Need help ID-ing two types of bugs!

[jo92]

Hello! I moved into a new house a month ago that we completely renovated prior to that. We knocked everything down to the brick, new installations and everything. We knocked down dome walls and put up drywall. The house has 2 floors and we barely have any furniture in it. Just a bed, a sofa, a table with chairs and one wardrobe. We don't even have a kitchen yet.

We live in continental Europe and the temp. outside has been betweem -8 and 8. The humidity in the house while the renovations were ongoing was very high, over 70%, but since we moved in and turned on the heating it's been about 35%.

Since we moved in, I've been seeing two types of bugs on the walls.

1. Reddish worm-like bugs
The first one I am more worried about as I saw 6 of them (over a span of 3 weeks, always just one alone, not in grouped together) and have no idea what they are. The first one I saw was on the headboard of the new bed so I thought it came from the bed. The second one was on the wall of the bedroom which is upstairs. However, the other four were on random hallway walls downstairs. The hallway has nothing in it except the stairs. They were both on normal brick walls and on drywall walls.

They are very small, less than half a cm, appear red with a black head, they are the same width all over. They move at medium speed. They seem to have a few legs on each side, maybe 3 short ones. They are easy to squish and they leave a reddish mark when squished.

I remember seeing bugs like that a couple of years ago in an apartment we stayed in, googling them and finding nothing, just like now. Nothing quite matches the description. I have a phobia of bugs which is why I remember seeing it before.

Pics:
postimg.cc/WdHk9dxD
postimg.cc/xqpNjJT6
postimg.cc/644WpQYP (taken with a flash)

2. Very pale tiiiiny bugs
I saw about 3 of these since moving in, also on walls. They are veeeeery hard to spot as they are tiny and beige colored, they look like dust initially. I only see them because I am checking the walls constantly because of the other bug. They move relatively fast. I always see just one on random wall. You can see on the picture just how small they are because they are next to a random tiny piece of fluff. I am pretty sure these are booklice that came in with some construction material and stayed because of high moisture. If they are booklice, I shouldn't be too worried about it, right? Will they go away once everything is dried out? We rushed the move and renovated everything in 6 months so it didn't have time to properly dry out.

Pics:
postimg.cc/mtVXgS10
postimg.cc/vcSKvz85

Please help me identify the bugs. I am pregnant, soon to give birth and I am absolutely terrifed of having an infestation of something dangerous in a house we barely moved in and also invested a lot of money into.

Thanks in advance!

[alandmor]

Jan 26, 2022 8:35:16 GMT -8 jo92 said:

2. Very pale tiiiiny bugs
I saw about 3 of these since moving in, also on walls. They are veeeeery hard to spot as they are tiny and beige colored, they look like dust initially. I only see them because I am checking the walls constantly because of the other bug. They move relatively fast. I always see just one on random wall. You can see on the picture just how small they are because they are next to a random tiny piece of fluff. I am pretty sure these are booklice that came in with some construction material and stayed because of high moisture. If they are booklice, I shouldn't be too worried about it, right? Will they go away once everything is dried out? We rushed the move and renovated everything in 6 months so it didn't have time to properly dry out.

Pics:
postimg.cc/mtVXgS10
postimg.cc/vcSKvz85

Please help me identify the bugs. I am pregnant, soon to give birth and I am absolutely terrifed of having an infestation of something dangerous in a house we barely moved in and also invested a lot of money into.

Thanks in advance!

These are booklice (Psocids) so not of much concern. Here is a link to some more info but you can no doubt find much more on-line.  The other looks like a larva, not sure what of, but again, I wouldn't be overly concerned.  

extension.umn.edu/product-and-houseplant-pests/psocids

[jo92]

Jan 26, 2022 9:17:16 GMT -8 alandmor said:

Jan 26, 2022 8:35:16 GMT -8 jo92 said:

2. Very pale tiiiiny bugs
I saw about 3 of these since moving in, also on walls. They are veeeeery hard to spot as they are tiny and beige colored, they look like dust initially. I only see them because I am checking the walls constantly because of the other bug. They move relatively fast. I always see just one on random wall. You can see on the picture just how small they are because they are next to a random tiny piece of fluff. I am pretty sure these are booklice that came in with some construction material and stayed because of high moisture. If they are booklice, I shouldn't be too worried about it, right? Will they go away once everything is dried out? We rushed the move and renovated everything in 6 months so it didn't have time to properly dry out.

