Bugs in my living room ... what are they??

[KerriMc]

Hey ... I don't have a pic (dont' know if they'd even show up), but I have these teeny tiny bugs walking out of my new trim work across the floor (following a groove in my laminate floor planks) and they head under my couch. They are teeny tiny and I just happened to notice them when I was cleaning along my baseboards yesterday. Of course this sent me into a frenzy (I HATE bugs!! ) so I cleaned everything all around (I do have kids who spill things ... but I am pretty much a neat freak, so can't imagine what they are attracted to).

Anyways, they look like little bitty ants ... they are reddish on their front ends and black at the back end ... are they baby ants?? What in the heck are they doing? Could they have come in with the trim work, or could they have always been there and I just didn't notice them? Could they be in my couch? Are they eating wood? crumbs? dog hair??? WHat??????

Please help me! I've vacummed, squished 'em, cursed them, used vinegar, sprayed floor cleaner, etc ... they are there again this morning ... my dh thinks I'm losing my marbles (and I will if they don't go away!!!!) There is a little crack where the trim meets and they are coming out of there ... the trim guy still has some things to finish up. I don't want to just block them in there as I'm afraid they'll just continue to live BEHIND the trim!!

I've searched ants on line, but no luck finding these little buggers ... they act like ants with the line walking and all ... man oh man ... makes me itch all over!!

Kerri

 

[KerriMc]

anyone have any ideas? i don't know my bugs well

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[KerriMc]

The reason I have tried vinegar because I had read somewhere that ants lose their trail of smell when vinegar washes it away. Apparently this isn't happening with these guys! I am willing to use Raid or something similar, but I worry about it ruining the finish on my floors, as well as the toxic affect to my cats or dog (and kids) ... but more my animals who have a tendency to be in that area.

Oh well ... guess we have co-habitated this long together, a little longer won't hurt!

Kerri

 

[Liberty Belle]

Do they look like this:

Darn. Sorry.

 

[KerriMc]

NO :scared1 ... thank goodness!!!

They look like teeny tiny ants ... and when I mean tiny, they are about a quarter the size or your regular ant. That is why I'm thinking they are babies, but there aren't any bigger ones around ... they walk all along the edge of the trim and in a straight line under my couch.

I tried to take a pic, but they are too tiny!!

Kerri

 

[HARASW]

anyone have any ideas? i don't know my bugs well

It sounds like you might have mites. I had them many years ago in my living room and they spread to my upstairs. They were so tiny, they almost couldn't be seen, except for the fact that there were so many of them. The only way to get rid of them is through an exterminator.
I will tell you how they came into my home. We have air conditioning units put through our walls. On top of the one in the living room was a bird's nest with baby birds inside. We thought it was so cute until we found out that was the cause of our mites problem. They came in through the air conditioner and any cracks around it.
Try to find out, quickly, if that is what you have in your home and get someone to take care of them soon. It took at least a week before they were all gone.
Good luck! Please let me know what happens.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Where do you live? I found this description on the Winnipeg community services site:

Pharoah ants are very tiny, about one millimeter long. They are yellowish orange. Pharoah ants are often found in dwellings, bakeries and restaurants. Colonies nest in piles of clothes, between floorboards and in cracks and crevices. Colonies have several queens.


Could that be them?

Teresa

 

[KerriMc]

Teresa ... I think you are right!!! Thank you soooo much! I have searched them on the internet and they look exactly like this. VERY tiny ... and they are a nuisance to get rid of. If you spray them, they will likely do something called "budding", which means they will branch off and form new colonies in other locations. I did spray them earlier tonight with Windex of all things as I was so "p'd off" at them. I haven't seen them again ... hopefully this won't cause them to split again. I wonder if they got in through our bottom basement window just below our front windows or if they came in on the new baseboards we just had put in. Who knows? Anyways, I'm off to get some ant bait and put it by all the openings and it supposedly could take up to a month to completely KILL them all!!!! Man oh man ... sounds like great fun!

Thanks sooooo much for that help. I had typed in ants and looked at all kinds of them til I knew more than I ever wanted to know about them I now think I have it pegged and I'm off to get bait!

Thanks again ...
Kerri

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Glad that was helpful and I hope you can soon persuade them to find a home somewhere else!

Teresa

 

[Minnie824]

could they be clover mites? We had that when we first moved in, something about the from the grass or the mulch or something. I put baby powder down to try to get rid of them. Dont remember what actually worked. I think I sprayed outside around the trim too. good luck.

 

[Green Tea]

I have little teeny tiny ants. They sound similar.

 

[Barbossa]

I live in San Diego and we constantly fight pharoah ants. Here's my favorite way to combat them:

1. The most effective means to kill them en masse is borax dissolved in a sugar/syrup solution. You can buy this at Home Depot under the Terro brand name, or you can cook it up yourself. There are tons of recipes on the web. Ants eat the bait, which takes 1-3 days to kill them. In the meantime, they take it back to the nest and feed their offspring, queen, and other workers. Note that this type of ant bait is relatively non-toxic. Borax is a well known cleaner and the baits can be treated as such.

