How can you tell the difference between bug bites?

Question

My husband and I are getting eaten alive right now, and we're not sure if it's fleas (which we just discovered on our furbabies the other day), mosquitos (we have a very small "pond" out back, and I'm pretty sure the little suckers (pun intended) are using it as a pleasure palace, resulting in a bunch more little suckers), or spiders (I swear our house itself breeds these things...they're evil).

I hate using chemicals, and with our furbabies (and soon to be human babies), I don't want anyone getting sick. But we need to reign in the creepy crawlies, and FAST. Every day I wake up with about 10 more bites, and it's driving me nuts. So, I guess I'm asking more than the difference between the bites...I'm also asking how to get rid of the evil little creatures that hover around our bed at night and bite us.

Oh yeah, and then there's the sugar ants, which we can't seem to get rid of despite the terro and ant spikes. Gah!

Thanks in advance for the help!

Answer 1

flea bites will usually make a smaller "harder" whelp than a mosquito bite.... spiders have to have some size to them to be able to break the skin and even then there aren't that many that have the mouth strength to bite you

for the mosquito larvae throw a few meat eating fish in the pond.. what you find in aquariums will work fine ..bettas..tetras..gourrami etc (long finned danios are neat to watch at night...you will just need to remove them and their babies before winter  My pond is roughly 9 x 7 and I went with bettas this year in which the babies are about an inch long now and time to separate the males

If you feel they are fleas, from the vet..a pet store ..etc you can find an aerosol (not a fogger) floor treatment.  easy to apply to the floor which will contain an IGR (insect growth regulator)

with the ants, if they aren't going for the Terro they must not be sugar ants...try a protein bait such as Combat   go with gel over the discs but if you get the discs dunk them in warm water for a second to moisten the attractant

Answer 2

Gaia,

Since you wan tto avoid chemicals, I know of a spray that is used for mites, bedbugs mosquitos etc that could come in handy.

It is called BedBug Terminator and it kills on contact and is safe to use around pets and kids etc.  May help you get rid of some of what is bugging you!

Good luck

Answer 3

For the mosquitoes, i suggest (if possible) to get rid of the "pond" because it is summer and it is a breeding ground for them. If you can't, simply buying nets to keep them out is a good way to go.

Fleas, im not so sure you can get rid of them without chemicals and im not entirely sure what you meant by furbabies..

For the sugar ants, you can use soap and water to kill them and clean at the same time, make sure you dont leave anything out and you store in sealed container because they can detect sugar from a mile away.