Diagnosis: Fleas or Mites

I am trying to diagnose and then exterminate pests from my apartment. I am a university student living in an apartment building which annually fumigates for roaches, but I have rarely seen bugs in my apartment. The pests started about 4 weeks ago, but that was just before exams so I tolerated them for a while. I have a carpeted and uncarpeted area in my bachelor apartment. The carpeted area covers about 2/3 of the apartment.
When I stand on my carpet I can feel the pests landing on my legs. I have never actually seen the pest, it is too small. When I feel it land on my leg I quickly look directly at the spot it landed on but cannot see it. I know that fleas can jump, but can dust mites?
I never actually feel anything biting me, which is why I think the problem is dust mites. What changed my mind to fleas was when I found three or four tiny bite marks on the back of my left leg. The pests seem too small for me to see, yet fleas are supposed to be 1mm to 3mm and I should be able to see something that size. I know that I have some type of flea or mite, but I do not know which. Maybe it does not matter.
The pests are in my carpet, bed, bed sheets, blanket and sometimes in my clothes. I bought waterproof vinyl zippered complete enclosures for my mattress and blanket. I tried salting my carpet twice then vacuuming because fleas are 60% water, but that has only somewhat reduced them. I run my sheets through the dryer for two hours daily in an attempt to kill them, but every night I feel them crawling on me. I heard that freezing your sheets can kill them so I will try that.
The problem is I do not know if they are fleas or mites. Should I buy a magnifying glass and do a closer inspection, or does it matter? Will the chemicals deal with both types of pests? Should I buy something to kill the pests or call an exterminator?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

You can lay strips of packing tape, sticky side up. Any pests as you describe would surely stick to the tape. Then, you can have an exterminator identify them. If your university has an entomology or agriculture department, there should be someone on staff who could also identify the pests that you collect.

Fleas do, indeed, jump but they are largest enough to see. See the attached link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea

Fumigation with aerosol bug bombs will kill only live insects. Those that are unhatched in egg cases are protected and will hatch later and begin reproducing and infestation continues. It takes repeat treatments with insecticides to eliminate fleas. Bug bombs are not the best control method.

Most information on flea control is inundated with information about fleas on pets. One does not have to have a pet to have flea infestation in the home. Fleas hitch rides indoors on socks and pants. If building has infestation of birds, bats, or rodents they can be a likely source of fleas, too.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef602.htm

You can Google for more info on fleas and their control. After educating yourself about fleas and flea control, contact your landlord and hold his feet to the fire to eliminate the infestation if you do have fleas. Insist upon repeat followup treatments until infestation is eliminated.

There are many different types of mites that can infest homes. Like fleas they can originate from pets and hitch a ride into the home. They, too, can originate from bird, bat, and rodent infestation, as well as plants. Identifying the source of infestation is important. Read more about mites and their control at

http://www.pestproducts.com/pests/bitingmites.htm

http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcmites.htm

An exterminator should be called to eliminate infestation. Again, repeat applications of insecticide will be necessary. Fumigation is not an effective stand alone control as it will not have any effect on insects in egg cases and those hiding in cracks and crevices.

If you do indentify the insect pests, please post back to update.

 

Like 12pole said. You will see fleas jumping on you.

 

Great suggestions, thanks. I will be placing packing tape face up to capture some of the pests for identification. I really am unsure of how the infestation occurred because I have no pets and there are no rodents in my apartment. I have been living here for 16 months now.

 

Rodents, bats, squirrels, birds, and other animals can occupy attic spaces, wall voids, or basements and be a source of fleas and/or mites. They can also be carried into the home by humans who have no pets.

 

Drag a white towel across your floor or shuffle through the apartment wearing white socks
if there are flea they will end up on the towel or socks

Place a white saucer of water under a dim night lite when you sleep, in the morning whatever is attacking you should be in the water

I have gone to many calls where the customer has described the exact thing that you do and the fleas were so thick I could not understand how they could not see them
The problem may be that you are feeling them as they are jumping off not as they are jumping on.

There have also been many many instances where the culprit was static electricity which happens more in the winter, carpet fibers from newly installed carpet and many other weird things have also popped up.

Many people are not appetizing to fleas and the fleas which cannot feed on our blood anyway will simply hop on and off again