Google brought me to this site because someone else had a similar question. Many years ago I picked up a coffee table from the trash of a dilapidated house. Not long after I felt "things" on my legs in my car. These spread indoors and were mostly active at night. Since then I have controlled them in my house pretty well. Sometimes feel them in bed at night - but the next day put on all clean bedding or throw in the dryer to kill them. BUT they are in my car. I have had several different cars since first getting them. I guess because the car sits in the humidity, etc. Then even if I don't feel them while I am in the car, shortly after I feel the little pin pricks or itches. I always take a shower shortly after coming home so as not to spread them. It is really bringing me down. So afraid to give anyone a ride in my car. I have tried pesitcides which only make the bite more stinging and the pesticides make me feel sick. Have tried "Kleen-free". Does no good. Tried bounce dryer sheets. They also made me feel overcome with perfumy fumes - but bugs still alive.

Please help.

13579, I just found your post. I don't think you have invisible mites. I think the table might have been in a flea infested home. You don't usually see fleas because by the time they bite you they have jumped off. If you feel the bites and have tiny red itchy dots on your legs, and within a day or less, they are gone, then it is fleas that are biting you. If this is not the case, I think what I am about to suggest will have the same effect on whatever infestation you are dealing with.

Go to a local veterinarians office. They have these cans of flea spray for furniture and carpet. I can never remember the name of the product but it is a tall white aerosol can. They aren't cheap ($20), but highly effective at getting rid of fleas. You may need two cans. Pick a day that you know you don't have to go anywhere. Read the directions for use carefully and follow them. Spray down the entire car. After a few hours, vacuum as much as you can. You may need to do a second treatment within a week or two. It is a chemical and yes, not good to breathe in. But, you don't have much choice at this point. It is the only stuff that I have found that really gets rid of infestations like this. So, after you do a treatment and wait the few hours, roll the windows down so the car can air out before you vacuum.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by 13579

Google brought me to this site because someone else had a similar question. Many years ago I picked up a coffee table from the trash of a delapidated house. Not long after I felt "things" on my legs in my car. These spread indoors and were mostly active at night. Since then I have controlled them in my house pretty well. Sometimes feel them in bed at night - but the next day put on all clean bedding or throw in the dryer to kill them. BUT they are in my car. I have had several different cars since first getting them. I guess because the car sits in the humidity, etc. Then even if I don't feel them while I am in the car, shortly after I feel the little pin pricks or itches. I always take a shower shortly after coming home so as not to spread them. It is really bringing me down. So afraid to give anyone a ride in my car. I have tried pesitcides which only make the bite more stinging and the pesticides make me feel sick. Have tried "Kleen-free". Does no good. Tried bounce dryer sheets. They also made me feel overcome with perfumy fumes - but bugs still alive.

Please help.

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Just one quick addition. On carpet, use Mule Team Borax. You can buy it at Walmart... Sprinkle the powder over there whole carpet area and vacuum it up. Do this once a week for three weeks in a row. The fleas get the chemical on their legs, which they ingest and it will kill them off. Since the fleas life cycle is so fast (they lay between 200-300 eggs a day!), it will take that long to eradicate them. I would go with RubyPitbull suggestions re the car, that's good advice.

Sometimes you just need to call a professional. I think this might be one of those times. Just because of the length of time.

Bed bugs??

Hi - I have the same problem. Someone just told me to try eucalyptus oil - wash stuff in it, spray it (diluted) onto furniture, bedding, etc - if you Google "eucalyptus oil mites" it sounds promising. Then I found this site Method for killing house dust mites in clothing and other soft materials - Patent 20020022043 that lists a whole bunch of essential oils that kill mites quite effectively. I just found this stuff out tonight, so I haven't tried it yet - but you can bet I'm going out in the morning to find some and give it a try!!

Oh people-- these are way more sophisticated than fleas! They are totally invisible!
I battled this for months. It infests all things cloth/carpet/bed/upholstery. After cleaning like crazy for months, the ONLY thing that worked was a product called "Bifen." It is a poison pest control and some states require you have a license to use it but mine didn't-- I just bought it at the Co-op and mixed it with water and sprayed everywhere (I don't have kids or pets to worry about though.) I still had a problem with it in the carpet so I mixed the Bifen in my steam cleaner and ran in and it totally killed them in the carpet. As for my clothes, I didn't want the Bifen near my skin and washing/drying my clothes wasn't killing them, so I bought a deep freeze and did a rotation-- putting my clothes in a week at a time and then keeping them in garbage bags until I got the rest of my house rid of the mites. Also, change your vaccuum bag after each use (go outside to change it and immediately put a plastic bag and seal the used vaccuum bag before throwing away so they don't get out.) You have to treat these things like a bio-hazard. I vacuumed my car and sprayed Bifen in there as well. I haven't found anybody (doctors included) who can tell me what they are, but they are invisible and feel like pin-pricks and have left tiny red dots across my chest, belly, and upper arms that never went away (3 years later.) I used the measures above which are what worked after months of pulling my hair out! Good luck!!

