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Tag Archives: Household Pests

What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Bathroom Fly

black flying heart-shaped bugs everywhere!
Sat, May 2, 2009 at 5:13 AM
I live in Northwest Ohio. I have had a black heart-shaped bug flying around my house for about 2 or 3 months. I can’t figure out where they are coming from. They seem to like water. They hang around in our bathrooms a lot. I have pictures of them on a recently wet towel. When you kill them, they leave a black residue almost like black dust on your wall. I have not had them bite but they will fly close to people. They also like lamps and light bulbs when it gets dark out. They are about half the size of a common house fly. Please help, I need to get rid of them!!!
Maranda
Northwest Ohio

Bathroom Fly

Bathroom Fly

Hi Maranda,
You have Bathroom Flies. The larvae of the Bathroom Fly live in the sludge of your sink and tub drains. If you want to get rid of them, you need to have the pipes cleaned.

Posted 03 May 2009 § Bathroom Flies ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged:

Meal Moths Mating

What are these moths?
Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 8:32 AM
We live in Western Pennsylvania, and seem to have found moths which have eaten some of a wool rug we have in a storage area. We started finding them a couple of weeks ago on our walls and ceilings. I have killed about 6 of them. I did my spring cleaning and found some damage on the edge of a wool rug. I am assuming these are the culprits, but I can’t find these on the web to id them.
Moth
Western Pa

Meal Moths Mating

Meal Moths Mating

Dear Moth,
These are mating Meal Moths and they would be feeding on your stored grain products, not your wool rugs. Generally when we get photos of Pantry Moths, it is the smaller Indian Meal Moth, Plodia interpunctella, but your moths are the Meal Moth, Pyralis farinalis. It has a worldwide distribution. According to our Audubon Guide, the “Caterpillar eats grains, meal, bran, husks, straw, and moist stored hay. … Cleanliness and frequent emptying of storage bins are the best means of controlling this insect. Its caterpillars spin tubular webs amond food, eating from an open end.” We would advise that you check the pantry to see if you have an infestation in the oatmeal or other likely food source.

Posted 11 April 2009 § Pantry Moths, Clothes Moths, Case-Bearers and Meal Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mating Indian Meal Moths

Indian Meal Moths
Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 4:25 PM
First of all, let me say I love your website. I moved from a fairly new and well-insulated family house into a pretty old appartment building, ground level, a few months ago. I’m no more a bug lover than the next person, so I’m just happy I found this site, which has saved me from freaking out a couple of times. First time with a classic case of house centipedes. Now, I only wish! I haven’t killed them (at least not once I knew what they were), but for some reason there are none around anymore. Maybe because of winter? Anyway, now I found out that I have some Indian Meal Moths. They’ve been around on and off. During summer and fall I was pretty sure they were just some normal moth that came in from outside (especially since there was only one or two of them), but in the middle of the winter, much less probable. So I researc hed your website, ended up cleaning my whole pantry (and yes, some stuff was infested, I’m still grossed out). I do still have a few questions, though. Do these types of moths also have cases at the larva stage, or am I dealing with more than one type of moth if I find discarded or unhatched cases? Might meal moths also infest pasta, raisins or even chocolate (I found a larva in an old Nutella jar, which fortunately I hadn’t eaten from in very long)? Also, they seem to be able to munch through thin plastic wrappings….just how thick a plastic bag can they break open? Last question, apart from transferring everything to plastic and glass containers, is there anything that might keep them away, sort of like cedar wood with clothing moths? I tried a bit of rosemary branches in the past, seemed to work, but when I cleaned up, the little pile of rosemary needles had unhatched cases in it….gross. (For the record, I have cleaned the pantry regularly since I moved and I do throw out anything that sits around too long…)
Thanks for your time, I know there are a lot of questions. I’ve included a picture of two meal moths apparently reproducing, which I found while cleaning the said pantry. Thought it might be an interesting addition to the nice pictures on your website. I guess spring is coming for everyone! :P
Genevieve
Ottawa

Mating Indian Meal Moths

Mating Indian Meal Moths

Dear Genevieve,
The cases you are finding may be the cast off larval or pupa skins. when the insect metamorphoses, it leaves behind the exoskeleton. The caterpillars form a silken webbing in the food source. According to BugGuide, the larvae of the Indian Meal Moth “infests a wide variety of stored food products such as flour, oatmeal, dried fruits, seeds, nuts, powdered milk, biscuits, chocolate, and bird seed ” and “spin silken threads as they crawl through stored products, creating a matted layer of product, frass, and pupal cases.” Vigilance is the best method for controlling Indian Meal Moths and other pantry pests. Your question regarding chewing through plastic may need an expert to answer.

