My Roomates
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
December 18, 2010 10:00 am
shortly after I moved in I began seeing these guys around my apartment, I’ve seen them in the light shades on the ceiing, the bathtub, dresser drawers and once I found one in my sheets! Their number isn’t scary enough to alarm me and I haven’t experienced any bites or anything like that, but I’m curious why I have so many non rent paying dwellers.
They seem to almost disintegrate when squished. this could be a very obvious response, but I haven’t met anyone who could tell me what they are.. and if I should be worried.
Thanks in advance,
Signature: Lady Sharing Her Apartment
Silverfish
Hey Lady,
You have Silverfish, a common household pest that can be very difficult to eliminate. They eat a wide variety of foods, including the starch in book bindings and in wallpaper glue. If your apartment has wallpaper, they are most likely feeding on the glue as well as stray food they might find.
Was I taken for a fool?
Location: Georgia
December 17, 2010 11:53 pm
Hello,
After visiting some friends who had bed bugs, I got very nervous when I began noticing little bugs around my house. I called an exterminator, who treated my house for bed bugs, but I still have the bugs. The strange part is that the pictures of bed bugs on the internet look nothing like the bugs in my house. Have I been fooled?? Please help me identify this bug. Thank you!
Signature: Pamela
Carpet Beetle Larva
Hi Pamela,
You have Carpet Beetle Larvae and the exterminator probably did not do anything to eliminate them. They eat organic fibers, including pet hair. Keeping the rugs well vacuumed and making sure there is no stray pet hair, or human hair for that matter, accumulating under cushions and on rugs should help control the Carpet Beetle Larvae.
1
worm
Location: corner brook, newfoundland, canada
December 14, 2010 2:53 pm
found this worm i think he made his home..dont know
Signature: hiding worm
Casemaking Clothes Moth Larva
You might want to inspect your clothes closet for more of these Casemaking Clothes Moth Larvae, Tinea pellionella. According to BugGuide they: “feed on wool, feathers, fur, hair, upholstered furniture, leather, fish meals, milk powders, lint, dust or paper.“
Tiny Bug
Location: New Jersey, USA
December 12, 2010 12:32 am
Can you tell me about this bug found in my house? It is very small, about the size of a sesame seed.
Signature: Sincerely
Buffalo Carpet Beetle
Dear Sincerely,
This is a Buffalo Carpet Beetle or Common Carpet Beetle, Anthrenus scrophulariae. Carpet Beetles in the genus Anthrenus are “An abundant household ‘stored product pest.’ In nature they inhabit the abandoned nests of birds and mammals, as well as old wasp nests where the larvae scavenge on accumulated fur, feathers, skin flakes, and dead insects” according to BugGuide. BugGuide gives this advice for Carpet Beetle control: “Controlling carpet beetles can be achieved by keeping your home free of accumulated hair and dust (dust is mostly shed skin flakes of people and pets), discarding infested items and properly storing vulnerable items. Store dry foods (including dry pet food) in glass or metal containers with tight-fitting lids. Store woolens, furs, silks in a cedar chest. Forget mothballs and moth crystals. They are ineffective and carcinogenic respectively.”
Another mouth to feed?
Location: St. Petersburg, FL, 33705
December 7, 2010 11:14 pm
Your site is great & the most informative I’ve founf so far. I found this guy scurrying across the living room tonight, hope you can help. The photos on your site that come closest are I.D. as immature roaches. I sure hope this isn’t the case, but I need to know in order to proceed. It is approx 3/4” long & 1/2” wide.
Thanks, Steve
Signature: Swamp Critter Steve
Australian Cockroach Nymph, probably
Dear Steve,
In our opinion, your Cockroach Nymph looks the most like the Australian Cockroach Nymph, Periplaneta australasiae, that is pictured on bugGuide. On the information page for the species, BugGuide indicates: “Immature Australian cockroaches are considerably more ornate than nymphs of other Periplaneta species found in North America“ and “They are scavengers, they feed on almost everything” and that they are a “A nocturnal species that favours tropical and subtropical climates.” They are in the same genus as the American Cockroach, a misnomer since the species is believed to have originated in Africa and then transported to the new world on slave ships according to BugGuide. Of the Australian Cockroach, according to the Oz Animals website, in Australia “They are pest in households. This is a common pest in homes and can transmit disease by contaminating food. The name is misleading as they are an introduced species from Asia.“ The same assessment probably holds in North America.
