Bed Bugs?
 

Woke up yesterday morning and realized a had bug bites on my back arm and chest. One or two in each location. Searched bed and bedding for signs of bed bugs but didn’t find any. Arrived home last night and left luggage etc in our detached garage. Anyone have any experience with bed bugs and what to look for? If the did get in my luggage can I just leave it in the garage for a couple of days and let them starve?

It’s heat that kills them is my understanding. I haven’t had them personally but am always very afraid of picking them up. They are a big problem in NYC, Detroit, Miami, and many other places.

my understanding and it has been years since I looked this up, is that they bite in groups of threes. So you might not have bed bugs i this instance, if that information is true and absolute. I’m not a physician or insect specialists so I don’t know that it is.

which property were you at? I believe there is a website for tracking hotel bed bugs. You might want to add this there.

I strongly advise you buy a bed bug oven before doing anything with your luggage


after any trip I pop my whole bag in the oven, heat everything up except electronic and then and only then move the luggage into my home. Oven lives in my garage

Bed bugs can live for 6-7 months without a host. Need to cook the luggage.

Unless you live in PHX or LAS in which case your garage is the oven. :D

Were you in the DC area by chance? There is a new microscopic mite that is biting people and it is leaving bad itchy bug bites. Washington Post had an article about it.

I can tell you (from personal experience) that bed bugs like to bite in groups, not one or two normally. Also, they prefer warm, moist areas. When I ran into them they covered the bend in my elbow and the backside of my upper arm and side near my arm pit. If you look at them in the mirror it looks like a bad rash and they itch like mad. It took a few days using calamine lotion to get rid of the rash. If you're really paranoid about bed bugs you can get a cheap UV flashlight (about $10 on Amazon) and check your bed before laying on it. Make sure you check the edges.

If you have bed bugs, you will find their bodies/shells in your bed soon enough. You may also find their blood stains. It's pretty disgusting, but that's the surest sign it's bed bugs.

I was in Bethesda. I’ll look for the article.

I checked the mattress pretty thoroughly and it was in good shape

I'm in DC. And I've been visited by oak mites. They are extremely itchy. And they leave welts that stay on for an extended period of time. Mine are still ruby red and bumpy after more than a week. And several friends of mine also have them. FWIW, none of them stayed in hotels - nor did I - but they all went bicycling or hiking in an area that had been a cicada hotspot in June. And these oak mites are said to be found in tall grass and leafy areas.

Much of what is "known" about oak mites is either new facts or speculation. But I can assure you they make your life uncomfortable. Hydrocortisone did me no good at all, but a benadryl tablet provided relief from the itching.