5 Tiny Black Bugs In Florida Homes No One Talks About

In Florida, the state known for its marshy lands and wonderful beaches, bugs are prominent. There’s likely not a home in Florida that hasn’t dealt with an insect invasion. But there are some tiny black bugs in Florida homes no one talks about very much.

There are five varieties of tiny black bugs in Florida homes, including midges, weevils, carpenter ants, drain flies, and silverfish. These little nuisances can cause quite a headache, but by knowing how to keep them out, you can protect your home. Cleaning and dehumidifying your house regularly can help, as can spraying inside and outside your home annually.

Some of these little bugs are barely visible, so you might miss them when doing a personal home inspection. You may find that you have more of one than the others present in your home. The reasons for this might be many, so read on to dig deeper into all five bugs and ways to protect your home.

Each bug has certain qualities that make them either beneficial, harmful, or downright irritating. By understanding more about which bug you may have, you can better prepare yourself for what might come.

There are five tiny black bugs in Florida homes that no one talks about often. However, they can all be very irritating, and you’ll find them in various rooms, from your kitchen to the bathrooms.

Midges, weevils, carpenter ants, drain flies, and silverfish are just as irritating as mosquitoes. Florida has a big mosquito problem because of all the waterways. Therefore, it doesn’t lack in other problematic bugs. Let’s dig a bit deeper into these five insects and help you to know which ones are worse than others.

Unfortunately, if you have tiny black bugs known as midges in your home, you will notice more than their presence. Midges tend to resemble sandflies, but sandflies are harmless to humans. Bites from midges are painful, and for some people, the bite can cause long-lasting sores on their skin.

Biting midges are so tiny that you can’t see that they are even biting you most of the time. Biting midges are also known as no-see-ums. This name is because campers, hikers, and fishermen often get bitten by these barely visible bugs.

Biting midges are not only a menace to home dwellers in Florida but also to any outdoor enthusiasts. Midges are most active during dawn and dusk and are more prone to bite humans on cloudy days. You will find that your home is the perfect place for them to grab a bite.

The female midges bite humans, just like a lot of species, including mosquitoes. It’s because the females need a blood meal for their eggs to mature inside them quicker. The male midges don’t bite humans but love to feed on nectar from various flowers.

There are certain species that love to invade your kitchen due to having everything they need in one place. Weevils are often known as pantry pests and love to live in your rice and flour. They are often brownish or black and lay their larvae in any grains for their babies’ eating pleasure.

Weevils fall into the family of beetles and have distinct coloring on their backs, much like midges. The female weevil will chew holes in various grains or rice to have a cozy place to lay her eggs. When the larvae hatch, they eat the inside of the grain and thrive and continue the cycle.

Various weevils live in Florida, and each one likes to infest a particular food. From bean weevils to granary ones, you may find a variety of weevils invading your kitchen and bathroom. However, you don’t need to kill weevils or exterminate them in order to save your pantry and bathroom.

Weevils, unlike midges, are harmless to humans. They are more of a nuisance than anything else and can cause a lot of damage to stored food. Even eating them by accident does not cause any harm or illness.

Carpenter ants, like many ants, are food seekers and love any food waste you may drop. Food waste often occurs in your kitchen, drawing in the carpenter ants. Since ants are sneaky and hide in many crevices, you may even see them on your counter, cabinets, and appliances.

Just the presence of carpenter ants in your kitchen may be a sign of an infestation. Crumbs, sugar, and beverage droppings, on the kitchen counter, sink, and countertops attract carpenter ants. So, keeping your kitchen clean is one of the ways to reduce carpenter ants.

Like most ant colonies, there is a queen and thousands of workers that provide for the colony of 100,000. So, you can bet if you see a few carpenter ants in your home, a nest is close. The 3,000 worker ants are sent out to look for food and water for their queen.

Carpenter ants are also biters, especially if you disturb their nest or try to squish them. Due to their larger size, their bite can carry quite a sting behind it. They can grow to be ⅝ to ½ an inch long, making them one of the bigger species.

