ABOUT A MONTH AGO WE STARTED NOTICING THESE MICROSCOPIC BUGS IN AND AROUND DRAINS IN THE BATHRMS, THEN THE KITCHEN, THEN ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO I FOUND THEM ON MY MANTEL IN MY HOUSEPLANTS. NOW THEY ARE COMING IN MY WINDOWS THROUGHOUT MY HOUSE-MOSTLY AT NIGHT.THEY CRAWL-FAST, AND THEY JUMP--THEY DO NOT FLY.AND THEY DO NOT BITE. I LOOKED THEM UP ONLINE-I THINK THEY ARE PSOCIDS??? MY EXTERMINATOR SAID THEY ARE EATING MICROSCOPIC MOLD,OR ATTRACTED TO DAMPNESS AND I NEED TO FIND THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM. OTHER THAN GUTTING MY ENTIRE HOUSE I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING--AND OUR BATHROOMS WERE JUST REMODELED- ANY IDEAS ON WHAT THESE ARE, OR HOW WE CAN STOP THEM, OR THE NEXT STEP?? PLS HELP!

Quite frankly I never heard of they type of bugs your taking about but have seen in the past some flying nats around the drains. These bugs if these are what your talking about are the result of open plumbing pipes or dirty drains. These critters are often found in and around sink traps that are real dirty and partly plugged. They can also be found in rooms with plants as they feed on the decaying particals in the damp soil.
If your concerned about mold have the air and carpet checked by a professional mold and indoor air quality testing company. Be carefull of over doing the tests as they can become expensive. Also do not be alarmed by some of the results. All homes have some mold presence. The amounts change daily based on the exterior weather and the living habits of the owners.
As far as entering from the outside. Which may be the area in which they are coming from. Is the ground cover around the house old? Rotting planting beds wood chips etc often create moldy surroundings that can cause such things to develop. The lights at nite are attracting them to the windows. Do you live in a wooded lot? I do not think the resulting infestation is from the inside of the home. But once they get in they are going to areas of dampness in order to survive i.e. bathroom and kitchen sink areas.
Good luck.

My wife and I had the same, or a very similar, problem several months ago. I have seen these bugs called plant lice and plant gnats. We think we traced the source to a Schefflera plant that was in our house ... since moving the plant outside to a covered porch we have not seen any more of the bugs in the house(excuse me as I knock on wood). We also noticed that the bugs hung out around damp areas ... kitchen & bathroom sinks. We'll do a thorough inspection of the Schefflera before we bring it back in the house.

fjs

yes, i too have had these. they came in a bag of potting soil used for a new house plant. look at the house palnts that dry out quicker, they will have a miniscule amount or none at all. the way to keep them down is to fill about a 1/4"- 1/2" of your planters with sand. the bugs cannot get through the sand and so they can't not reproduce. they are not at all harmful to the plant, just annoying.

They could be what they call Springtail. They are very tiny, grey in color and when you get close to it the jump, hence the name springtail.

This is what I got from another site:
: : They are probably just springtail fleas, which aren't fleas at all, they're arthropods. They are driven into a home during periods of wet weather. They don't bite, don't carry disease, and won't lay eggs in your carpeting. They like moist areas and eat fungi and mold. Once in the house, they will nest in drains, and other moist places. You can kill them by cleaning window sills, bare floors and door thresholds with bleach diluted in water, about 1 capful bleach to a gallon of water. You can get them out of your drains with any ENZYME based drain cleaner. That will clean the sludge out of the pipes and remove the food source. Only ENZYME based cleaners will work.

All of the above answers are very good. I'd suggest starting with tmeleski's post. If useing chlorine bleach to rinse drains though, start at the highest point of the house, or the drain that is the farest away from the main drain. Use about 1 pint of bleach, and flush with hot water for about 5 minutes each drain. This may take several days to kill larvae, and/or flush it.

You may also contact me directly at john@ripbugs.com or go to my website at www.ripbugs.com

Good Luck

HAMACPHE, Have you received any other information on your bugs? You sound like you have the same exact bug as in my house. I currently have a termite problem so that is how I found these other bugs that I thought were baby termites, but I don't think they are. I first saw them in the damp wood where termites have invaded. I still haven't confirmed 100% if they are what you have or are indeed baby termites. They do move quickly and jump. I never heard of a termite jumping. They are very small and I can find them all around my house and in my potted plants that I have in my backyard. I also see them in the base of my windows. I will try to take a picture of one under my microscope and then maybe somone can help us out.

Thanks for reading my post.

quote:

Originally posted by HAMACPHE:
ABOUT A MONTH AGO WE STARTED NOTICING THESE MICROSCOPIC BUGS IN AND AROUND DRAINS IN THE BATHRMS, THEN THE KITCHEN, THEN ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO I FOUND THEM ON MY MANTEL IN MY HOUSEPLANTS. NOW THEY ARE COMING IN MY WINDOWS THROUGHOUT MY HOUSE-MOSTLY AT NIGHT.THEY CRAWL-FAST, AND THEY JUMP--THEY DO NOT FLY.AND THEY DO NOT BITE. I LOOKED THEM UP ONLINE-I THINK THEY ARE PSOCIDS??? MY EXTERMINATOR SAID THEY ARE EATING MICROSCOPIC MOLD,OR ATTRACTED TO DAMPNESS AND I NEED TO FIND THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM. OTHER THAN GUTTING MY ENTIRE HOUSE I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING--AND OUR BATHROOMS WERE JUST REMODELED- ANY IDEAS ON WHAT THESE ARE, OR HOW WE CAN STOP THEM, OR THE NEXT STEP?? PLS HELP!

