Our bed bug dogs alerted to 2 adjacent bunk beds in one cabin of this summer camp. 2 campers had been complaining about bites toward the end of their stay; the nurse confirmed many bites over the body of one of the children and informed that it might be bed bugs.
Our dogs at first exhibited intense interest in those bunk beds. After jumping on the bunks bed and sniffing in more detail, they finally alerted by pawing at several different areas of the mattresses.
We then proceeded to do a visual.
1st evidence:
– At first, we noticed peppered dots toward some corners of the bed and along the inside edge of the bunk bed.
2nd evidence:
– Then upon further investigation, we flashed our lights in the space between the mattress and the edge of the bunk beds and came across what looked like a shed skin. It was hard to identify this specific sample, so we proceeded further down the space and found 2-3 shed skins.
3rd evidence:
– We decided that we should be able to find live bed bugs and so proceeded to check crevices and cracks in the wood (the bunk beds were made out of wood). This initial investigation did not produce any evidence and we were kind of disappointed at first.
– We then noticed the screws and decided to check them out. And sure enough, we found what looked like an later-staged instar (not an adult bed bug) wedged tightly in one of the slots of the screw head. It also had recently fed as it was full of blood.
Our dogs at first exhibited intense interest in those bunk beds. After jumping on the bunks bed and sniffing in more detail, they finally alerted by pawing at several different areas of the mattresses.
We then proceeded to do a visual.
1st evidence:
– At first, we noticed peppered dots toward some corners of the bed and along the inside edge of the bunk bed.
2nd evidence:
– Then upon further investigation, we flashed our lights in the space between the mattress and the edge of the bunk beds and came across what looked like a shed skin. It was hard to identify this specific sample, so we proceeded further down the space and found 2-3 shed skins.
3rd evidence:
– We decided that we should be able to find live bed bugs and so proceeded to check crevices and cracks in the wood (the bunk beds were made out of wood). This initial investigation did not produce any evidence and we were kind of disappointed at first.
– We then noticed the screws and decided to check them out. And sure enough, we found what looked like an later-staged instar (not an adult bed bug) wedged tightly in one of the slots of the screw head. It also had recently fed as it was full of blood.
The young assistant that accompanied us in this inspection had never seen a bed bug and just couldn’t see that “hudini” bed bug in the slot. So we took a needle and dislodged the bed bug from its hide and it ran in no time across he head board and out of site.
Bed bugs are known for hiding in tight places including the heads of screws. And there have been pictures on the Internet showing 5-6 bed bugs hiding in those screw slots. Bedbugs are experts at hiding.
Kudos to our dogs for detecting their scent!
