Shiny Metallic Bugs in the House: What They Are
Gloss narrows the list faster than colour does. Ground beetles, spider beetles, cuckoo wasps and flea beetles all shine for different reasons.... Read more.
Bugs That Look Like Silverfish: Telling Them Apart
Three tail filaments and a scaly sheen are the two checks. Firebrats, bristletails, earwig nymphs and small centipedes each fail one or the other.... Read more.
Long Thin Bugs in the House: Identification Guide
Count the legs and look at the tail. Silverfish, earwigs, centipedes, rove beetles and millipedes are all long and thin for different reasons.... Read more.
Hard-Shelled Bugs in the House: Which Beetle Is It?
A hard shell with a straight seam down the back means beetle, which rules out the things people fear. Where you found it sorts the six families.... Read more.
When Lint or Dust Turns Out to Be Alive
Dust that appears to move usually is moving. Mould mites, carpet beetle larvae in lint and booklice explain most cases, and damp explains all three.... Read more.
Bugs Behind the Fridge: Why That Spot Specifically
Warm motor, a tray of standing water, crumbs and nobody looking. It is the best pest habitat in a kitchen, and the first place worth checking.... Read more.
Bugs Under the Kitchen Sink: What Lives There and Why
A cupboard with a pipe in it is the wettest dark place in a kitchen. Five insects use it, and every one of them is reading the same slow leak.... Read more.
Tiny Black Specks in the House: Reading the Evidence
Specks are evidence, and each kind points at a different pest. How to tell droppings from frass, shed skins and ordinary dirt without a microscope.... Read more.
Bugs That Look Like Spiders: Count the Legs First
Eight legs narrows it but does not finish it. Body segments, waist and antennae separate spiders from harvestmen, ticks, spider beetles and camel crickets.... Read more.
Bugs Crawling on the Ceiling: What Gets Up There
A ceiling sighting is a direction, not a species. Meal moth larvae, cluster flies, spiders and carpet beetles all end up there for different reasons.... Read more.