What Do Bed Bug Bites Look Like?
Bed bug bites affect everyone differently. Some victims of these nocturnal parasitic blood suckers awake to find large red welts on their bodies, while others will have no visible signs of being bitten. Some are are left with moderate to severe soreness and/or itchiness, while others feel little or no discomfort at all.
You may not know a bed bug has bitten you unless and until you awake with a bite mark. This is due to several factors. First, bedbugs are teeny little critters (click here for bed bug photos) that come out to feed only when they are certain that the person they are feeding on is asleep. Second, these six-legged insects are extremely fast runners, and will retreat to a hiding spot with your slightest movement. Finally, when a bed bug gets set to feed on your blood it will first pierce your skin with two tiny hollow tubes. The first tube will inject a numbing agent into you, which results in you feeling very little if any discomfort as the second tube is used to extract your blood.
The severity of the size and discomfort of bed bug bites differs amongst victims depending on their reaction to the numbing agent. The amount of bite marks may be a sign of how severe the bed bug infestation is, or may be a result of a victim moving around in their sleep. A bedbug only needs about 5 minutes to get his fill of blood from you, and this amount can be extracted through a single bite wound. If he was disturbed by your movement before he has had enough to eat, he will return later for more blood, and probably make another bite elsewhere to get it.
To show how everyone reacts differently to bed bug bites I've posted four pictures below. Below are pictures of four different bed bug victims, and the marks left on each of their arms.