Update: Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 8:32 AM
Thank you for the information. I read somewhere online that bay leaves might be a good way to repel insects from your food stores, so I might give it a try. I’ve captured the remaining adults, so as to limit the damages, and was a bit surprised this morning to find eggs in the jar. They’re still laying them, it’s sort of interesting to see. Anyway, I’m keeping tabs on that (taking pictures and everything) from now on, because I strongly suspect an already-infested bag of rice was the source of the problem (the need to pinpoint a source has become quite strong to my curious mind). I put a few rice grains and a bit of what looks disturbingly like eggs in another jar, and I’m also keeping tabs on that. The egg-like grains were already in the bag before I even opened it. Well, this said, I’ll let you know if anything interesting comes up from all of this.
Genevieve, Ottawa, Canada
P.S. I don’t know if it’s of any interest, pantry moths being very common, but I’ve enclosed pictures of the said moths and eggs…they’re kind of blurry, but it’s the best quality I could get out of my generic Canon. The whitish blurs are the eggs (but obviously not the pile of rice grains!)

Thanks for teh update Genevieve.  Your photo is a bit too blurry to post.  Many aromatic plants are said to repel moths, including your previously mentioned rosemary.  We have also heard wormwood (Artemesia), lavender and mint will repel moths.  The cedar you mentioned may also work.

Posted 08 March 2009 § Pantry Moths, Clothes Moths, Case-Bearers and Meal Moths ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Bedbug

Short, Flat, Red, and Tiny
Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 11:04 PM
Recently my girlfriend and I have been finding these in our apartment every few days, and we’re a little concerned. We took two photos:
I squished one in kleenex the other day and it seemed like lots of blood was inside of it.
Save us from the insect overlords,
San Francisco, CA

Bedbug

Bedbug

Dear Sir or Madam,
You and your girlfriend have cause for concern. This is a Bedbug, and indications are that there is currently an epidemic of Bedbug infestations in many large cities. Bedbugs feed on human blood, and they can survive for long periods of time without a meal. Bedbugs often hide by day under the mattress, between the wall and baseboards, or under picture frames. They emerge at night when the human inhabitants are asleep. The bite of a Bedbug can get red and itchy, but often the first indication of an infestation is the dark stains on the sheets from the bug’s excrement. The Bedbugs also emit a foul musty odor. Bedbugs can be difficult to eradicate.  On a positive note, Bedbugs are not known to be disease vectors.

Posted 04 March 2009 § Bedbugs ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Mediterranean Flour Moth, possibly

Pantry moths Sat, Jan 17, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Hi, Bugman! I just spent the day cleaning out my pantry, re-packaging food, and cleaning everything down.
I am having a problem with small tan moths that I haven’t been able to identify online. I see the moths most often at night, and they seem attracted to lights. The moths are about 1/2 inch long.
The closest match I can find is the angoumois moth. As you can see from the attached pic, they do have a fringe at the ends of their wings. However, the pics I’ve seen of angoumois moths show pointier wings. And my moths all have a pair of large brown spots midway on the wings.
Erika
Pacific Northwest

Mediterranean Flour Moth???

Mediterranean Flour Moth???

Hi Erika,
Most Pantry Moths we receive are Indian Meal Moths, but we believe you have Mediterranean Flour Moths or Mill Moths, Anagasta kuehniella, or sometimes Ephestia kuehniella .  The PennState College of Agricultural Sciences Department of Entomology has fact sheet on the Mediterranean Flour Moth with drawings, and describes the moth as:  “a pale-gray color and from one-forth to one-half inch long, with a wingspread of slightly less than one inch. The wings are marked with two indistinct, black zigzag lines. The hindwings are a dirty          white. When at rest, the moth extends the forelegs which raises the head          and gives the body a sloping appearance. This posture is very distinctive          and is a more reliable character for identification than the wing markings         which may be rubbed off. “  There is also a drawing on the UK Stored Product Insects website.  The larger size of your specimen is a contributing factor to our hesitant identification, but we eagerly welcome a more expert opinion on this matter.  Though it doesn’t have a photo that resembles your moth, we found the very helpful Kendall Bioresearch Services Domestic Moth page.

