my house is becoming over run with a small reddish brown bug, they are about
2mm wide/long, pop when squished, and are driving us nuts.I can't figure out where the're living/breeding, what should I do?
I kill about 5-10 a day.
Punch
Fleas don't squish. They are hard, flat from side to side, and kind of "tear drop" shaped from the side. They jump, so they are hard to capture.
You don't give any info about where you find them. Got pets? House plants? City? Country? Wooded yard? High rise? Alaska? Florida? How are they driving you nuts? Just their presence, or are they biting? In kitchen cabinets, without any further info, I would guess weevils or some such insect in grain/nuts food containers. A tiny, spider-like bug can infest houseplants, but generally stay on the plants and build fine webs - spider mites. Ticks like damp wood, back of the toilet in the wall :o) Come out and crawl around slowly. Tell us more - the entire newsgroup is fascinated by bug stories :o)
In article , snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.ca says... :) my house is becoming over run with a small reddish brown bug, they are about :) 2mm wide/long, pop when squished, and are driving us nuts. :) :) I can't figure out where the're living/breeding, what should I do? :) :) Try to get them identified. Fleas will be black, more long than wide...ticks can be reddish brown about that size, but so can many other small insects that are nothing more than a temporary nuisancee.
are you sure you have the size right a 2mm bug is to small to make any noise when popped, at 1/4 ' it could be a boxelder bug, harmless, they are off trees. 2mm could be a spider mite off plants.
not a spider mite, these guys fly!
ok their not fleas, not ticks, not spider mites, and they can fly!
Punch
I don't know if they are fleas or not.. but if they are, VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM that carpet. Their eggs are deposited in carpet, and once you agressively vacuum daily they will disapear.
. . . and then reinvade the house after the larvae grow fat on other garbage in the vacuum cleaner bag and then change into the winged form . . .
-- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) dphillipson[at]trytel.com
Sounds like termites.
Why not put a moth ball in the bag?
Joe
:) > I can't figure out where the're living/breeding, what should I do? :) >
:) > I kill about 5-10 a day. :) >
:) > Punch :) >
:) >
:) :) ok their not fleas, not ticks, not spider mites, and they can fly! :) :) Punch :) :) :) Look up cigarette beetle or drugstore beetle and see if that is them. If so they will be coming from food products, dried flower arrangements or potpourrii that has been around for awhile.
"Punch" wrote in news:jg56b.3626$I snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com:
Sounds like GNATS. Perhaps sticky paper traps. Or a bugbomb.
If these bugs really are fleas, vacuuming will do the trick. Vacuum carpets, sofas, anything made of cloth.
Fleas live on animals. They jump off onto the cloth surfaces to lay eggs. The eggs take about 5 days to hatch. If you vacuum every four days, you will eventually get rid of them.
As others have said, get rid of the vacuum cleaner bag. Also make sure they are fleas.
Good luck,
Peter
You obviously have never seen a termite. Termites are white, not "reddish brown", and they're about 8mm long and 1mm wide, not "2mm wide/long".
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
Take some of the dead ones to an exterminator or your local cooperative extension service and find out. They will tell you what they are and how to deal with them. Simple.
It's difficult for anyone to identify a bug without seeing it. Half of all species of animals in the world are beetles.
Steve
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