EntomologyFilter: Please help me identify this bug.

February 17, 2009 7:52 PM

Please help me identify this bug. I spotted one of them in my Northern California apartment yesterday, and two more today. They are no bigger than 3 or 4 mm across, and fairly slow-moving. I don't like them and I want them to go away/die. How can I facilitate that?
posted by rjacobs to science & nature (12 comments total)

Sorry, I'm not sure what that is, but if MeFi can't help you might want to try this site.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 7:59 PM on February 17

I saw those this fall and I'd never seen them before, nor had any of the group of biologists* I was with so I'm really interested in any answers you get. I also saw them in Northern California, out in the forest. As far as making bugs go away I've always found a vacuum cleaner handy for that. Also my shoe.

*Mostly marine biologists though so take that with a grain of salt. Not sure half of us could reliably ID a redwood tree.
posted by fshgrl at 8:06 PM on February 17

Looks like a carpet beetle to me. This page has suggestions for getting rid of them.
posted by des at 8:24 PM on February 17

It looks like this is a Carpet Beetle. Here he is on the bug identification site... http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2006/02/05/anthrenus-carpet-beetle/

It looks like they're pretty destructive in terms of eating clothes and furniture.
posted by OolooKitty at 8:30 PM on February 17

Oops, should have previewed. Yeah, what des said.
posted by OolooKitty at 8:31 PM on February 17

Could be a bed bug. If it is, I really truly from the bottom of my heart pity you. It sucks big time to have bed bugs. Have you been bitten at night? If they are slow moving, they may be full of blood.

I was bitten all over in a Rome hotel by bed bugs, and they looked just like your picture, in that they seemed sort of like tiny, ordinary garden beetles, not something which could suck your blood. About 3-4 millimeters in size, we flicked one with our fingers and it literally burst leaving a tiny puddle of (my) blood. Crush some of yours and see if you're going to be living in the middle ages for a while.
posted by lottie at 8:48 PM on February 17

Yup, carpet beetle. They're harmless, even if you don't like them. They don't bite you, they don't eat your things -- not even your carpet.

But anyway, eradication tips.
posted by mudpuppie at 8:50 PM on February 17

Hmm, I have carpet beetles and they don't look like that.
The Carpet Beetles I have are like this.

And they do cause damage! The larvae eat holes in clothes. They're harmless for sure but I've lost a number of sweaters. They seem to go for my black wool or cotton tops. They like to live under the baseboards and are SO hard to get rid of.
posted by Toto_tot at 11:03 PM on February 17

Yes, the larvae are bad news. Hide your sweaters... and, apparently, your upholstered furniture.
posted by OolooKitty at 11:11 PM on February 17

Toto_tot has the Black Carpet Beetle.

rjacobs has the Furniture Carpet Beetle.

Both are destructive. You want to find the main infestation, investigate what they are feeding on, deprive them of that food source, and remove as many individuals (vacuum) as possible.
posted by artdrectr at 1:09 AM on February 18

When I couldn't identify a bug in my apartment, MeFi pointed me to the kind people at Bug Guide
posted by radioamy at 8:44 AM on February 18

Crap. Identified: It's the varied carpet beetle. Time to do some Chuck Norris style vacuuming. Thanks everyone for the leads.
posted by rjacobs at 10:20 AM on February 18