Can someone identify these insects in hay PLEASE?!!

I've just found some crawling things in Rosie's room and am in a bit of a panic

OK, bear with me ... We have one of those cheap wardrobes with a fabric cover (from Argos) in the room Rosie lives in, but it's a good 3 - 4 metres away from her. I've found some little beasties crawling on it, near the top of it, on the fabric, where there is a lamp.

I managed to get one and take a pic of it (below) - it's about 1mm long, 0.5mm wide (though some were only half that size), it's dark brown and has a sort of jointed body. It moved fairly quickly but didn't jump or fly.

My first thought was mites from the hay, which is kept in the wardrobe in plastic boxes with lids. Rob checked through the hay and one of the boxes did have some beasties in it (which he thinks are the same as the ones I saw - though he'd bagged up the hay and got rid of it before I had a chance to compare them with the ones I'd seen ).

Having looked online at pics of various mites, etc, I'm not sure what it is :? I don't really think it's a cheyletiella mite as it doesn't look like one, but I'm going crazy here wondering if there are more (I've killed the ones I've seen - no-one shoot me please ) or what I need to do to eradicate them. They don't look like fleas or lice either :?

Please can someone tell me what they are?

Incidentally, Rosie seems fine, we've changed all her hay and done a quick clean-up, though I know we might need to do a very thorough clean depending on what the bugs are.

Sorry for the essay, I'm in paranoid mode

eww they look horrible,

Yeuch! :shock:

I'm useless at this sort of thing. Weevils??? :?

Thanks, they are! I'm freaking out here :shock:

Though my pic is way bigger than lifesize and makes them look huge - it's only really 1mm long.

Do you have a steam cleaner at all? I'd have thought high temperatures should get rid of them all safely.

SarahP said:

Yeuch! :shock:

I'm useless at this sort of thing. Weevils??? :?

Click to expand...

Hmm, they actually look like some pics of weevils on Google Images. There's a Lucerne weevil and apparently Lucerne is another name for alfalfa :? I'm not sure if the meadow hay had alfalfa in it :? Do you get weevils in hay?? :?

Yes, I thought about a steam cleaner. Would every nook and cranny have to be treated in the room? We have a laminate floor in that room and I'm not sure if the dampness would damage it :? Not that I care about the floor

Do you mind me asking where you get your hay from? Only I have just found something in mine too :shock: I found one right at the end of one bag I was giving them, thought it was a coincidence, then found another when I opened a new bag :? along with a piece of black plastic bag... good job I spotted it :shock: I didn't think to take a photo of the bug/mite thing before I squished it, I will if I find anymore though :?

This is scary and interestng as both Ali and I posted about possible insects in our bales of hay.

This leads me to ask, is it more common than we think and is it possible to eradicate them from the hay without resorting to harmful insecticides :?

My house is full of them - they are meal mites and live on starch, so you will find them in cardboard, in pantries (which is where mine came from - I have to seal all my food well :roll: ) and in hay - they are totally harmless, just a nuisance

:shock: :shock: :shock: I would be on full guard duty armed with a large shoe and newspaper to zap the blitters whilst waiting for the exterminators to arrive:shock:

It can't be a mite, because they have 8 legs. They belong to the spider family, and so do ticks.

Weevils have a long "nose", so I don't think it is that, either.

To me it looks similar to an ant. Maybe it's some kind of termite? :lol: Sorry, I know it's not funny. I am a botanist, so quite useless at insects, too. I will have a look when I've dropped my kids off at school. I could forward the photo to one of my friends in Germany, who is an entomologist.

I'll be back.

could it be a strawberry root weevil, sure looks like part of the beetle family:?

http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/insectid/insect_info.php?356

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex584

It looks like a grain beetle, google grain beetle images and you'll get lots of pics of the wee beasties

http://citybugs.tamu.edu/FastSheets/Ent-1038.html

If you look at the back legs, are the upper thirds of them broad and flat? You may need a magnifying glass for that.

To me it looks like a booklouse. You can find a photo and description here, if you scroll down a bit:

http://www.paragonpestadvice.co.uk/crawling-insects.htm

bunnyhuggger said:

It looks like a grain beetle, google grain beetle images and you'll get lots of pics of the wee beasties

Click to expand...

