Please help me ID these bugs.
April 21, 2012 12:02 PM Subscribe
I've noticed tiny black bugs in my living room over the last couple of weeks, and I need help IDing them.
It's impossible to take a helpful photo of them because they end up looking like black dots. They're no bigger than the head of a needle, and they appear segmented into two parts (which may or may not be wings.) Sometimes they appear to have little dots on them, and some of them do not. I see them crawling on my couch and on myself (when I'm on the couch) anywhere from two to six times a day. It's driving me crazy.
It's impossible to take a helpful photo of them because they end up looking like black dots. They're no bigger than the head of a needle, and they appear segmented into two parts (which may or may not be wings.) Sometimes they appear to have little dots on them, and some of them do not. I see them crawling on my couch and on myself (when I'm on the couch) anywhere from two to six times a day. It's driving me crazy.
Carpet beetles?
posted by pised at 12:18 PM on April 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by pised at 12:18 PM on April 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: No, thrips aren't what I'm talking about. Wrong size. These are more oval-like.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 12:32 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 12:32 PM on April 21, 2012
Might do a Google image search for 'roach nymphs,' just... to be certain. Baby roaches aren't recognizable as such if you've only seen the adults before.
posted by Andrhia at 12:39 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by Andrhia at 12:39 PM on April 21, 2012
Response by poster: I looked at the roach nymphs, and I don't think that's what I'm dealing with, thank goodness. The ones I'm seeing don't have any antennae, and I can't see any legs either. They just look like black dots that are moving.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 12:44 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 12:44 PM on April 21, 2012
Hmm. Cigarette beetles?
Beyond that... are they fast or slow? Do they fly or how or just crawl? Any chance you could take a picture of one?
posted by Andrhia at 12:50 PM on April 21, 2012
Beyond that... are they fast or slow? Do they fly or how or just crawl? Any chance you could take a picture of one?
posted by Andrhia at 12:50 PM on April 21, 2012
Sounds like they could be clover mites.
posted by release the hardwoods! at 1:09 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by release the hardwoods! at 1:09 PM on April 21, 2012
Response by poster: Cigarette beetles look a lot like them. This page, especially. I don't know how I could have gotten them, though.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 1:12 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 1:12 PM on April 21, 2012
Response by poster: I don't see them on any food. Just on my couch.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 1:14 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 1:14 PM on April 21, 2012
Because of the dots, I'm nthing carpet beetles. Here's a question from last week about them. MinusCelcius described them almost exactly the way you did. They often turn up when the weather starts getting warm.
posted by jocelmeow at 3:35 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by jocelmeow at 3:35 PM on April 21, 2012
Response by poster: I think they're either cigarette beetles or carpet beetles. I tried vacuuming, yet they're still just as numerous. I don't have any food out, so that can't be a cause either. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to get rid of them?
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 6:12 PM on April 21, 2012
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 6:12 PM on April 21, 2012
Here's some information from UC Davis on dealing with carpet beetles. The first thing to do is check over your place thoroughly to see if you can find a concentrated infestation of them. Start by examining your couch from top to bottom, since that's where you're seeing them. They feed on a lot of different things, including textiles, so your couch might be a food source for them.
posted by jocelmeow at 7:52 AM on April 22, 2012
posted by jocelmeow at 7:52 AM on April 22, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
We get them in our house (here in the UK, although I believe they're a worldwide phenomenon) every year. They're so tiny that they get inside picture frames, and even manage to sandwich themselves inside my LCD monitors, so that I have to disassemble them to remove the black dots they create on the screens - this is an annual task for me. They're harmless, temporary and pretty much unavoidable.
posted by pipeski at 12:16 PM on April 21, 2012