Posted 18 January 2009 § Pantry Moths, Clothes Moths, Case-Bearers and Meal Moths ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged:

Silverfish

Strange Cockroach (?)
Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 10:41 AM
I keep seeing these bugs in my bathroom which vary greatly in size. they run between being less than a centimeter in size to almost half an inch. They have long antennae coming out of both ends and it seems sort of furry around the head area and are yellow/gold with black/grey spots. It almost seems like an immature kind of beetle. I finally caught one to post a picture, they are unbelievably fast! Sorry the photo isn’t closer or more clear, they move like there’s no tomorrow! Can you please tell me what these creepy bugs infesting my bathroom are!?
Taylor W.
Denver, Co

Silverfish

Silverfish

Hi Taylor,
You have Silverfish, a common household pest. You can find much information online about the difficult to eradicate Silverfish.

Posted 16 January 2009 § Silverfish, Bristletails and Firebrats ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged:

Bathroom Fly from Portugal

Please indicate us another bug site
Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 3:14 AM
Please indicate us another bug site where we can place this question. We’d like to think we didn’t lose time with this for nothing. Thank you.

Bathroom Fly

Bathroom Fly

Original Letter
Date: 12 June 2008 15:38:25 BST
Tiny Moths
Dear bug-watchers:
We don’t know how vulgar these might be over the world but they are already very familiar to us in (the North of) Portugal. They obviously like humidity in darker places. Lately there was a problem with our WC vent and some very small dark stains (fungus colonies?) appeared on the ceiling & top of the walls. Coincidentally these sort of tiny moths appeared and started to multiply themselves (though I haven’t found any pupas or so) or coming from who-knows-where…
I fixed the problem with the vent but before I expelled the whole bunch (one by one, out the kitchen window) I made these shots of 2 or 3 individuals. Their size is approximately w5mm x h4.5mm.
They’re not buggering at all. In fact, they don’t like to be buggered themselves. Their behavior could be described as very relaxed or lazy. They can fly away like fruit-mosquitos but if they really really have to move then they rather jump away from the threat, which anyway has to be manifested very close.
I only threw them out because I don’t know what kind of bacteriological environment they might start.
Where can we see a little more info on these sort of tiny moths? We need to know if this fellow on our tap was having a funguses snack or taking some sips of our water, in which case it would be fair to share the bill with us.
Cheers!
Dalion & Diana

Bathroom Fly

Bathroom Fly

Dear Dalion and Diana,
While we understand your frustration at not having your letter answered in six months, there is no need to look any further than What’s That Bug? for your answer.  Your original letter arrived while we were in Ohio visiting Mom and planting her tomato plants.  Hundreds of emails arrived in our absence, and we can honestly say that hundreds went unanswered.  Between May and September, What’s That Bug? gets over 100 emails per day and we are a small operation that can only answer possibly a quarter of those letters and some days we can post about 10 letters to our site.
This is a Bathroom Fly, Clogmia albipunctata.  It is a Moth Fly in the family Psychodidae.  The larvae live in the sludge that accumulates in drain pipes.  Now that you know what they are, you should be able to find additional information online.  We like that your background color of your composite matches our website.

Bathroom Fly

Bathroom Fly

Posted 12 December 2008 § Flies ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Lawn Shrimp

small brown crustacean in house
Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 10:39 PM
I live in Southern CA and we’ve had heavy rain the last few days. Since this morning we are finding small brown bugs that look like a crustacean and kind of like a maggot. They are in the front rooms of the house and on the front patio. Could they be from the rain and what are they? The picture attached is from the web, but the look almost identical. Thanks
Lauren
in house in Southern CA

