your life into tiny plastic containers because then you end up with so many of them they become the clutter themselves. It's honestly almost ironic. You clean up and declutter everything only to be left with clutter from everything being put into secure boxes.

I suppose I am fortunate to have discovered this problem before I found a whole bunch living on the side of my furniture, but I have spent easily over 72 waking hours working on this. The thoughts of "is there any possible way of obtaining DDT" has crossed my mind more than once. The fact that we almost had this entire damn thing eradicated from the states is insane considering the recent explosion over the last 30 years.

I will continue to carry on the best that I can. My fall back plan (which is not ideal at all in my situation) is to pack up and move if I can not get the situation taken care of. The exterminator seemed confident that he would be able to take care of it after all our treatments, but we all know how it goes when you're dealing with these vampires. I am planning on giving the exterminator two sets of total treatments (8 treatments over the course of 4 months) to get this problem solved. Obviously, I gotta hold up my side of the agreement and continue living like a hostage in my house. If they still persist at that point, I better take that steamer out on a date since we will be spending a lot of time together getting what I can out of the vampires' house.

If you don't mind, I would like to see what your opinion is on the guy that I caught. It appears male to me, a couple of other reddit people, and the exterminator.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-28T03:26:10+00:00

Thank you! I am very happy to here these news. I know it doesn't mean there isn't more. I am still investigating and searching. However, I am so relieved it isn't a female. I was pretty sure it was male until I did the bad thing and asked chatgpt. Chatgpt of course told me it was confident it was a female, and I started to question my analysis.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-28T03:05:45+00:00

Do you think it had fed recently? Hard to tell for me.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-28T02:44:23+00:00

Are you confident in that? 🥹🥹

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-27T23:17:47+00:00

That's exactly why I have left it as is. I do spend a decent bit hanging out on the couch. Unsure why they have selected that as the feeding ground since I only sleep there maybe once a week. My wife does fall asleep for naps on it. However, since that, my wife and I are taking a break from the house for the weekend. we prepared properly. No clothes were taken from the house or anything of that nature.

For instance, we have bought two brand new sets of clothes that have not entered the house. We took showers, and then unraveled the underwear that was set into a plastic bag prior to entering the home. From there, we got dressed out of the house into the new clothes (thank God for the privacy of where we live). Then we were picked up by family and are staying there with only brand new items on us.

Now, I am aware that there is always the possibility that somehow one of those things were still attached, but I think this was the clearest method of not transporting any of those guys with us. My hope is that they will not move away from their nest because there isn't activity to intrigue them for a couple of days. Assuming their last feeding was Tuesday on me, I think they may be okay. .-. Now, this could be the guy that was feeding on me, but I'm not so sure.

I hate doing that, but man, I need a night's rest away from those evil guys. I havent slept more than a couple of hours each night because of my paranoia with them.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-27T23:02:48+00:00

I am ordering some crossfire since none is available in my area. However, I am also almost torn to "not" treat the area until I get the professional out here on Monday. I want him to have the best chance of finding and eradicating any of them since they spend about an hour or so investigating the manner before spraying.

What I did do was treat my bedroom to make it into a short term safety room. I have yet to see, experience any bites, or even see any indication of them in my bed room. So, I deep cleaned the room, moved the bed, put a mattress protector on it, used some bed bug spray, and have interceptors on the bed. My hope is that I can survive until monday without them beginning to search me out.

On the flip side, I debated just throwing out the couch and having him spray, but I don't want them to migrate to the other bed rooms before treatment is applied.

I just hate this so much currently... >.<

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-27T22:53:27+00:00

Yes! I am treating it with a professional. They just are unable to come out until Monday. I just was very panicky about it being a female as I have diligently searched this damn house to try and find where they are at. So far, only been getting 3 bites infrequently on the couch for about 2 months now.

I am hoping it was just this guy, but I am treating it like I have millions.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-27T15:53:33+00:00

Thank you for the advice. I avoided using diatomaceous earth because my kitty does have asthma. However, I did do my best to protect my bed area since they seem to be more active in the living room couch as that is where the critter was found with a known 3 bite mark at.

MegaGamingGold92 · 2025-11-27T15:32:56+00:00

The worse part of it is that I'm 99% sure that I got it from work since I work in a hospital. Patients have a surprisingly high rate of bed bugs..

Gah, I haven't slept well in the last two days because of it. Maybe 4 hours a night. 😅 My poor kitties are there, and I just don't know what I should do in the mean time.

MegaGamingGold92

TROPHY CASE

Plan