Australian Cockroach Nymph
What kind of bug is this???
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
December 1, 2010 7:42 pm
Hello,
The other day I noticed about 100 of these bugs just appear in my house. Shocked by what was happening and was freaked out. They got all over clothes, floors and were crawling on the walls. I took a picture of one before I killed it hoping to understand what this is and where it came from?
Its real small like 1/8” in diameter, black body with about three thorns on it’s butt.
Any advice would be helpful!
Signature: Mike
Aphid: Where did they come from???
Hi Mike,
We had to enlarge your photograph which degraded the image quality, but it appears that this is an Aphid in the family Aphididae. According to BugGuide: “Aphids may be identified by two tubelike projections on the posterior, called cornicles or siphunculi. These appear to function as a means of chemical defense, emitting pheromones to alert other aphids about a predator nearby. They also offer mechanical protection, as the fluid emitted can gum up the mouthparts of the predators. Although many different aphid species are known, they may sometimes be identified by the host plant upon which they are found. However, several different species of aphid may infest a single plant species. An attempt to organize BugGuide’s aphid images by host plant is underway here.“ Determining why they are in your home should result in resolving the problem. Aphids feed by sucking the juices from plants, and many species are significant agricultural pests. Did you recently purchase a new house plant? Perhaps you recently brought plants back into the house that have spent the summer outside. Maybe you just brought a live Christmas Tree indoors. It is often quite difficult to determine the exact species of Aphid based on a photograph alone. If these Aphids came from a live Christmas Tree, they might be Giant Conifer Aphids in the genus Cinara. Of this group, BugGuide notes: “They are, however, a problem for Christmas tree growers: customers don’t like large, conspicuous aphids in their homes, especially since they tend to abandon the tree as it starts to dry out.“ Aphids are not the only insects that enter the home on a Christmas Tree, and each year we get at least one letter from a person who suddenly finds Preying Mantids have hatched from an oothica that came with the tree.
Can someone help identify this bug?
Location: Oklahoma
November 28, 2010 5:18 pm
I have these bugs under my washing machine and a few have climbed from under there and on the floor a few inches away. I moved the machine and these are ”nests” of dust, webs, or that’s what it looks like to me. They do crawl but most of time just sit still. There are ”skins” where they have shed them like a snake. The bugs are white or beige with darker on each end. There are many legs like centipedes and the back end looks like it has long antennae maybe 2. I can’t stand bugs and I have never seen these before but now I am looking for them everywhere. Under the machine and on the round legs of the machine seem to be where they are. HELP!!!!
Signature: Barbara
Carpet Beetle Larvae
Dear Barbara,
You have Carpet Beetle Larvae, and now that you have that information, you should be able to find lots of information in our own archive and on the internet. They feed on shed pet hair and other organic materials.
help identifying a bug
Location: New York City
November 27, 2010 9:33 pm
Can you tell me what type of bug this is – see 2 attached photos.
I was told it was a carpenter beetle but it does not seem to match the photos online. I am concerned it might be a bed bug.
I apprecaite any help you can offer.
Signature: ds
Spider Beetle
Dear ds,
It is our casual observation that in recent years, Bed Bug Paranoia has reached epidemic proportions and it affects far more people than actual Bed Bug infestations affect. Every imaginable household intruder or household visitor becomes suspect as Bed Bug infestation coverage saturates the media. We in no means intend to disparage the media for attempting to make the public aware of a possible health crisis, but the fallout to the information has the public flocking to extermination services in situations that would be better remedied with a thorough cleaning of the kitchen cupboards. Your creatures are NOT Bed Bugs. They are relatively harmless Smooth Spider Beetles, Gibbium aequinoctiale, which according to BugGuide, is found “Mainly in houses, flour mills, occasionally in warehouses, hospitals, and stores”. BugGuide also indicates: “This species is a scavenger, feeding on a wide variety of dead plant and animal materials. It has become a pest by feeding on dry stored products.“ We would recommend that you search for the source of the infestation, including possibly stored flour products that have been on your kitchen shelf for more than a year, that jumbo size of pet food that saved you $2 but takes Fido a year to consume, or even the cookie crumbs that have fallen between the couch cushions. Standard extermination services often do nothing to eliminate pantry pests like Spider Beetles because the actual food is not sprayed with the insecticide.
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