Bed bugs are pesky and annoying insects that like to feed off their host’s (your) blood. In fact, blood is their only source of nutrition so humans play a big role in their existence. Companies who specialize in combating these insects will often employ bed bug dogs that will be able to find the source of your infestation.
Bed bug bites are unlike the bites of other insects in that they are not painful initially and they can often go unnoticed for hours or in some cases days. Bed bugs prefer the exposed skin of a person’s upper body, neck, arms and shoulders. And because a person doesn’t notice that they’re being bitten, a bed bug can withdraw blood from you for as long as 10 minutes with each feeding. After they are done feeding, they will crawl off their host and hide. This makes it more difficult to catch them because they don’t actually live on humans. This is another reason why bed bug dogs are important part of finding them.
Here are Some Bed Bug Bite Symptoms you need to Look Out for:
You may develop itching, swelling and sometimes even red welts also known as papules will appear as soon as one day after the initial bites. Sometimes the bites will even cause a burning sensation but there are some cases when the bites don’t become visible for several days or won’t appear at all.
Most insects will randomly bite their victims but bed bug bites will sometimes appear as a set of lines (usually 3-5 in a row) made of small, red marks. These bites will often have a darker spot of red located in the middle of them.
Sometimes the victims of bed bug bites can develop a rash. If this happens it is important to avoid scratching this area of your skin. You could cause an infection if you break the skin.
There have also been cases of life threatening reactions to bed bugs. These are very rare but it is still important to know what they are:
- Difficulty breathing
- Irregular heartbeat
- Swollen tongue
- Fever and feeling very ill
- Anemia
Again, those are very rare but still possible. Another issue with bed bug bites is that your reaction to them can become increasingly worse with every feeding. As stated above, you may not even know you’ve been bitten the first time but it is possible to have more intense reactions, the longer you have the infestation.
Once these bites are determined to be bed bug bites, it is important to deal with the infestation right away. Many companies like Bed Bug Finders, LLC specialize in bed bug control and will often use bed bug dogs, who are trained to sniff out the areas of your house or business that have these pests.
Stacey Gotsulias writes for a variety of sites.