AboutNathan Riggs Expertise I have expertise in identifying and diagnosing insects, spiders, and other arthropod critters that infest lawns, ornamentals, structures, trees, pets and livestock. Mites are not a strong point of mine, but I can provide some help. I'm not a licensed doctor, so I cannot provide medical diagnosis of conditions possibly related to insects. If you've got an interesting photo for me to see, let me know and I'll give you my email so the picture will get to me. If you have hosted an insect photo on a website, please include the link so I can go look at it and provide a faster ID for you. Don't forget...you can now attach pictures to your questions as well!
Experience 15 Years' Experience as an entomologist: 5 years as a biologist with Merck Animal Health and 7 years as a Pest Management Specialist in San Antonio, Texas with Texas Cooperative Extension.
Organizations Publications Veterinary Parasitology, Southwestern Entomologist, San Antonio Express News, San Antonio Gardener Newsletter
Education/Credentials BS - Entomology from Texas A&M University in 1992.
Board Certified Entomologist, 1996-2000 - Medical and Veterinary Entomology Specialty (Entomological Society of America)
Awards and Honors Texas A&M University Vice Chancellor's Award in Excellence - 2000 for leadership on the Texas Fire Ant Program Educational Team.
I hope you can help me. I have become obsessed witht the notion that I may
have bed bugs, carpet beetles and or some other creepy pest in my home.
I began suspecting when I saw something unidentifiable in our bed sheets.
Not sure what it was, and then looked on line for answers. I had seen some
blood spotting in our sheets but my husband has psoriasis and it has been a
bad couple of months. the blood seems only to be on his side of the bed. we
purchased a new bed in the meantime, as ours was old. I had a zippered
cover on the new box spring and a bug cover on our mattress. I did see one
spot of bright red something on the mattress cover when changing the
sheets. the mattress cover is like a terry cloth and it did not go thru the
cover or the sheet. I have been noticing everything now. I see little bite
marks on my body. I have been noticing lots of spiders and spiderwebs. Our
garage is attached to our house and it seems like a lot of bugs are in there. I
did notice this on the carpet in the family room at the entrance of the garage.
I apologize for clarity of the photo, but I am wondering if this is a cast skin? I
will describe. It is small, flat and very brown/reddish in color. I attached the
photo so you can see the size and color. any ideas would be appreciated. I
live in a suburb of Chicago and I will mention that we do have a dog that
plays outside often..
Thanks so much...
Answer Wow! The picture you've sent is really blurry and I'm having a difficult time getting an idea what you've got. Bed bugs are a possibility, but don't get yourself convinced that this is the creature. It may the cast skin of an insect that just happened to get into the sheets somehow.
From the outline of the shadow, it does not appear to be a carpet beetle larval skin, I'm confident about that.
If you can get a picture that is lit from above and maybe just a little bit farther away, maybe I can tell something.
Keep trying, because I want to get to the bottom of this one with you!
)