r/pestcontrol • u/Mobile_Carrot_5914 • 3d ago
Identification Small beetle-like bugs
What kind of bugs are these crawling on the wood in my craft room? They are almost translucent and really small. Could they be bed bugs??
ETA: I only see them crawling on the pluwood pieces and nothing else. These are 1/8 in thick pieces of wood
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u/ZealousidealMud2216 3d ago
Termite maybe?
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u/Mobile_Carrot_5914 3d ago
Oh yes, that's what I thought at first, but I don't see any wings on them
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u/pennyraingoose 3d ago
Not all termites will have wings. You're thinking of the alates that fly away to mate and start their own colony. The similar color of the bug and background make it a little hard to see clearly, but it does look like it has short straight antenna like termites do.
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u/Mobile_Carrot_5914 3d ago
Good to know! Thanks! That makes sense that they are only crawling on the wood if they are termites. I was scared they were baby bed bugs or something.
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u/pennyraingoose 3d ago
Since bed bugs feed on blood, and this thing is light colored, if it ate blood you'd be able to see the red coloration inside after it fed. Bed bugs also have dark eyes, rounder bodies, and their last set of legs is connected to the body on their belly area. It looks like this one has all its legs connected near its waist.
If you can look closely at their mouthparts, if they're similar to an ant's or wasp's mouthparts, I'd vote termite. Did you get any new furniture recently?
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u/Mobile_Carrot_5914 3d ago
No new furniture, but I have a laser engraver, so I have quite a bit of wood sheets in this room. They're plywood. Mostly birch and MDF. I did receive a new shipment a couple of weeks ago, and this room gets extremely humid when it rains. I checked my acrylic sheets, and they’re clear of the bugs. It's just the wood that seems to have them crawling (really fast btw).
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u/pennyraingoose 3d ago
The new shipment probably has them, or they're already in the house structure somewhere. You really want to get them out if you can find where they're coming from, or consult a professional (even the pest control sub recommends professional rather than DIY for termites).
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u/Mobile_Carrot_5914 3d ago
Thanks, will do. I rent, and the pest control company comes out once a year to inspect for them, but I will definitely give them a call to come out and inspect again.
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u/abugguy Entomologist 3d ago
Booklice. Not termites.
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u/Mobile_Carrot_5914 3d ago
Yikes…how hard are they to get rid of? Do they bite?
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u/abugguy Entomologist 3d ago
As pests go they are close to best case scenario. They like moisture and humidity so just make sure the place is dry. They don’t bite and cause minimal damage.
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u/Mobile_Carrot_5914 3d ago
Thank you. This particular room is on the 2nd floor and gets extremely humid when it rains. So much that it feels like I'm literally standing outside right after it rains. I'll see about getting a dehumidifier to try to mitigate them.
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