Lawn Shrimp

Lawn Shrimp

Hi Lauren,
What a wonderful photo of Arcitalitrus sylvaticus, a Lawn Shrimp, according to BugGuide, or House Hopper, according to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin.  According to BugGuide:  “These are rarely seen except when flooding or lack of moisture forces them to abandon their home in the soil in search for suitable conditions. At such times they often end up dieing on pavement or in homes and become a nuisance. Once they start appearing, there’s not much that can be done except to sweep them up- pesticides are pointless, because by then they’re already dieing or dead. The best solution is to keep the numbers down the rest of the year by keeping the soil from staying too moist- in California, especially, they’re a sign of overwatering. Physical barriers like weather-stripping can also help to keep them out of homes, but their bodies are flat and narrow, allowing them to slip through surprisingly narrow cracks. ”

Posted 30 November 2008 § Sow Bugs, Pill Bugs, Isopods, Lawn Shrimp and Amphipods ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Bug of the Month December 2008 – Western Subterranean Termites Swarming on Thanksgiving

Ed. Note: 30 November 2008
Since we heard about other Southern Californians noticing the swarming Western Subterranean Termites over the past few days, we decided they would make an excellent Bug of the Month for December 2008

27 November 2008
Today while splitting wood at our Mount Washington, Los Angeles offices, we noticed the Western Subterranean Termites, Reticulitermes hesperus, emerging from the logs at the bottom of the wood pile. After two days of heavy rain, the late autumn sun triggered the nuptial flight. With the sun so low in the sky, the feeble flying swarm filled the air for several hours, emerging from nearby properties as well as our own. Charles Hogue has written in his wonderful book, Insects of the Los Angeles Basin: “on warm sunny days following the first autumn rains, swarms of the winged adult forms of this termite are commonly noticed emerging from frame houses, fence posts, and other wooden structures that touch soil. The species has a high humidity requirement, which forces it to maintain contact with the ground, traveling up and down between its subterranean galleries and the wood through protected cracks in mortar or concrete foundations, or through earthen tubes that it constructs from soil, saliva, and chewed bits of wood. In Los Angeles and much of the West, this is the species that causes the greatest damage. It is probably safe to say that the majority of older houses in the Los Angeles area are infested to some degree with this termite. In general, however, damage is not noticeable until tunneling activity has proceeded to the point of weakening structural members in stressed areas, such as flooring and stairways. Severe damage requires a period of years to develop: our termites do not reduce a house to a pile of sawdust overnight! Homeowners are urged to have periodic inspections to determine the presence of termites. This is simply good insurance and should be done regardless of how many preventative methods were employed in the original construction. This species is distinguished from others that are prevalent in the basin by the black heads of its sexual forms, its earthen tubes, and the fact that it does not make pellet piles. Its tunneling pattern is also different: the workers attack wood only in the soft spring growth region of the annual rings. Thus a cross-section of an infested timber shows a characteristic pattern of concentric circles or arcs.”

Western Subterranean Termites Swarming

Western Subterranean Termites Swarming

Posted 28 November 2008 § Termites ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged: ,

Argentine Sugar Ant Question

big ant in line among smaller ants?
Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Hi,
Every summer ants find their way into my house, and I’ve noticed for the past couple of years that there’s often a single larger/longer ant among the line of regular smaller ones. Always just one though. Who is this guy & what does he do? Usually the bigger ant is about 2-3 times the size of the others with an extra long abdomen, and moves slower; the one in the pictures from this year has a shorter/more proportional abdomen than others I’ve seen, moved faster, and behaved differently than other “big brother” ants in the past — instead of lumbering along in line with the others back and forth, this year’s walked for a bit then stayed in one spot, where the smaller ants congregated around it every so often.
In the past, the bigger ant hasn’t behaved any differently than the others, except for moving slower.
I couldn’t find any information on the internet about this (maybe because I wasn’t sure what to search for!) so any info would be appreciated. I just want to know why it’s so huge!
thanks!
michele.
los angeles, ca

