Have Bed Bugs But No Bites

by Leah Bynum
(Sidney Ohio)

When my husband and I first moved into our appartment we were sleeping on two twins beds. Now I am 4'10" and my husband is 6'2". And this bed was not working out for us so on June 3 we decided to go out mattress hunting at night so we drove around for a while looking.

We found some box springs behind a rent a center and kept that in mind. We drove around for about half hour more and we found another box spring and two mattresses so we hurried home put the two twin beds on top of our car drove to his parents and put them on the burn pile sped back to town put the three box springs and two mattresses on top of the car tied everything down and drove home.

After my husband and I put our new bed together the bed was taller than me. He told me to jump on top and I said after you kill that bug I will. I just thought it was a normal bug to be out on a bed since we got them from the trash and they were on the ground. So he tried to smush it it woundn't die so he stepped on it and it woudn't die so he lit it in fire and it swelled up and finally died. We saw a few more so we were thinking does our town still have bed bugs?

We grabbed our lap top and drove to Tim Hortons to look it up and sure enough they were bed bugs we fogged our house turned up the heat did everything we could to get rid of them. But we couldn't kill them so we put all the beds and box springs back on the car and burned them at his parents house we went to rent a center and got a new clean bed to be delivered the same day slept on that bed for about 3 months and had to return it.

A couple of weeks ago we were going to buy a couch and bed in cash for our new apartment and the lady told us that the bed we returned had bed bugs. My question is how did we still have them and if we still had them why didn't we get bit? And the night we found the beds we also found a kitten that we named bug bug but when we went on vacation bug bug jumped out of the window in pensecola florida but we miss her so much but we are glad we don't have bed bugs.

Also when we had bed bugs everyone in our apartment complex was sleeping and to this day the don't know we had them and now someone different is living were we did.

Is it possible for them to have bed bugs now?

Editor Comment

Hi Leah,

A bed bug bite is actually an allergic reaction. Some people are allergic while others are not. So, if you don't see any bites, and you have bed bugs, it just means that you aren't allergic. This is why if two people sleep in the same bed, one could get bites while the other has perfectly clear skin.

The problem is that if you don't have a skin reaction, you might delay extermination, allowing the bed bug population to spread throughout an apartment building. For example, senior citizens often do not show a bite reaction, allowing the bed bugs to quickly multiply.

Regarding bringing used furniture home, never do it. These days you have to assume that any discarded mattress or furniture has bed bugs.

Best of Luck,

Jeff