These sound like Black Pepper Mites. I have been battling these animals for two months now to point that I recently thought I was going to go insane. My husband is not affected by them and there for awhile he treated me as though I was making it up because you can't see them readily. They seem to primarily be confined to my bedroom and office in our house, but lately they have begun biting me during the day in other rooms. It all started one day when I picked my two cats up from the groomer and she announced to me that my cats had fleas. She had "flea dipped" them and I took them home, only to discover that they still had whatever the little bug was so I washed them each week with a flea and tick shampoo. This was quite a chore considering that oe of my cats is an adopted feral cat who lives with us and he does not like humans to touch him. I had to capture him and haul him into the shower to give him a flea and tick shampoo which was akin to wrestling an alligator into submission. When all of this did not work, I went to the vet and put them all on Advantage. About this time, I began itching and noticing that I felt little pin pricks occasionally and something began inhabiting my bed at night and crawling all over my legs, up my back and then biting me. At first I thought they were fleas and then gravitated to thinking they were "No See-ums". To date, I have done the following without success in ridding our house of these pests: bought a new bed and had the old one - mattress, box springs and frame hauled away, washed all our bedding on a daily basis using flea and tick shampoo I bought from Petsmart, bombed and fumigated each room and the entire house multiple times, had a handyman come out and trim all of the trees back away from the house, have had two pest control companies come in and cover the entire house with pesticides of all different types to the tune of over $1,000 and still climbing. Today they are spraying our lawn and all of our trees with insecticide and will be doing this monthly from this point forward. They keep insisting erroneously that they are "fleas", however, these animals do not exhibit the same behavior as fleas. They are tiny, tiny black specks about the size of a speck of pepper. I even captured some dead ones and one live one and they still told me they were "fleas". Now after searching the internet, I know they are biting mites of some sort that sound a lot like the Black Pepper Mites that several other people in Florida have also reported.
Fortunately, I recently stumbled upon a device that you can order about 3-4 inches in size for $24.95 which is battery operated and you can hitch it to your beltclip. It has a fan on it and a filter attachment which contains the same ingredients of a citronella candle x 400%. The device is battery operated called a "Bite Shield" and when you turn it on, it disperses a scent that covers about a 15' square foot area surrounding you that does not smell bad to humans but apparently biting bugs don't like it. The cartridge lasts for 120 hours and can be worn bed. Last night was the first decent night sleep I have had in the past two months. I purchased two and placed one on my dresser and wore the other attached to my PJ bottoms and let them run all night. I did not experience any crawling, biting or prickly sensation all night and was able to actually sleep in my bedroom. Up to this point I had been sleeping on the Sofabed in my husband's office which was the only place in the house where I received any relief at night - albeit the back pain from the Sofabed. In addition, I read on the internet that some people had success with a "vinegar-salt-water" solution that you can make at home and spray on carpets, upholstery, etc. So I decided to do a hot bath and added vinegar and salt to the water. After soaking in the tub and rubbing the vinegar-salt solution over my body multiple times, I noticed a number of the little pests dead and floating in the bath water. Apparently they don't like vinegar and salt is lethal to them. This may have also helped. Today, I plan to spray the entire house with the vinegar-salt water solution to see if it eradicates the animals in the carpets et al. Anyway, for those of you out there who think you will never have a normal life again, there is hope apparently. While I haven't had enough time to test all of this over a long period, I do know that what I experienced last night was the first ray of hope I had seen in some time.

One question for you... do you have any birds constantly around your house? Or a nest somewhere on your house? I just took care of these little suckers called "bird mites" if you Google that you can find some helpful info. The main site I used is called birdmite.org (at least I am pretty positive that is the web address. These are terrible... as you mentioned - regular pesticide not only does NOT kill them it aggrivates them and they attach more. Not a lot of people know about these... but I have a pigeon infestation on my roof - they made a nest next to the air conditioner... which in turn sucks in the particles when I turn it on and the mites were all over in the room. A thing that helped me with sleeping is spraying the bed in baby oil. They 'talk' to each other by scent so therefore with the sent of baby oil they will not attack.

