Living Room Pests: Fall Invaders, Fleas and More
Many living room bugs come in from outside. In fall, insects like stink bugs and boxelder bugs look for a warm place to spend the winter, and pets can carry fleas indoors. Sealing gaps around windows and doors keeps out a lot of them.
Pests you may find in the living room
Bed BugsCimex lectulariusAn apple-seed-sized, flat, oval reddish-brown bug with no wings, usually found along mattress seams together with tiny dark fecal spots and pale shed skins.
Fungus GnatsSciaridae (dark-winged fungus gnats)A slender black fly with long legs and antennae that flutters weakly around the soil surface of houseplants.
FleasCtenocephalides felis (cat flea), the main flea on U.S. cats and dogsA pinhead-sized, reddish-brown insect flattened side to side that jumps instead of flying, often spotted on pets or on white socks around the ankles.
House MouseMus musculusA small, slender gray-to-light-brown mouse with large ears and a nearly hairless tail about as long as its body, leaving rice-sized dark droppings along walls.
Brown Marmorated Stink BugHalyomorpha halysA shield-shaped, mottled brown bug about 5/8 inch long with white bands on its antennae and alternating light and dark bands along the edge of the abdomen.
SpidersAraneae (common U.S. household spiders)Eight legs, two body sections (a front part bearing the legs and a rounded abdomen), and no wings or antennae. Insects have six legs and three body sections.
Subterranean TermitesReticulitermes flavipes (eastern subterranean termite); also Coptotermes formosanus (Formosan subterranean termite)Swarmers are small dark-brown to black insects with straight beaded antennae, a thick waist and four equal-length wings that break off easily; workers are soft and creamy white.
SilverfishLepisma saccharinum (often written L. saccharina)A shiny silver-gray, wingless insect shaped like a teardrop, with long antennae and three thin tail bristles, that darts away quickly when uncovered.
Carpet BeetlesDermestidae (mainly Anthrenus verbasci, Anthrenus flavipes, Attagenus unicolor)Adults are rounded, ladybug-shaped beetles smaller than a grain of rice, often mottled white, brown and yellow, usually found on windowsills; larvae are small, hairy, striped 'fuzzy worms'.
Wolf SpidersLycosidae (e.g. Hogna carolinensis, Tigrosa aspersa)A large, hairy brown-to-gray spider that runs along floors. Its legs often have lighter bands, and its eyes shine green in a flashlight beam at night. Females may carry spiderlings on their backs.
Boxelder BugBoisea trivittataA flat black bug about 1/2 inch long with three red-orange stripes behind the head and red-orange edges on its wings.
AphidsAphidoidea (many species)Pear-shaped, usually green, with two tiny tubes sticking out the back end, often packed together on the newest growth.