I have a problem with little red bugs. They are really small and I have no idea what they are. My house is 60 days old. I am a total neat freak and I can't understand where these things are coming from. They are on the walls in the sinks just everywhere.
From what you've explained, these sound like a little red beetle. They are rather harmless, they just like to come in from the elements. They cluster together for warmth. They also resemble ladybeetles (lady bugs). They are beneficial to gardeners. If you want to know the real skinny on them, contact your area's gardening extension services.
As for getting rid of them. I haven't found much that works, as I don't like to use insecticides if I don't have to. I was vacuuming them up for a while, however, that made the normal vacuum odor worse.
Good luck. (08/31/2004)
If they are the size of a skin flake they sound like either mites or bedbugs. Bedbugs don't like thyme (preferably fresh, but I've used dried). And I don't know what mites don't like; they might even be the same thing. We don't kill things in our home, so we would probably try laying thyme along the floorboards and counters where they meet the wall and leave a window open for them to exit.
If that doesn't work, we'd probably just wash everything really well with Ivory dish soap and hot water. Eucalyptus or lavender essential oils have disinfectant properties and smell good. You might wipe down surfaces with those as well (be careful about the oils and your surfaces, though) to repel them. (08/31/2004)
By Allison Dey
If you have house plants and they are really tiny, they could be red spider mites which any gardening site will advise on. Just a thought. (09/01/2004)
By Gill Ewing
A small, elongated reddish brown bug could be a confused flour beetle. We got these when we got a piece of furniture out of storage. They were killed by Combat roach traps and got stuck to fly tape. We did finally call Orkin when they got out of control. (09/02/2004)
By Jacqui
If they are spider mites, they will be dark red and look like a really small spider. I grow worms and they go after decaying, decomposing matter.
Getting sunlight on them seems to kill or at least decrease the population. If they get really bad, sulfur works.
Change the PH from acid to alkaline, spray with limestone and water, or baking soda and water.
(09/23/2004)
By Judy
I have these little red gnats flying about. They aren't big enough to be a beetle, too small to be a fly. They are like red fruit flies. They hang out in my bathroom and kitchen and have been here since hurricane Katrina made her grand entrance. I see some others have similar problems. Apparently these guys like water so I reduced their numbers drastically by pouring Soft Scrub with bleach down my drains. No, really. Within 24 hours they went from being a problem to being annoying. Good luck. (03/20/2006)
By Butterfly
Clover mites, I get them around spring time around my windows. I find that spraying them with Windex or Raid and then wiping them away with a papertowel gets rid of them until next spring. (08/11/2006)
By Keely
If they are flying they are most likely a fruit fly. The adult male is darker and a little bit larger. This is one of several varieties of the fruit fly usually brought into your home through the eggs that are on fruit from the market.
To start to catch some of them get a large glass or jar empty a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of "cider" vinegar into the container then use some paper to make a funnel, use a paper clip to hold it together, you want a hole no larger than 1/4 inch. Place the funnel in the container so that the tip of the funnel is at least 1 and 1/4 inch above the liquid. Check your trap in 8 to 10 hours and see what you have. Reminder: these flies have also found another food source so check under and behind things in your kitchen. (09/10/2006)
By Larry
These are clover mites, they are pinhead sized red tiny bugs that usually get into the home first near windows. Call a pest control company. Show them which areas they seem to be in the most. They will need to spray near the foundation/base of the home and about 10 feet out from the house to kill them.
Because your home is fairly new it is likely that the mites arose because of a new lawn. They come about most often when the lawn has been fertilized well and/or when the new lawn is starting to come up. They can be extremely annoying bugs and seem to come up from everywhere. When you try to kill them, they just keep coming. They will also leave a reddish brown stain on your walls if you try to kill them so it is best to kill them by way of a professional company who will use insecticide. (03/03/2007)
By Holly C.
Caulk windows well, but before doing so spray all cracks with bug spray. Also spray foundation and under house if possible, spray anywhere they could come in, like windows.
(03/07/2008)
By Darell from Roanoke, VA
Are they really tiny kind of the size of a flea, maybe a tad bit bigger, if so you probably have a mite problem or possibly chiggers. Here is a web page that has some information about the little red bugs at the top of that page there is a place to go for tips on how to rid your self of the pest.
whatsthatbug.com (05/30/2008)
By Rae Lynn
Use Tempo to get rid of clover mites. (06/02/2008)
By jdog
I know exactly the little red gnats your talking about, we had them before their very annoying and do seem to breed like crazy.
I found these gnats:
Fungus gnat
window gnat
gardensafari.net (06/26/2008)
By Cp
Has anyone thought of the fruit fly? I bought a box of beer with one of the bottles broken in it, I had little reddish flying bugs for weeks. Apparently they like beer a lot. (08/06/2008)
By Perry
I had them too, tried everything, nothing worked. I used an indoor Fogger and all the little red flying gnats are gone. (11/21/2008)
By John from Virginia
I also was having the same problem with these annoying bugs and I did a little research. I think this is what most of us are talking about, mine were red or maroon like about the size of 3 house ants combined and looks like a skinny beetle. They have a funny smell and fly from one location to the other and bite the surface of the skin really hard.
I noticed they came in when I purchased a new couch and multiplied under clothing and around cardboard and moist places. At one point they were hundreds around a moist box that I was about to dispose of. To get rid of them I sprayed my home with Raid bombs once a week, it worked to get rid of the majority, but there were so many of them that I knew that there had to be a few left. I'll leave them for an exterminator.
OK so my point is; I looked it up and this is what I found them to be, they are not clover mites, but are darkling beetles. There are 20,000 different species and we all might have one, do your own research and post whether it is, I'm almost 98% sure that it is.
By goin crazy
I have the same problem, they are everywhere, driving me nuts, they crawl and fly all over the house. I finally found what they are, go to the following link:
wikipedia.org (07/22/2009)
By Peggy
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