I have this problem of a series of stinging bites with no bug to be seen. I have concluded that it is due to a biting mite from the description and photos of other cases on the internet. Fortunately my problem (frequency of bites) is a lot less than others who have written and told their stories on the internet. My invisible bugs usually bite once a year and for a duration of about a week. However in the past 3 years they are biting more and doing it over a longer period. My 3 or 4 bites in a week over a yearly period have increased to 15-20 bites over 3 weeks. Fortunately, they still only do this once or twice a year. I really don't mind a stinging bit if it would just go away like a mosquito bite but my body's reaction to what they inject is the problem. It takes 3 weeks for the welt from the bite to dry up and stop scabbing and oozing. I have tried Rx steroid cream on the bites but it doesn’t seem to do much good. The bite is worse than a black fly bite and comparable to a chigger bite. I live in the dry west at 7000 ft. and we don't have chiggers here. We do have a lot of birds, mice, packrats that live & nest near our house though.

Judging from what has been said on the internet, it looks pretty hopeless to try to get rid of the mystery bugs (especially if you can't see them). So my approach is to make myself a non target. By the way, they don't bit my husband so I just need to somehow be like him--not a tasty meal.

I found one person’s story on the internet of how he got relief. He took garlic supplements. He advised 3000 mg per day (that is 6 pills a day of the most potent brand of garlic: Nature Made with 500mg per tablet, 1250mg garlic bulb equivalent). I have tried this and each time I have taken it the bites have stopped. Eventually they stop on their own accord so I can't be 100% sure it is the garlic. However, this last biting episode I got a little better confirmation that the garlic might be working. I got the usual series of bites and started the garlic supplements. In a couple of days the bites stopped. I continued the garlic for a week then tapered off it. In about another 3 days the bites started again. I started the garlic again and in 3 days the bites stopped. I will now stay on the garlic for another 3 weeks before I try to wean off it again. I also eat about 2 cloves of fresh garlic per day for an extra boost. They are pretty tasty if you slice them thin and mico them 1 min in balsamic vinegar with a little garlic salt. I feel like I’m keeping the Vampire at bay with this concoction.
Loesch 7/30/08

Showering and getting really clean, then running a bath with 4 drops of essential oregano vulagaris and 7 drops of essential tea tree oil. Douse head back, whole body and sit in for 10 minutes. They will start coming out in droves if they are in your pores. You may have to do this 2 or 3 times. The oregano essential oil does sting, be sure it is mixed thoroughly in the water. The results are worth it. Doe this for 2 or 3 days and black pepper mites should be gone. Keep lamisil on any breakouts on skin. :)

This question was poster a year ago but several folks are keeping it active so why not me too. Sounds like Itch Mites that fall from Oak trees.Itch Mites Linked to Oak Trees Plaguing Midwesterners Again 10/18/05

I easily identify with Suzy-Q (Mar 18, 2008) and YodaCat's (Jun 28, 2008) experiences. I first noticed the invisible, biting "no-see-ums" right after I bought a set of wicker furniture and a Lazyboy. My thoughts were that PERHAPS they came into my house attached to either those. They were not from pets, rodents, or bird nests since I don't have any of those in or near my home... but the new furniture may have been stored in a warehouse where those items were present.

The mites are invisible; you can feel them crawling, they feel like pin pricks when they bite, and they leave red welts (and I don't welt easily) and they seemed to only be active after dark. Every night for 3 years became a total nightmare beyond words in my home.

In desperation I bought and sprayed pesticides around my home which were so poisonous that it said on the label for it not to be used around humans or animals. NOTHING would kill the little f'ers except for boiling my clothes and bedding (instead of washing them).

Internet research resulted in something called "Enzyme Cleaner (with peppermint)" from a company called "Safe Solutions". You must mix 2 oz of with it a quart of water and spray it. If I recall correctly, it costs $28 a quart... but at that mixture strength it goes a very long way. It works great, but the thing about it is that you must spray it DIRECTLY on them... and since you can't see them, you don't know where to spray... and as I mentioned above, they only come out during darkness. You might say, "Duhhh? Where to spray? Spray where the bugs are!" If only it were that simple! They hide deep in the cracks, stitching and other impossible to get at places wherever they are infesting. You can soak your furniture in it and WILL kill the bugs that it comes into contact with... but if you leave just one of the bugs alive, apparently they multiply like crazy and will be right back in force.

