Outside on the edge of the pool lives lots of these tiny red bugs. When I say red, I mean BRIGHT RED.
They are smaller then fleas and look a bit like a spider (but I can’t really count their legs as they are so small)
Anyone know what these are?
BTW: I live in the northwest part of the USA, Oregon in fact.
Could be an aphid.
Chiggers can be treated by application of alcohol.
Because as we all know, “Chiggers can’t be boozers!”
The Red Spider Mite is a pretty close bug… but the pictures I found of it on-line look a little different.
The thing is, I can’t find these on any plants in the yard. I found a website that says Red Spider Mites love pepper plants. We have several pepper plants and they don’t have any bugs at all -I looked real close on them.
So,. It might be those, but it’s hard to say.
They sound like chiggers. One way to tell is if you start getting bites around your beltline, behind the knees, and or under your arms. Chiggers seem to like places where there’s regular skin to skin or clothes to skin contact.
They are not chiggers. I’ve sat on all kinds of surfaces with the tiny red dots crawling around, and never got bitten. Unless there are non-biting ones. Or unless they don’t bite everyone.
Take some to your local museum, they can tell you what they are.
I thought i made these up!
They used to be all over the windo ledge of my old house. It had white vinyl siding, and I would watch them for hours. Now when I mention them to people, no one knows what they are. I was beginning to think that they never existed at all.
Afterlooking at the pictures, the things I used to watch were the red spider mites. Strange thing is, there were never any plants near where I saw the most bugs.
The patios and bricked-areas in Kansas City are infested with them. They are NOT chiggers, and they are locally called “brick mites”. However, searching on “brick mites” doesn’t yield anything, so I think they are indeed “red spider mites”, such as can be seen here on this page:
http://www.thechamberlainfamily.com/pond/visitors6to8legs.htm
Una
I think we’ve seen the same thing here. A few us in NYC were sitting on some rocks and slowly realized there were these reeelly tiny, very red dots all over the place. They looked like the red mites except their legs were under them rather than coming out their sides. They also seemed more shaped like aphids (but much smaller) with a “large” body and no or little separate head. None of the pics above really look like them.
PC
I used to see them in Boston as well, and they are definitely not chiggers. I always saw them on stone ledges in urban and suburban areas. Haven’t taken the time to notice them here in LA.
They could be red spider mites, given the size scale in the most recent link, because they are TI-NY! Never looked at them with magnification myself.
This is definitely one for Unca Cecil to dig up for us.
Spider mites are common, and there are many species
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/ornamentals/spidermites.html
many of which are red.
These are quite honestly the most likely candidates.
When I moved here, I noticed millions of these things crawling around, and when told they were chiggers, wasn’t pleased as I’d heard all the horror stories about chiggers. But after not having any problems, I asked the entomologist in the zoo’s bug house about them. According to her, they are harvest mites, which are adult chiggers. You can’t see chiggers, which are the larva, the ones that bite you. When chiggers turn into adults, they become much bigger (visible to the eye), very bright red, and like warm rocks and things. They also don’t eat you. They are much brighter than spider mites, and are more round in shape. I just got rid of a few herds of spider mites on my tomatoes and habaneros, along with aphids. Generally, if they are on the ground or buildings, they are harvest mites. If they are on plants, especially vegetables, they are spider mites. I think they are pretty cool now that I know they don’t bite. I can watch them for hours.
Well I’m beginning to feel silly.
I’ve been calling those little red bugs aphids for years. Don’t know where I got my information.
My grown son whose been to AG school even called them aphids. I guess I know who told him what they were. Duh.
I can’t seem to find colored pictures of aphids but the explanations say they are brown or green.
I’ll have to go with red spider mites.
I’m going to see if I can scan one of these little critters and post the picture. I think at high-rez, my scanner will be able to do it.
Tune in tomorrow.
I call 'em blood bugs. I’m in the Chicago area and have seen them all my life. They don’t itch or bite. They’re just walking blood. WALKING BLOOD!