Flea Bites vs. Mosquito Bites: Appearance, Pattern & More
Once you feel that itchy sensation and take a peek to see a red dot on your arm, you know you have a bug bite that will bother you for days. To treat it properly to get rid of it as quickly as possible, it's best to know what type of bug or insect bit you. If you didn't see it happen, it could be a number of possibilities, depending on where you live. But if you were outside, the main culprits are fleas and mosquitoes. Learn how to tell the difference between a flea bite and a mosquito bite, what each looks like and how to treat the two so you can stop itching and get your skin healed back up.
Fleas
A flea is a small, flightless insect that lives off the blood of its host, acting as an external parasite on birds and mammals. There are over 2,500 species, so knowing which one bit you would be near impossible. They can carry and transmit diseases to their hosts, and their bites cause irritation at the site and can become itchy and uncomfortable.
Flea Bites
A flea doesn't just give you one little bite and leave you alone. If a flea bites you, it leaves a little cluster of small, raised, red bumps in a straight line, halo or ring pattern and an additional discolored halo or ring around the bites might appear. You will usually find these clusters on your lower legs, like the feet, ankles or calves. These bites will feel firm and hard to the touch, and if you press on them, the redness will go away.
Flea Bite Symptoms
We all know how horrible a bug bite feels when it itches, and a flea bite is no different. It really itches. But you need to be careful, but over-itching flea bites can cause them to bleed when scratched too much. If you do scratch them, you could cause a secondary infection to happen.
How to Treat a Flea Bite
Thankfully, flea bites don't usually need any type of medical attention and usually heal up within a week, depending on how much you scratch at them. On some flesh tones, the bites could leave discoloration and darker-colored marks on your skin for a few months, but those should eventually fade away.
To treat the bite, wash the area with soap and water and then apply ice to calm the swelling and itching. You can apply an antihistamine if the itching gets bad or a topical cream if it gets really bad. The less you itch, the faster it will heal.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are your worst nightmare on a warm, sunny evening. There are over 3,600 species of this flying insect, and all of their bites itch. While males only live 10 days and females live up to 56 days, their bites are brutal. Mosquitoes bite mammals to feed on their blood and can carry and transmit some horrible diseases, which makes a mosquito bite a lot more dangerous than you might realize.
Mosquito Bite
A mosquito bite can leave one raised, itchy, angry red bump or can present as several smaller ones, like hives. The bite mark can appear just minutes after you were bitten, or you could not see one pop up until the next day. Mosquito bites can get up to a few centimeters in size and can appear even larger on a younger child. Mosquitoes will bite anywhere there is exposed skin, but common spots are arms, legs, neck and ankles, as those spots are left uncovered in the summer when these bugs are at their worst.
Mosquito Bite Symptoms
You know when you have a mosquito bite, as the itching seems relentless. Right after the bite, a puffy, blister-like bump should appear at the site and will be an angrier red color. Over the next day or two, the bump will harden, and there may be discoloration, like a bruise around the bump, which may also appear to become more swollen.
How to Treat a Mosquito Bite
For a mosquito bite, ice will be your friend. Apply an ice pack as soon as you notice the bite, which will help reduce the swelling and the pain. Instead of soap and water, you want to run cool water over the bite and apply calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream to it. A good DIY if you don't have those is to make a paste of water and baking soda and apply it to the bite.
How to Prevent Flea and Mosquito Bites
To keep fleas and mosquitoes from biting you, there are a few simple things you can try. For fleas, if you have pets, make sure they are up to date on their medication. Vacuum often and wash their bedding regularly, and check your pet for fleas on occasion. Try to stay away from strays that have fleas.
For mosquitoes, try to stay inside during peak pest times, which are dawn and dusk. Check your windows and doors for cracks or holes, and make sure your screens don't have tears or holes in them. Dump standing water in your yard so mosquitoes don't have a breeding ground in your yard.
For both fleas and mosquitoes, wear long pants and tops when you go outside in wooded areas. Wear an EPA-approved bug repellant with DEET if you might be in areas near water or woods, as more bugs will be about. You can always call a professional and knowledgeable team like MosquitoNix in to treat your yard so these - and other bugs - stay away from your yard.
Getting bit by any type of bug or insect is not a great time. But knowing what certain bites look like and how to treat them is important in keeping yourself healthy. Even taking all preventative measures, you will get bit at some point, so being able to identify and distinguish a flea bite versus a mosquito bite will come in handy.
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