# What the HELL is biting me at night? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355 "2015-06-24T14:27:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/1 "2015-06-24T14:27:27Z")
Okay, enough. For about three weeks, I have been waking up with a bug bite on one arm or the other. Just one, once a night, maybe every other night. It’s intensely itchy, bordering on painful, and even if I resist scratching it the center sloughs off and leaves a sore that takes days to heal. My arms are starting to look like a junkie’s, if junkies ever shoot up on the outer line of their forearms. I can’t figure out what in the hell would bite like this, only bite once, only bite occasionally and ignore all my other exposed skin. If anything, my forearms are usually more protected by being under a pillow. Southern New England. Ideas? ETA: Completely familiar with mosquitoes, fleas, ticks etc. Rarely have flying bugs in the house that aren’t dealt with. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/2 "2015-06-24T14:32:31Z")
If skin is sloughing off leaving a sore, I would say some kind of spider. Especially if it is painful. It is that time of year, when that spider egg under your bed hatches, and thousands of little spiders swarm out looking for victims. Creeped out yet? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/3 "2015-06-24T14:35:35Z")
If there are little streaks of blood on the linens, You’ve got bedbugs. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/4 "2015-06-24T14:40:04Z")
Spider is my likely thought. I need to vacuum and maybe lightly spray under the bed. Not bedbugs. Thank Cthulhu. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/5 "2015-06-24T14:43:07Z")
Although you said you’re familiar with fleas, flea bites are the only kind off the top of my head (apart from some spiders) that can turn into sores. Maybe there’s a single flea (or at least not a large number) somewhere near your pillow? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/6 "2015-06-24T14:55:29Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Although you said you’re familiar with fleas, flea bites are the only kind off the top of my head (apart from some spiders) that can turn into sores. Maybe there’s a single flea (or at least not a large number) somewhere near your pillow? I’m pretty much immune to fleas, but the Mrs is anything but… and she’s reporting no bites of any kind. Well, bug bites, anyway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/7 "2015-06-24T15:03:08Z")
I went through this about 20 years ago. My doctor said they were spider bites. I changed doctors for a unrelated reason and the new Dr. said they were staff infections. My wife worked at the county hospital and he thinks I was getting the staff off her uniform. To stop the itching and redness try heating up a spoon, not quite hot enough to burn you, hold it on the bite for about 30 seconds. I started doing this and found it stopped the infection in it’s tracks and gave me immediate relief. I was actually using a rag dipped in boiling water but the new method call for a hot spoon. Maybe dipping th spoon in boiling water would give you the right temp and not too dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/8 "2015-06-24T15:05:16Z")
Well, step one is obviously a more thorough vacuuming session, moving the mattress out of the way. Was putting that off because it wouldn’t do much good against flying critters (and because the mattress is effin’ heavy). But yeah, spider. Pretty much what I was figuring. Little bastards. Unlikely to be staph. They appear in an instant and only at night, and I don’t think we have any vector in the house other than that the Mrs works with little kids. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/9 "2015-06-24T17:14:47Z")
If they’re on your forearms and your forearms are under a pillow, I’d get a different pillow. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/10 "2015-06-24T17:24:49Z")
Wouldn’t step one be: Rip off all the sheets and covers and wash the hell out of them? And yeh, get a new pillow. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/11 "2015-06-24T17:31:46Z")
The sheets get changed every 4-5 days in summer. And the pillows are in hypoallergenic covers (for dust and mites) - and I’ve had these for years without any slightest kind of reaction. (Nor can I recall any pillows that ever did, including some rather smelly memory foam ones and other “active” types.) I don’t think any kind of allergy would produce one itchy bump every other night. I’m going to go with the spider theory and change out the bed, vacuum thoroughly and (probably tomorrow morning, now) mist some spider spray under and around it, so it can air out all day. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/12 "2015-06-24T17:38:54Z")
Well, FWIW, [here’s a site](http://www.healthline.com/health/bug-bites) that helps you identify different kinds of bug bites. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/13 "2015-06-24T17:40:39Z")
Centipedes are a possibility. When he was a kid one of my sons got bit by them at night. He got a horrible staff infection and ended up in the hospital with a freaking hole in his arm! ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/14 "2015-06-24T17:44:58Z")
It doesn’t seem likely to me that a spider would crawl out in the night and just bite you once, and repeat that process night after night. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/15 "2015-06-24T17:56:11Z")
With all the rain, we’ve seen in influx of flies. Big, nasty biting suckers. Are your bites occurring on parts of your body that are covered or uncovered while you sleep? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/16 "2015-06-24T18:01:49Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Not bedbugs. Thank Cthulhu. So you say. But go around the edge of the bed and look in the folds along the edges of the mattress and places like that. Do you see any dark spots? If so, congratulations, you DO have bedbugs. Those are it’s shit stains. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/17 "2015-06-24T18:14:34Z")
Do you have [Kissing Bugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triatominae) in your area? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/18 "2015-06-24T18:14:41Z")
[Brown](https://dvdnewsflash.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/jenkin31.jpg) [Jenkin](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b5/7c/29/b57c29c35b8d3f1a7ece2d9338fc75a1.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/19 "2015-06-24T18:32:13Z")
I had a spider bite me in my bed the other night. It hurt like crazy. I turned on the light in time to see it run away. I never did find it since it was one of those super fast ones. Luckily, I’m not afraid of spiders, I just don’t like being bitten by them. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355/20 "2015-06-24T18:46:36Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > It doesn’t seem likely to me that a spider would crawl out in the night and just bite you once, and repeat that process night after night. They are mean little fellas. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-biting-me-at-night/723355.md?page=2)