2. I try to use the borax ant baits outdoors if possible. Indoor use is effective, but you have to endure 2-3 days of ant trails before it starts working. I look for ants outside and put the baits where I find them. It seems to work, there are fewer home invasions when I go after them outdoors.

3. If ants invade the house, I'll try to find their entry point, put a shot of ant spray there, and clean up the ants and their scent trails. Ants will always find a path to food in your house, so don't bother trying to seal holes in your home. Do keep your house clean. Ants will find a lone crumb in the most remote room of your house. Good luck!

 

[Kaiag]

Hey ... I don't have a pic (dont' know if they'd even show up), but I have these teeny tiny bugs walking out of my new trim work across the floor (following a groove in my laminate floor planks) and they head under my couch. They are teeny tiny and I just happened to notice them when I was cleaning along my baseboards yesterday. Of course this sent me into a frenzy (I HATE bugs!! ) so I cleaned everything all around (I do have kids who spill things ... but I am pretty much a neat freak, so can't imagine what they are attracted to).

Anyways, they look like little bitty ants ... they are reddish on their front ends and black at the back end ... are they baby ants?? What in the heck are they doing? Could they have come in with the trim work, or could they have always been there and I just didn't notice them? Could they be in my couch? Are they eating wood? crumbs? dog hair??? WHat??????

Please help me! I've vacummed, squished 'em, cursed them, used vinegar, sprayed floor cleaner, etc ... they are there again this morning ... my dh thinks I'm losing my marbles (and I will if they don't go away!!!!) There is a little crack where the trim meets and they are coming out of there ... the trim guy still has some things to finish up. I don't want to just block them in there as I'm afraid they'll just continue to live BEHIND the trim!!

I've searched ants on line, but no luck finding these little buggers ... they act like ants with the line walking and all ... man oh man ... makes me itch all over!!

Kerri

I have never seen these teeny tiny maybe baby ants. I was sitting on my bed putting a fresh pillowcase on my pillow when I noticed the tiniest bugs on my white mattress cover...now I am freaked out to even sleep in my bed. I cannot figure out where they came from. I tried to squish them one by one but I just kept finding more and more. Finally I took all my bedding and put it in a garbage bag coated with diatomaceous earth and then sealed the bag as airtight as possible. Ugh!

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Try putting some semolina in their track. They take it back to the queen, she eats it, it swells and she dies.

 

[gmar1210]

Hey ... I don't have a pic (dont' know if they'd even show up), but I have these teeny tiny bugs walking out of my new trim work across the floor (following a groove in my laminate floor planks) and they head under my couch. They are teeny tiny and I just happened to notice them when I was cleaning along my baseboards yesterday. Of course this sent me into a frenzy (I HATE bugs!! ) so I cleaned everything all around (I do have kids who spill things ... but I am pretty much a neat freak, so can't imagine what they are attracted to).

Anyways, they look like little bitty ants ... they are reddish on their front ends and black at the back end ... are they baby ants?? What in the heck are they doing? Could they have come in with the trim work, or could they have always been there and I just didn't notice them? Could they be in my couch? Are they eating wood? crumbs? dog hair??? WHat??????

Please help me! I've vacummed, squished 'em, cursed them, used vinegar, sprayed floor cleaner, etc ... they are there again this morning ... my dh thinks I'm losing my marbles (and I will if they don't go away!!!!) There is a little crack where the trim meets and they are coming out of there ... the trim guy still has some things to finish up. I don't want to just block them in there as I'm afraid they'll just continue to live BEHIND the trim!!

I've searched ants on line, but no luck finding these little buggers ... they act like ants with the line walking and all ... man oh man ... makes me itch all over!!

Kerri

Why don’t you just hire an exterminator. Save some dead ants and show them. They will know which method is most effective.

 

[Disneylover99]

I have never seen these teeny tiny maybe baby ants. I was sitting on my bed putting a fresh pillowcase on my pillow when I noticed the tiniest bugs on my white mattress cover...now I am freaked out to even sleep in my bed. I cannot figure out where they came from. I tried to squish them one by one but I just kept finding more and more. Finally I took all my bedding and put it in a garbage bag coated with diatomaceous earth and then sealed the bag as airtight as possible. Ugh!

Are you sure they’re not bedbugs? Do you have bites?

 

[lynxstch]

Interesting first post, to reply to an 11 year old thread? Around here, those are called Zombie threads--Anyhow, welcome to the DIS!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I'm hoping OP has fixed her bug problem 11 years later.

 

[wgeo]

I wonder what the right thing is to get rid of Zombie Ants? perhaps a mixture of vinegar and garlic?