For legal reasons, "Enzyme Cleaner" is not allowed to be advertised as a pesticide... although with a wink-and-a-nod and read-between-the-lines from the manufacturer you can tell that it is designed mainly more to kill biting mites than actually doing any heavy duty cleaning. With research I learned that it is (believe it or not) made from molasses and works by making the bug's exoskeleton so "slippery" that it sort of slips off the bug and the bug quickly dries out and dies. By the way, Enzyme Cleaner is so safe that according to the manufacturer you can literally drink it (it feels like very very diluted soapy water).

To make a looong, AGONIZING(! )My home's carpet was replaced with laminated (i.e. fake) wood floors just prior to the infestation... but I'd have gladly ripped out all my home's carpet out just to cure the problem.

I easily identify with Suzy-Q (Mar 18, 2008) and YodaCat's (Jun 28, 2008) experiences. I first noticed the invisible, biting "no-see-ums" right after I bought a new set of wicker furniture and a Lazyboy. My thoughts were that PERHAPS they came into my house attached to them. They were not from pets, rodents, or bird nests since I don't have any of those in or near my home... but the new furniture may have been stored in a warehouse where those items were present.

The mites are invisible; you can feel them crawling, they feel like pin pricks when they bite, they leave red welts (and I don't welt easily), and they were only active after dark. They are extremely infestatious -- sitting on an infected piece of furniture for just a minute will transfer them to your clothes and then sitting on a non-infected piece of furniture (or your car seat, etc.) will infect it. Every night for 3 years became a total nightmare beyond words in my home... and my whole lifestyle changed and revolved around the infestation.

In desperation, after Orkin failed to make any difference (bug bombs and other traditional measues also don't work), I bought and sprayed pesticides around my home which were so poisonous that it said on the label for it not to be used around humans or animals. NOTHING would kill the little f'ers except for boiling my clothes and bedding (instead of washing them).

Internet research during the 3rd year of infestation resulted in something called "Enzyme Cleaner (with peppermint)" from a company called "Safe Solutions". You must mix 2 oz of with it a quart of water and spray it. If I recall correctly, it costs $28 a quart... but at that mixture strength it goes a very long way. It works great, but the thing about it is that you must spray it DIRECTLY on them... and since you can't see them, you don't know where to spray... and as I mentioned above, they only come out during darkness. They hide deep in the cracks, stitching and other impossible to get at places wherever they are infesting so you can soak your furniture sopping wet in it and WILL kill the bugs that it comes into contact with... but if you leave just one of the bugs alive, apparently they multiply like crazy and will be right back in force.

For legal reasons, "Enzyme Cleaner" is not allowed to be advertised as a pesticide... although with a wink-and-a-nod and read-between-the-lines from the manufacturer you can tell that it is designed mainly more to kill these types of invisible biting mites than actually doing any serious cleaning. With research I learned that it is (believe it or not) made from molasses and works by making the bug's exoskeleton so "slippery" that it sort of slips off the bug and the bug quickly dries out and dies. By the way, Enzyme Cleaner is so safe that according to the manufacturer you can literally drink it (it feels like very, very diluted soapy water... it's not at all sticky and it leaves no residue).

To make a looong, expensive, AGONIZING(! ) story short, I replaced ALL of my bedroom and living room furniture twice trying to get rid of the bugs... and the final solution which did work was to replace ALL of the items in both rooms all at the same time (rather than doing it piecemeal). If my home had carpet I'd have gladly ripped it out without a second thought when I replaced the furniture the first time.

If you've ever been victim to an infestation of these nameless, invisible, no-see-um, biting mites you'd understand why there is absolutely NOTHING which would have been considered off limits to curing the problem. If I owned pets, they'd have been the first to go in hopes of curing the problem... and if my vehicle were infested I'd have burned it rather than selling it to an innocent, unsuspecting "victim." A daily thought during the 3 year episode was literally, "I would not wish this torture on my worst enemy!" It's something you have to live though in order to understand.

I am not an expert but there is a medicine in a can called RID. It is a spray for lice but I had some kind of mites in my child's bed and I tried this. It worked really well. We have really sensitive skin and it didn't make us sick. Maybe try spraying in the car at night. I hope this helps.

As this post is over 2 years old, and the OP has NEVER been back. It is officially closed.