# Little Red Concrete Bugs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315 "2006-07-06T03:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315/1 "2006-07-06T03:31:53Z")
Pardon me if this has been covered before, but I’m new and I can’t search. When I was growing up, two of the houses we lived in had pools, which meant lots of concrete. I noticed that in both of these places (both in Ontario) there were hundreds of very, very tiny red bugs walking around on the concrete. They were smaller than the average flea. Very itsy-bitsy. I don’t ever remember being bitten or stung by any of them, but they were so small I may not have noticed. I’ve googled them and have come up with the fact that they may be adult chiggers. I find this surprising, since I thought chiggers were usually found in high grass. Are they indeed chiggers? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315/2 "2006-07-06T03:56:08Z")
They were probably red spider mites, although adult chiggers are also a possibility: [Tiny, tiny, red spiders](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375761) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315/3 "2006-07-06T04:59:39Z")
Yup. Spider mites. If they bite, I’ve never experienced it. ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315/4 "2006-07-06T14:58:29Z")
Wow, this topic has been covered a zillion times, it seems. I apologize… but thanks very much for the answer. I’ve googled a zillion times and never come up with spider mites. That’s a lot less scary than chiggers. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315/5 "2006-07-06T15:50:51Z")
They could also be clover mites. These are completely harmless and have similar properties (reddish body, leaves red smear when crushed). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315/6 "2006-07-06T18:03:06Z")
I used to call them “walking blood” You’d smoosh them and there’d be no corpse. Just blood. ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-concrete-bugs/363315/7 "2006-07-06T20:08:50Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I used to call them “walking blood” You’d smoosh them and there’d be no corpse. Just blood. _mmrrphh_! Urg. How… lovely! 😉