Needing advice regarding a possible encounter? Either that or being too anxious
Hello all / David,
I need some help regarding a situation I found myself in today. The reason I’m bringing this up is because I’ve seen comments from David mentioning that bed bugs can hitchhike from anywhere, including restaurants.
This is the order of events today:
Uber ride
Restaurant lunch for about an hour and a half
Walk and trip to the mall
About an hour walk home (including a bit of rain)
Finally, once I was on my apartment floor/in the hallway, I noticed a bug crawling on my arm.
It was bad lighting, so I couldn’t tell well, but when it was on my finger it felt relatively solid. It had a small head ridge and then a slightly oval body, though it wasn’t very rounded.
When trying to get a better look at it to make sure it wasn’t something like a tick (a real concern this time of year), the bug kind of started to remind me of a bed bug. Then it disappeared off my finger.
I am not sure of this, but I think I saw it fly off?
I know if it can fly, it’s not a bed bug, but it also could have quickly crawled and dropped off my finger. The latter is what worries me.
All I know is that one instant it was on my finger, and the next instant it was gone. I’m not sure if a bed bug could move that fast to crawl and drop off a finger in an instant that feels comparable to a bug flying off.
I’m worried about the worst-case scenario: that at some point in the Uber, restaurant, or mall, a bed bug crawled onto my clothing or handbag, stayed on me during the walk, and I only noticed it once I got inside my apartment building.
I’m worried that if it actually was one, I don’t want it to be on my floor.
I personally have passive monitors, but I also don’t want to have accidentally brought them into the building.
Is this insanely paranoid and basically not possible?
Or is this actually a way one could hitchhike for that long through that much walking?
I feel like I’m just being very anxious about this.