I am waking up each morning with insect bites from an unknown insect. The bites are mainly on my legs and ankles and look like hives. They are extremely itchy. Last night I completely covered my legs in insect repellant before I went to bed and I still got bitten. We have no pets and I would have thought if it was fleas - insect repellant would do the trick.
Sometimes during the day, I have felt something crawling on my skin but when I look there is nothing there.
I have searched the bed for evidence of bed bugs but can’t see anything. Any tips for doing this more effectively?
Anyone have any ideas about what horrible critters are infesting my life and what I can do about it? Please help!! I love Taiwan but HATE the bugs!
check under you bed and bed frame for a fine web… I’ve had tiny tiny spiders living there and they’d come out at night and feast on my ankles… and the bites itched…have no idea why… but once I got rid of the webs… it stopped… good luck
It could just be mosquitos - when i get multiple bites in a short space of time, my body reacts badly and the bites swell up twice as big.
Go to your local drugstore , buy some anti-histamines and take one before going to bed; even if you can’t find the bugs, that will stop the swelling and itching.
During wet weather some bugs are more prevalent, dry out your mattress in the sun, air out the room. They hate dry environments. we had the same problem and solved it by buying a hot air machine with a drying sheet which you place on top of your bed and bedding.
Look for where mosquitoes are entering. You can use a vapor machine with natural oils to keep mosquitoes at bay, don’t use the local brand one though!
It sounds exactly like bed bugs, I’m afraid, especially the extreme itchiness. How long have you been living there? Have you recently stayed in a hotel? Is the bed second hand?
[quote=“amclark119”]Actually the bed base is second hand…I wear shorts to bed at night. If it’s bed bugs - how can I get rid of them?
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They’re extremely difficult to get rid of because they’ve developed resistance to pesticides and they can hide anywhere you can fit a credit card. Diatomaceous earth kills them if you can get hold of it (sorry - no idea where in Taiwan - but don’t use diatomaceous earth for swimming pools because it’s hazardous to health). Wash everything at 50 degrees C. Personally, if you got the bed base recently I would just dump it, and wash all your bedding, clothes etc. With luck, they won’t have spread from the bed base yet if they’re getting nightly snacks. Don’t go sleep somewhere else because they’ll follow you and you’ll spread the infestation.
ETA: Steam also kills them and their eggs.
OP: where do you live? Especially near Taichung, but even in other areas of Taiwan, there’s a small insect that looks like a small, black mosquito. If you leave a window open, or they somehow find a way into your room, they’ll cover you in bites that are extremely itchy.
When I was studying in Feng Chia I had a classmate who lived in Da Keng and left his window open on a hot summer night. When we met him in class next day he had arms and legs covered in bites. The look of the bites was very similar to a those of a bed bug.
If it’s not that insect, then bed bug is a strong candidate, especially due to the second hand bedding.
If the bites come in rows of 3 then its bed bugs for sure.
If there’s a noticeable tip or point to the bite and its swollen like a dome, it’s usually mosquitos.
If the area is just very itchy and not swelled up, it might be a spider bite.
Bed bugs usually leave a track of 3 or 4 bites in a row- often said to be ‘breakfast, lunch and dinner’ bites! They are super itchy and can cause skin irritation and eczema. Look like little dark brown beetles/cockroaches about 4mm long and move really quick. Can travel many meters to feed- often at night and hide in any small cracks, bedding, furniture. I once found some nesting in a wall plug socket in a rented apartment! Take the room apart and spray liberally with insecticide. Fleas eggs are common in old carpets and furniture and again leave small bite tracks- often ankles and pulse points. If the bites are just random, more likely to be Mosquitos.
In Australia we had to call the local pest control unit and after spraying the bed and room we had to leave just for a couple of hours, but I guess it depends on the method/chemicals used. The company our landlord contacted cleaned the bed and room 3 times within a month, to make sure they would kill grown up bugs, larvae, newcomers etc etc.
Fun fact: back in the day my girlfriend had plenty of bites in her feet and legs, sometimes even in the belly, but bed bugs would ignore me completely.
In Australia we had to call the local pest control unit and after spraying the bed and room we had to leave just for a couple of hours, but I guess it depends on the method/chemicals used. The company our landlord contacted cleaned the bed and room 3 times within a month, to make sure they would kill grown up bugs, larvae, newcomers etc etc.
Fun fact: back in the day my girlfriend had plenty of bites in her feet and legs, sometimes even in the belly, but bed bugs would ignore me completely.[/quote]
A good proportion of the population don’t react to bites, which is one reason sometimes infestations get really out of hand and people don’t notice until they see them crawling on beds etc.