Argentine Ants

Argentine Ants

Hi Michele,
We have always called these Argentine Sugar Ants, but Charles Hogue calls them simply Argentine Ants in his book Insects of the Los Angeles Basin. We have been meaning to photograph our own home invasions, but never seem to have a camera ready when 100s of ants discover bits of food in the sink or the cat food. We can honestly say that no species of insect annoys us more than the Argentine Ant, Iridomyrmex humilis or Linepithema humile according to BugGuide, and may one day post some of our anecdotes about various funny home invasions in years past. Here is what Hogue writes about this species. “This is our most common ant, the little blackish species (its length is 1/8 in., or 3 mm) that invades our homes and yards in search of food and water. Abundant in urban areas, it develops to prodigious numbers, and single colonies may harbor thousands of workers. It often becomes particularly noxious at the onset of cool weather in the fall, when colonies converge and move to sheltered, warmer quarters under homes, and foraging columns begin to seek food indoors. The Argentine Ant is, as its name suggests, native to South America (Argentina and Brazil), and it is an undesirable alien in our country. It was apparently introduced into New Orleans before 1891 in coffee shipments from Brazil, and it has since spread rapidly over much of the United States. The species is one of the most presistent and troublesome of all our house-infesting ants. Argentine Ant workers seek out and feed on almost every type of food, although they are especially fond of sweets. Making themselves most objectionable, the ants invade the house through minute crevices and cracks — filing along baseboards, across sinks, and over walls and tables in endless trails. they also have another undesirable habit: by protecting and tending scale insects and aphids, worker ants foster these injurious garden pests. Shallow nests are made in the ground, often under rocks or wood; the galleries extend only to depths of 6 to 7 inches (15 to 18 cm) below the surface. there may be a number of queens in a single colony. The Argentine Ant is a highly competitive species and is quick to exterminate other species of ants, including natives, in territory that it has just invaded this ant has no sting; its bite is feeble but can be felt.” Many ants have a caste system with soldier ants. We are uncertain if the Argentine Ant has soldier ants. Perhaps a reader can provide that information. We suspect, as this is the onset of cooler weather, your larger ant may be a queen in search of a new home. We have noticed a similar situation with a single larger ant in our own home invasions. BugGuide supports that with this information: “Winged queens mate once with a winged male, after which they can continuously produce fertile eggs for as long as 10 years- until death. Unlike most ants, several productive queens of this species can share the same colony, with one or more leaving with some of the workers to form a new colony when it gets crowded (this is known as ‘budding’).”

Argentine Ants

Argentine Ants

Posted 28 October 2008 § Ants ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Silverfish

identify bug
Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 1:03 PM
This bug is found sometimes in the bath tubs or the sinks in my house so I assume they are coming from the drain. How can I get rid of them?
Rich
Tubs and Sinks in Bathrooms

Silverfish

Silverfish

Hi Rich,
This is a Silverfish, long considered a household pest.  The person who can figure out how to safely discourage them from entering and infesting homes will be an instant millionaire.

Posted 23 October 2008 § Silverfish, Bristletails and Firebrats ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Cockroach in the Dorm

Ew. Bug.
Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 7:52 PM
So, I’m a sophomore college student in central Ohio. Until recently, I’ve enjoyed residing in the recently renovated dorm on campus. But about 2 or 3 weeks ago, these bugs started showing up, and have made my residence less enjoyable. The first time I found one, I figured it just hitched a ride on my back pack and jumped off when I set my bag down (that’s where I found it the first time – behind my back pack). Then I found another one when my parents picked me up for fall break. And, later, another one FLINGED itself at me while I was putting on make up (it missed, luckily, and landed on my vanity instead of me). A couple days later, I found ANOTHER ONE in front of my fridge. And just tonight, one flew by my head as I was practicing sight singing and landed on my piano.

Sorry the picture isn’t that great. My friend took it. She’s an English major – not a Photography major. There is a reason for that. The bug is probably about a half an inch (maybe smaller?) in length, brown, and smells when you squish it (sorry, bug lovers).

I am not a bug person. Any type of bug freaks me out (unless it’s tiny and cute – like a lady bug, or a very very very tiny spider). If you could tell me what kind of bug this is, and why it likes to hang out in my dorm room so much (my guess is that it wants some place warm to stay, since it’s getting colder outside. They weren’t showing up when it was 70-80 degrees outside – but I’m not an insect expert, so I wouldn’t know), and maybe what I could do – if anything – to keep it from coming back, that would be fantastic!
Thanks!
Laura
Dayton Ohio

Cockroach

Cockroach

Hi Laura,
Sorry to say, but you have Cockroaches in your dorm. Thanks for submitting a thoroughly charming and entertaining letter. Your friend should take a photo class to make friends in the darkroom and improve her photo skills.

Posted 23 October 2008 § Cockroaches ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged:

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