Mites in the Mustang

bugman

June 14th, 2005 at 12:00 am

Categories

Mites

strange car infestation
Hi.
A few months ago, I was constantly bothered by the sensation of bugs walking on me. We’ve had a lot of ant problems at our house, and frequently there would indeed be an ant walking around on me. But the problem continued even in the absence of any visible ant or other bug. Finally I stormed into the bathroom to take a good look in the mirror and find out what was walking on my face. I found a barely visible bug on my cheek, which I removed with Scotch tape. Not only would I be appalled to find that I had lice, but these bugs do not fit the description of lice. They are far smaller than a sesame seed, which is usually used to describe the size of a louse. Nonetheless, I had to do something; as I was shopping for lice spray at Walgreen’s, one of these bugs walked out onto my thumb, which provided a perfect opportunity to test the spray. It appeared to kill the bug, so I sprayed my couch, mattress, and pillows, and washed everything. The next day the problem seemed reduced but I still felt crawly. During the evening I got in my car to drive across town, and I found bugs walking across a map I had just printed out and thrown on the passenger seat a few minutes earlier. I checked some other papers on the seat and realized that my car was infested with these things. I couple of weeks earlier, the carpet behind the driver’s seat had become soaked (with clean water) when I started to wash the car without realizing that the window was down slightly. Could this have caused the proliferation? Hm. I was forced to set off a full-room insect fogger inside my Mustang convertible, despite warnings that the product isn’t to be used in a room smaller than 5′ x 5′. I taped protective plastic over the speedometer window and the radio beforehand. I’m happy to report that the bugs were eliminated, the car unharmed, and even the "pine" smell dissipated in a couple of weeks. Of course, a convertible is easy to air out. I attached pictures of these creatures taken through a microscope. The object in the main shot is the point of a thumb-tack for scale; these bugs are probably the smallest I’ve ever seen. The bugs’ legs are longer than was immediately apparent; you can see them better in one of the shots. I live in L.A. Thanks for any insight!
Gavin Stokes

Hi Gavin,
We checked with Eric Eaton who concurred you have some species of Mite. He recommends contacting an Acarlogist at Ohio State University if you need to know the species.