What is this bug?

[Sandra]

Looking carefully at what my baby bird ate .... I found this bug at the bottom of her cage yesterday. I haven't seen anything in this AM's cleaning up.

Any of you seen or know what this is?

[Ginene]

Yeesh...creepy little bugger

[Sandra]

Ginene .... I know! I was just looking very carefully to see what was eaten.

I had a bad case of COD, had to move all the furniture in my living room to clean. thinking there could be bugs under my furniture. I'm telling you, I have to see a psychiatrist!

[MiaCarter]

Poor Sandra!

Its size and body shape isn't right to be a mite.

It doesn't seem to have wings or jumping legs, so that means it must be a [creepy] crawley bug.

My guess is that it was clinging to a piece of fresh food, as it doesn't look like any bug I've ever seen in my house.

I'm sure there's someone out there who's seen this little guy!
FYI, if you click on the image, then click the zoom magnifying glass, it lets you zoom in quite close on the mystery bug.

[Ginene]

Sandra...I just remembered that Cindy's husband is an entomologist!!! Message her on finchaholics and send her this pic! He might be able to help you. Good luck!

[Sandra]

I haven't seen any since ... My mom says bugs can show up out of no where .... as long as its not going to harm my gouldians, I'm fine.

I'm curious do how in the world it got inside my place! Is cold today will be -29F .... I thought of the spinach, but it was washed, I don't think it came from there.

My thinking is: if theres 1 .... there must be others!

[Sandra]

Thank you Ginene! I'll try on FB see if have luck there.

I looked at different mites pics and it doesn't look like any of them.

[lovezebs]

Sandra

Is it possible that it came in with your seeds, whatever it is?

~Elana~

[KarenB]

There's no tellin'. Possibly some sort of weevil, perhaps. Is that helpful? LOL

Just in case you got some in the seed, just freeze the seed for a couple of days, and that should take care of any others that may still be around. I routinely put my seed in the big deep freeze out in the garage (I have two - one for people food and one for pet food) and only take out what I use for a couple weeks at a time into a separate container in the kitchen. If you don't have that kind of space, just freeze smaller batches that you will need before you use it.

[MiaCarter]

Ginene - What a coincidence! Practically nobody's an entymologist! LOL

Agreed with the others. They can definitely come in via seed and veggies, so that's probably the culprit.

I do freeze my hay to kill off any nasties.
I don't do the seed, as I've never found anything in the stuff I use.....yet!

[Sandra]

Everything passed in water bleach solution.
I hope to never see that bug again. But if I do, ill take a better pic. So far it looked more like booklice.

[MiaCarter]

Sandra -- Ooh, you're right. The shape is spot on for a booklouse.

Except this guy has some markings on his back so that doesn't look quite right for any of the images I saw.

[Chris103]

This little bugger is a Psocid (pronounced SO-sid). They are pretty harmless... feeding mostly on starchy foods, grains cardboard, fungus etc... often referred to as "Book Lice" due to their fondness for old paper and book bindings.. they aren't true lice...but related to termites I believe.

I had a small problem with these guys in the garage last summer. No idea how they were introduced, but we keep stacks of newspaper for bird cages/recycling, and that's where I first noticed them. I was horrified, and immediately soaked the whole garage with a plant based insecticide! It took a good week of web surfing to ID the Psocids. I was VERY much relieved to find they weren't mites/lice, and that they were not feeding on my birds! The one application of insecticide seemed to take care of the bugs... but I sprinkled DE on just about everything but the birds...harmless or not, I wanted them gone!


I would definitely recomend you treating for them! Its uncommon buuuut. .. they can infest your home if left unchecked, and conditions are right. They like warm humid places...bathrooms, mudrooms, under the kitchen sink..etc.
Take a magnifying glass and start scoping the house and your bird seed/cage bottoms!

It's not something to totally freak out about.... not like a major mite infestation, or bedbugs...but still something you don't want hanging out in your house.

[Chris103]

Everything passed in water bleach solution.
I hope to never see that bug again. But if I do, ill take a better pic. So far it looked more like booklice.

Sorry I totally missed this post! There are several species of booklice (Psocids), and they vary in size/color.

[delray]

Oof, good luck.