Due to the high moisture in bathrooms, other bugs can come out of the woodwork and into your home. Drain flies are just what their name states, flies that come out of the drains. Drain flies, unlike fruit flies, feed off hair and nails decomposing in the drains.

In Florida, these little flies seem to come out of nowhere. If you have drain flies, there could be a clog, and a crack in the pipe gives the flies access to it. They will seem to come up quickly and hang around the sink and drain.

Male drain flies actually emerge first to prepare for mating with females and only live for a few days. In contrast, females show up and live for up to 7 days and can lay thousands of eggs. Drain flies are small, 2.5mm to 4mm in length, but are a pure nuisance.

They are harmless to humans but annoying as they buzz around your face or sink. They are also prone to loving stagnant water outside of your home, leading them inside. By keeping your bathroom clean and drains cleared, you can prevent these flies from infesting your bathroom.

Silverfish are tiny black bugs found in Florida homes and throughout many other areas of the United States. Silverfish resemble tiny shrimp and love to hide in damp, dark spaces. You will most likely find them under bathroom rugs, baseboards, and sinks.

Since they love moisture, you may not only find them in your bathroom but in your laundry room or basement. Since they are wingless bugs, you will most likely see them scurry across the floor and walls. The unfortunate side is that silverfish are prey to bigger insects like centipedes, which means they could be close by.

It is difficult to tell male silverfish from female silverfish since they have very similar body types. Their antennae and bristles are shorter than their bodies, and their coloring is the same. If you see one silverfish, you can guarantee that there are possibly hundreds hidden in your walls.

Silverfish are weird and gross to see, but they are not harmful to humans. They love to eat starchy things, and waste materials and have been known to eat paper, books, and clothing. They do not carry diseases or anything with them, just the possibility of causing damage to things you love.

It’s a given that keeping your home bug free is a challenge but not impossible. In Florida, certain bugs are more prominent than others, but you definitely don’t want them inside. Cleaning is key to protecting your home, especially from midges, weevils, carpenter ants, dragonflies, and silverfish.

Clean and dehumidify your bathroom regularly to prevent certain bugs like midges and silverfish from reproducing. If you maintain drains and keep your bathroom dry, you remove the ideal atmosphere. Dehumidifying takes away moisture and the damp air that some bugs need to thrive.

When it comes to your kitchen and other parts of your home, cleaning regularly and thoroughly can eliminate infestations. By cleaning all food particles off the floor and counters, you can cut off a food source. Placing ant traps under sinks and even on the outside will prevent carpenter ants from coming in.

You should also spray the outside and possibly the inside of your home on an annual basis. If you suspect an infestation or are having a hard time getting rid of pests, call a professional. Professional pest control companies can kill the bugs and eradicate infestations at the source.

Most of the bugs listed above are bugs that you can find in many states but seem to be prominent in Florida. Florida’s temperature, high humidity, and the overall atmosphere are perfect for most bugs to thrive. This makes Florida more prone to major bug infestations.

You may find that other states have these bugs, but they’re not as big of a problem as other bugs. That is common due to how bugs migrate or live throughout the year. Florida’s climate is just right for insect and arthropod diversity.

Humans are just an easy target due to food accessibility in pantries and constantly damp bathrooms.

There are particularly five tiny black bugs in Florida homes no one talks about very often. From midges, weevils, carpenter ants, drain flies, and silverfish, there are a wide variety of pests. Most of these bugs are drawn to moisture, food particles, and particular human remnants such as hair and nails.

Some of these tiny black bugs, like midges and carpenter ants, tend to bite humans and cause quite a sting. While others, like weevils, drain flies, and silverfish, are just annoying pests. But each has its reason for infesting and needs to be squashed quickly to avoid a major problem.

There are things to do in and out of your home to protect it from an infestation. Cleaning, spraying, and dehumidifying are all things you can do to protect your home and family. If you need to, be sure to call a pest control professional for further assistance if it is too much to handle.