Rosie's little visitors don't seem to have any wings, whereas grain beetles and most ther beetles have two sets of wings, one soft and one hard one. I am pretty sure it is a booklouse. I used to have them in my herbarium, they damaged my dried plants. So no danger for Rosie, but watch your books.

http://citybugs.tamu.edu/FastSheets/images/booklouse.jpg

Bavarian Bunny said:

Rosie's little visitors don't seem to have any wings, whereas grain beetles and most ther beetles have two sets of wings, one soft and one hard one. I am pretty sure it is a booklouse. I used to have them in my herbarium, they damaged my dried plants. So no danger for Rosie, but watch your books.

http://citybugs.tamu.edu/FastSheets/images/booklouse.jpg

Click to expand...

Yeah I think you're right - I call them mites because they're tiny - not very technical :lol: I knew they just ate cardboard though - or indeed books - they're harmless and don't bite us or animals, but I squish them (very sadly as I think they're cute - and they live in little family groups - awww ) as if I didn't squish them we would be overrun by now - have had them years in my house and spiders must eat most of them I guess - don't kill spiders!

elve said:

Yeah I think you're right - I call them mites because they're tiny - not very technical :lol: I knew they just ate cardboard though - or indeed books - they're harmless and don't bite us or animals, but I squish them (very sadly as I think they're cute - and they live in little family groups - awww ) as if I didn't squish them we would be overrun by now - have had them years in my house and spiders must eat most of them I guess - don't kill spiders!

Click to expand...

I agree, it's always good to have some spiders in the house, so that they can deal with all the tiny pests. I am not sure how much humidity a booklouse needs. They probably don't like very dry air, but that's not good for us, either. At least they don't go into food much. I hate the moths that lay their eggs into cereal and pasta, etc.. The little caterpillars are nasty.

luvabun said:

This is scary and interestng as both Ali and I posted about possible insects in our bales of hay.

This leads me to ask, is it more common than we think and is it possible to eradicate them from the hay without resorting to harmful insecticides :?

Click to expand...

I am releaved I didnt find any like you found rosie_rabbit :shock: :shock: :shock:
The ones I had in my hay were tiny black things, wish I'd taken a picture now, I just fumigated the bunny palace and the buns too, I just wanted rid of them:shock:

~bailey~ said:

Do you mind me asking where you get your hay from? Only I have just found something in mine too :shock: I found one right at the end of one bag I was giving them, thought it was a coincidence, then found another when I opened a new bag :? along with a piece of black plastic bag... good job I spotted it :shock: I didn't think to take a photo of the bug/mite thing before I squished it, I will if I find anymore though :?

Click to expand...

Hi Sarah :wave:

The bug I found was in hay which came from a local farm, which is bagged and sold in pet shops locally. It's normally really good, but it's kind of put me off buying it again I also have Dust Free Hay and hay from The Hay Experts, but they both seem fine, thank goodness.

I wonder if bugs in hay are more common than we realise and if it's possible to get hay which is guaranteed free of bugs? That might be impossible though!

:wave: Have just logged on. Thanks everyone for your replies and suggestions

Elve - I had grain weevils in my flour a few weeks ago, but the kitchen is nowhere near Rosie's room, so I'm hoping they haven't migrated. In any case, I washed out my cupboards with a bleach solution and chucked out all my grain products, which hopefully that eradicated them. I wish I was as laid back as you about bugs in my house :lol: They freak me out I'm afraid. I know spiders are a good thing to have, but they terrify me too.

Bavarian Bunny said:

If you look at the back legs, are the upper thirds of them broad and flat? You may need a magnifying glass for that.

To me it looks like a booklouse. You can find a photo and description here, if you scroll down a bit:

http://www.paragonpestadvice.co.uk/crawling-insects.htm

Click to expand...

I guess they could be booklice :shock: There are no books in the room, but the computer is on an old oak desk and I'm now wondering if it is the source. Oh blimey, this is grossing me out :mrgreen:

I'm not sure about the back legs of the bug being broad and flat. I've still got it wrapped up in a piece of cling film but it's tiny, only 1mm long and I don't have a magnifying glass. The pic was the best I could get, I lost some clarity as I had to use the digital zoom after I'd taken the pic.

If your entomologist friend could identify it, that would be great :thumb: I'd be really interested to know.

So they're probably not harmful to us or to Rosie? Do I need to go mad with a steam cleaner to try to eradicate them all?