'Bugs News

Reports of "mysterious bug bites" increase in winter Every winter the number of people contacting us through our 'Bugs website about mysterious bug bites seems to increase. The typical question is something like "I feel something biting me but I can't see anything ", or even " I've got bites all over my ______ but I can't catch whatever it is " . While there is a small number of insects and mites that actually do bite people most of these reports have a much simpler explanation. There are many causes for mysterious or unknown bug bites. Some are caused by real insects or mites (see the Causes of Mysterious Bug Bites article below for a list of possible culprits), but others are caused by non-arthropod agents such as allergy , drugs or even environmental chemicals . [Causes of Mysterious Bug Bites] Something as simple as winter-dry skin can even be mistaken for "bug bites". Everyone has probably felt the itchy, "crawl

Fleas can be extremely annoying and even dangerous to you and your pet. Fleas are ecotoparasites that feed on blood and can transmit diseases and some internal parasites like worms when they bite. In fact, did you know that one of the deadliest human pandemic plagues in all history was spread by flea bites? This was the Black Death plague of the middle ages (1349-1352; click the link if you are curious). In modern times, however, fleas are more of a nuisance than a real health threat although flea bites can be so stressful and prone to infection from scratching for some animals that death has occurred. Fortunately, pet owners today have a wide variety of ways to combat an existing flea infestation and to pro-actively prevent fleas from gaining a foothold in the first place. Fleas can be controlled by treating pets directly with a variety of flea medications and carpets, furniture and pet bedding can be treated with very low toxicity chemicals that stop flea development. Twenty yea

We have a series of articles at our 'Bugs site to encourage homeowners to do their own pest control rather than relying on professional exterminator services. We believe that in many, perhaps most, situations homeowners can manage pests more economically and with less environmental impact. Articles are arranged by pest category (pests that bite and sting or transmit disease, nuisance pests, structural pests, and so forth) with information about regional importance.

varied carpet beetle I was a volunteer in the "Entomology (Study of Bugs)" section at a site called AllExperts**. The site allowed users to ask questions of volunteer "experts" in a variety of categories. As a volunteer I got a variety of interesting and sometimes funny questions but one category stands out because of how often it is asked, often using very similar words. The question starts out something like "I have [ small or tiny or little ] black bugs on the walls in my ____________. They crunch when I squish them. What are they?" Sometimes the question includes a picture but often it does not. While there are many insects that fit this general description the one that you are most likely to find in the typical home are dermestid beetles , commonly called carpet beetles (see photo above). Carpet beetle adults can be all black to mottled grey, white, and brown, and round to oval in shape. They are all fairly small.   carpet beetle larva Car

Bugs the invade homes and which need control? Most people believe there is a long list of insects that invade homes and can potentially damage our valuables or even hurt us. The truth is the list is very short and in modern society these species pose little real threat to us or our homes. Oftentimes the drastic steps we take to avoid these bugs are potentially more damaging than the insects themselves. In other words " the cure is worse than the disease ". I've been answering questions about insects from the general public for many years (see my bio here ) and the following eight are the ones most often found in homes. These eight represent the vast majority of insects that ever enter homes and none pose a significant threat if reasonable levels of sanitation are maintained. The Big Eight Household Bugs ants carpet beetles cockroaches fleas (only if pet dogs or cats are housed indoors) house centipedes meal moths silverfish spiders Obviously individua

Why are bed bugs returning to big cities like NYC?   Human b ed bug s , Cimex lectularius , are almost unique among ectoparasitic insects in that they specialize in feeding on human blood, and only on human blood ( click here if you're not sure what bed bugs look like). While there are plenty of insects and other arthropods that feed on the blood of animals such as birds, reptiles (snakes and lizards), and mammals (hairy creatures that give birth to live young and have mammary glands) most will happily feed on a variety of different animals as well. For example, certain mosquitoes may select a bird for one meal then a human for the next meal, and so on. This is how West Nile virus , for example,  moves between birds and humans. The human bed bug, on the other hand, feeds only on us . Human bed bugs , along with body lice , have always been closely associated with their favorite meal ticket, namely people. Both insects are even the subject of familiar children's nursery rhym

Bed bugs (sometimes spelled bedbugs, without the space) are fairly small (1/8"-1/4"), wingless, reddish-brown insects that are only found in association with people, usually starting in the room where people sleep. Hence the common name bed bugs. There is a related species that, for example, uses bats as their host animal. These are called bat bugs. You never find a bed bug just crawling around outdoors. They don't move very fast, can't fly and depend on us to move them from place to place usually by hiding in our belongings. Bed bugs are normally first noticed because of mosquito-like bites that occur during the night. Bites itch but are not otherwise dangerous because bed bugs do not spread disease like some other insects do. Once bites happen an inspection of the room and bedding will usually turn up the insects between the mattresses, on mattress seams or on bedside furniture. See pictures of bed bugs and a drawing of hiding places and bites . The second l