I live in Brooklyn, New York and have had bed bugs for about 3 months. The first time I saw a bed bug, I had absolutely no idea what it was (Up until recently, bed bugs have been as good as mythical since I never had to bother with them). I spotted it crawling up my shirt one night and thought at first glance that it might be a tick, and then realized that ticks are arachnids and have 8, not 6 legs. Still, I instinctively knew that the insect was a parasite, so I flicked it into a clear plastic bag for observation. It was very flat and in appearance and very bright red. I looked online for "flat red insect" and insect parasites, but I couldn’t find anything. Then about 2 months later, I saw the same kind of bug crawling on my bed sheet (I usually make my bed so it was on the very top). At this point I got a bit suspicious and wondered if I had a new infestation on my hands, or if I had even discovered a new species of insect since neither I nor anyone i showed it to had ever seen it before :) Then a few days later, I was riding on the subway when I looked up and saw an advertisement saying something like "Bed Bugs are back in NYC!" There were enlarged photos of the bug I had seen earlier all over the ad, needless to say i was skeeved out. As soon as I got home, I ripped off my sheets and discovered another single insect on the rim of my mattress. By the end of the day, I took all the mattresses out of my house and threw them away. I replaced them with some foam mattresses from Ikea (wouldn’t suggest buying them without some sort of impermeable cover because they have a strong chemical scent). Even with the mattresses replaced, I woke up this morning to see a fattened bed bug trying to lug itself away from pillow. I leapt up, and ripped all my clothes off to see if there were any more, but fortunately there were none. I have since rolled up my new mattress and removed my entire bed frame and nightstand from my house, and intend to sleep in my rocking chair from now on. I would be especially interested to hear from anyone else around NYC with this problem.

http://www.micropest.com/photos/bed-bug-bugs.jpg

^ the insect changes in appearance depending on how recently it’s had a blood meal. The second insect I caught is now very pale and emaciated while the one I caught this morning is deep red (from my blood no doubt) and quite round and shiny. It looks sort of like one of those cuts you get under your skin.
Sorry for posting this question twice, the first time I posted, it wound up in the wrong category. I won’t delete the first question because I know how annoying it is for the people who leave answers :)

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