Unknown insect in house.

MikeC1983 · #1 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 12:21 PM

We have few of this insects in our house. They are seen mostly in the evening/night in dark rooms or corners. They are mostly on the floor but sometimes on the wall. We have only seen them over teh last week.

We found them in 2 main places. the first being in the bathroom on the bath/toilet matts mainly.

The second is in our bedroom near a sofa and a chest of draws full of clothes.

They move really quickly when it gets light to try and get somewhere dark again. This can make it hard to catch them and get photos of them. So that is why they are not close up photos but I have zoomed in.

They are black in colour and vary in sizes from the small ones which appear to be a mm long to the biggers ones which appear to be upto maybe a cm but we have not measured them to be sure.

When we kill them they go a clear colour.

Before we found them we found loads of white shapped things under our bed. They looked like a small sticky label rolled up covered in dust. Inside of these appeared to be a small maggot. We are unsure if these are related.

We hoovered all these white things up so did not get a photo.

If there is anything else you need to know please let me know.

Also how to get rid of them.

Action_Man · #2 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 12:27 PM

Hi Mike and welcome to tha WAB forums.

What you have appears to be a Silverfish ...

Silverfish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

psychodora · #3 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 12:46 PM

were they like furry or didnt you see ?

MikeC1983 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 12:54 PM

I could not tell if they were furry as they move quickly and if you try and pick them up they pop. They did not seem it from what I could see.

jeremiah · #5 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 07:22 PM

"They looked like a small sticky label rolled up covered in dust. Inside of these appeared to be a small maggot."

Case moth larvae. (Clothes moths).

If you have wool carpets they may be infested.

MikeC1983 · #6 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 08:25 PM

Well we have moved house recently but think may have found a clothes moth. How can I get rid of them if I do have them? I have only found one so far.

Thanks

jeremiah · #7 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 09:05 PM

Hoover everywhere, every crevice, in cupboards, wardrobes, curtains. Check hanging clothes. They live on dust and hair/fur as well as wool.

If you have a wool carpet or rug, they like the bits round furniture legs, or anything left standing on the rug, and the edges. The adults scuttle under things to get under cover. I sprayed my rug with houseplant bug spray, rolled it up and hoovered after a few days, but you couldn't do that to a whole carpet, it would be bad for you.

I believe there are pheromone traps available. Most of the insecticides that used to be used for them have been banned.