Beetle / worm that comes with crickets?

[AndrewH]

Okay, so yesterday and the night before, i woke up and counted about 28 bug bites on me!! argghhh.. i am itchy alll over........ i dont have any flying insects or feeders in my house other than the tiny little beetles that you sometimes get with crickets at the pet store.

I am wondering if those little beetles bite?

are they just cleaner worms? if they dont really do anything, im just going to kill them all...........rawr.....

 

[SoCaliSon]

First thing is I would do is strip your bed sheets and wash them... give your room a real deep cleaning... Then while the sheets are off your bed hire someone to come and steam clean your mattress(I had someone do a major deep clean on ours becasue one of the cats was peeing on our bed daily!) I think for our queen size it was $40... But that will get any small bugs(and I gurantee you there are plenty in there) that are living in your matress. Then if you are still having issues... If you don't have any pets that might be carrying flees, I would consider buying a little exterminator... Release a house gecko in the house to hunt and kill any little creepy crawlies that may be lurking in the shadows. I got this idea from this forum .. I think it was Kent who posted it a couple months back, but I think that is a great idea, I'm sure those guys would be pretty effective at eating any unwanted house bugs. Haven't tried it yet, but would love to hear from someone who has.

~Joe

 

[AndrewH]

ha, thanks. now i feel like a dirtball.... i actually released 3 house geckos, i read that article too, and i do my laundry every sunday... if it doesnt stop soon enough ill take your suggestion on the mattress cleaning even though its only a year old. Thanks for the advice Joe, much appreciated.

 

[Scott85]

I'm not 100% sure but I think those laravae and beetles are a Dermestid species.

http://http://www.life.uiuc.edu/ib/109/Insect%20rearing/Dermestid.html

It says in that article that they are later stage decomposers, and will not feed on a fresh carcus. They are used commonly for cleaning skeletons, which makes it pretty unlikely that they would be feeding on you.

There has been a recent outbreak of bed bugs nation wide as of late, mostly from "refurbished" mattresses. Might want to check into that if the bites look like these.

http://http://bedbugger.com/bed-bug-bites-photos/

 

[Tygerr]

Is this considered the norm when you buy crickets in the UK? Because if I were getting bugs (especially nasty ones) with my crickets, I'd consider changing my supplier.

I never get anything but crickets from my supplier...

 

[dodolah]

Okay, so yesterday and the night before, i woke up and counted about 28 bug bites on me!! argghhh.. i am itchy alll over........ i dont have any flying insects or feeders in my house other than the tiny little beetles that you sometimes get with crickets at the pet store.

I am wondering if those little beetles bite?

are they just cleaner worms? if they dont really do anything, im just going to kill them all...........rawr.....

sounds like bedbugs. Try to strip your mattress to the bare and check the cracks.
Vacuum the heck out if it. Dry clean it with the hottest steam possible.
If you live around desert, try sunbathing your mattress (113 F will kill those nasty creatures)

 

[SoCaliSon]

Not trying to make you feel like a dirt ball man..

Doesn't matter how hygenic you are... There are bugs living in your mattress... Don't believe me? Just call your local Kirby Vacuum distributer and ask for a demo, Hell, you might even get your mattress cleaned for free. I wasn't calling you dirty... and it's not your sheets that you have to worry about.. It is what goes deep into your mattress.... I am getting heebeegeebees justy thinking about it.

~Joe

 

[AndrewH]

Not trying to make you feel like a dirt ball man..

Doesn't matter how hygenic you are... There are bugs living in your mattress... Don't believe me? Just call your local Kirby Vacuum distributer and ask for a demo, Hell, you might even get your mattress cleaned for free. I wasn't calling you dirty... and it's not your sheets that you have to worry about.. It is what goes deep into your mattress.... I am getting heebeegeebees justy thinking about it.

~Joe

I just read that your mattress will double its weight in 10 years cause of all the mites that crawl into it.... man now im gonna go crawl in my chams cage. probably cleaner in there anyways.....

 

[wendysjungle]

How do you guys keep your cats from eating the geckos??? I'd love to have a couple, but my cats would go ballistic if they saw a gecko running along the walls!

 

[shipwreck]

How do you guys keep your cats from eating the geckos??? I'd love to have a couple, but my cats would go ballistic if they saw a gecko running along the walls!

I think my wife would go ballistic.

Now how does one keep a house gecko fed/watered/healthy while running free?

 

[darla]

No matter how clean you are, bugs always find a way inside your house. Is it possible you got a spider roaming around. They are abundant in my neck of the woods. Actually I don't live in the woods. We get spider bit a lot and I have glue traps set up all around the house. You would be amazed at what you find on the traps.