Pics:
postimg.cc/mtVXgS10
postimg.cc/vcSKvz85

Please help me identify the bugs. I am pregnant, soon to give birth and I am absolutely terrifed of having an infestation of something dangerous in a house we barely moved in and also invested a lot of money into.

Thanks in advance!

These are booklice (Psocids) so not of much concern. Here is a link to some more info but you can no doubt find much more on-line.  The other looks like a larva, not sure what of, but again, I wouldn't be overly concerned.  

extension.umn.edu/product-and-houseplant-pests/psocids

Thank you! At least I don't have to worry about the second kind. Do you think the first kind could be a termite larva? That's what I'm really afraid of. It doesn't look like termite larva to me, but I used google Lens and the first thing that came up when I used my picture was a termite larva. I wish I hadn't googled that, it's what got me panicking in the first place

[jshuey]

Jan 26, 2022 10:21:49 GMT -8 jo92 said:

Jan 26, 2022 9:17:16 GMT -8 alandmor said:

These are booklice (Psocids) so not of much concern. Here is a link to some more info but you can no doubt find much more on-line.  The other looks like a larva, not sure what of, but again, I wouldn't be overly concerned.  

extension.umn.edu/product-and-houseplant-pests/psocids

Thank you! At least I don't have to worry about the second kind. Do you think the first kind could be a termite larva? That's what I'm really afraid of. It doesn't look like termite larva to me, but I used google Lens and the first thing that came up when I used my picture was a termite larva. I wish I hadn't googled that, it's what got me panicking in the first place

Your photos are not great, and the first bug does have "cerci" on the rear end. That means it's a "primitive" insect, which includes things like termites and earwigs. But you very rarely see a termite outside the nest unless it is a queen or king trying to breed and find new homes (wrong time of year for that in your location).

The answer is - get a better photo!

John

[kevinkk]

Diplurans?

[tv]

That first picture is just fine given how small the insect is.

It looks to me like a small beetle larvae. I'm no expert on all those tiny little beetles, so I don't know what kind, but there are a lot of examples that have the same dark head and tail appendages like the picture. It may be worth placing a few sticky traps around the place to see if you can catch an adult.

Here is an example of something similar that is in fact a beetle

www.allaboutworms.com/scarlet-malachite-beetle-larva-found-inside-a-glass-of-apple-juice

[jo92]

Thank you guys, it is honestly super hard to take a better photo with my phone because of how small the insect is. If I bring my phone closer to it, it just makes it blurry.

tv - Thank you, it does look similar to that, except in the color. I am honestly fine with any beetle, as long as it is not a termite. That would make me crazy because we literally replaced everything. Old floors, windows, doors etc. and we didn't keep any old furniture.

I also haven't read that termites walk across walls freely to be seen so I am hoping that means it's not them.

[tv]

That really doesn't look like any termite I've seen. The body is really long compared to the size of head. That said, there are some beetles that can be household pests. It's possible that when you started heating the house again they hatched and are crawling around looking for a food source that was in the house before you did all the renovations. If that's the case then you may see them for a little while before they starve/die off and then you probably wouldn't see them again. It definitely would be good to either locate a source that they came from or an adult.

I don't think it's one of these specifically, but they are examples that look very similar so I'm confident it's a beetle. I just don't know which one. Perhaps someone else has a better idea to the type of beetle.

www.flickr.com/photos/johnjeffery/13421715683

bugguide.net/node/view/501532

[jo92]

tv - thank you so much for the reassurance. I haven't seen a new one in 5 days, but today I was resting on the couch and randomly saw a new one just casually moving on the wall. I haven't seen any adults so I can't connect it to anything. Also, this time it was in a new room that I haven't seen it in before so it all just seems very random.

This time I filmed a video of it, maybe that'll help someone make an id?



Here is another photo, zoomed in:
postimg.cc/bZ0K7mVQ