HI-HAPPY TO HEAR UR FEEDBACK AND TO KNOW IM NOT ALONE. THE FEEDBACK I HAVE REC'D FROM PPL HAS BEEN HELPFUL BUT HAS NOT SOUNDED LIKE THE SAME THING. BUT U SOUND LIKE U HAVE THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM. OUR HOUSE WAS BUILT IN THE 60'S AND WE BOUGHT IT 5 YRS AGO, NEEDED A BUNCH OF WORK. WE THINK WE HAD A TERMITE PROBLEM IN THE PAST,NOT SURE ABOUT NOW,AND 3 YEARS AGO WE TOOK CARE OF A CARPENTER ANT NEST IN OUR DINING RM WALLS. LAST YEAR AND THE YEAR BEFORE ABOUT THIS TIME AND IN AUGUST WE SAW THESE BUGS IN AND AROUND THE KITCHEN AND BATHROOM SINKS. WELL, ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO, LATE SPRING THEY STARTED IN THOSE SAME AREA, BUT CONTINUED TO SPREAD.NOW, MY HOME IS NOT SPOTLESS BY ANY MEANS, BUT I MY FAMILY IS PRETTY CLEAN. ONCE I STATED LOOKING FOR THESE I SAW THAT THEY WERE EVERYWHERE. I FOUND THEM ON MY MANTLE IN AND AROUND MY HOUSEPLANTS, COMING IN FROM ALL OF MY WINDOWS, ESPECIOALLY WHERE THE CARPENTER ANT NEST WAS, AND IN MY BEDROOM WINDOW WHERE WE HAD SOME OLD WOOD. THEY WERE ALL OVER THE COUNTERS IN MY BATHRROM, IN DRAINS, ALL OVER THE FLOORS, AND ESPECIALLY ALL OVER MY RADIATORS. FROM WHAT I SAW ONLINE IT LOOKED LIKE THEY MAY BE BOOK LICE, WHICH ARE VERY ATTRACTED TO DAMPNESS AND TO PAPER---CUZ I WORK OUR OF MY HOUSE AND WAS OFFICE HAD TONS OF PAPER EVERYWHERE. SINCE THEN I HAVE LEARNED THAT THEY ARE PROB CALLED SSPRING TAILS, AND THAT'S WHY THEY JUMP.THEY ARE ATTRACTED TO THE DECAY OF THE HOUSEPLANTS WHICH COMES FROM OVERWATERING, ARE ATTRACTED TO DRAINS, ESP IF THEY ARE DIRTY, AND VERY BIG THING--DAMPNESS! BUT THEY ARE ALO ATTRACTED TO AND NEST IN TERMITE NESTS-SO I HAVE READ. WE HAVE 2 DEHUMIDIFIERS AND I NOTICE WHEN THEY ARE NOT LEFT ON CONSTANTLY THE SPRINGTAILS COME BACK. SO WHAT WE DID WAS WE STARTED BY BLEACHING ALL THE DRAINS, SOMEONE TOLD ME TO START AT THE HIGHEST DRAIN IN THE HOUSE AND DUMP A 1 PART BLEACH SOLUTION TO 3 PARTS WATER DOWN ALL THE DRAINS TO KILL ANY EGGS. I TOOK IT A FEW STEPS FURTHER AND GOT THE SPRAY CLORX BEACH AND EVERY NIGHT I WOULD GO AROUND ALL MY WINDOWS AND BASEBOARD HEATERS AND SPRAY THEY TO DEATH--JUST BE CAREFUL CUZ NOW THE BLEACH HAS EATEN AWAY THE BRASS ON MY FIREPLACE! THAT HELPED, THEN 2 WEEKS AGO WE BOMBED THE HOUSE WITH INDOOR FOGGERS BY REAL KILL, THEY COME IN A BLUE CAN, THEY WORKED SO FAR WE HAVE ONLY SEENA HANDFUL IN 2 WEEKS. IT WAS SO BAD WE PUT THE HOUSE UP FOR SALE, I CAN;T EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU...I CALLED MY EXTERMINATOR 3 TIMES, EVERY TTIME THEY TOLD ME THE BUGS WERE AFTER MICROSCOPIC MOLD SOMEWHERE IN THE HOUSE AND THE ONLY WAS TO GET RID OF THEM WAS TO FIND THE CAUSE...I HAD A WOOD DESTROYING INSECT INSPECTOR COME OUT THE OTHER DAY, HE SAID THE HOUSE LOOKED OK FROM WHAT HE SAW AND SAW NO LARGE EVIDENCE OF TERMITES--CURRENTLY-SO WHO THE **** KNOWS. HE DID SAY THEY ALSO SOUNDED LIKE SPRING TAILS AND THAT U CAN SPRAY FOR THEM IN THE SPRING TO KEEP THEM OUT, BUT THAT ONCE THEY'RE IN UR HOUSE, THEY ARE THERE FOR THE SEASON, THE ONLY WAY TO CONTROL THEM IS TO CONTROL THE HUMIDITY. DON;T BOTHER WITH THE PICS, I KNOW ITS THEM, PLUS THEY ARE TOO **** SMALL TO TAKE A PIC OF. THEY ARE GREY WHEN BABIES, AND BECOME DARKER AS OLDER AND BIGGER, AND ARE LIKE DUST WHEN YOU KILL THEM-WINDEX WORKS ON THEM TOO. FROM WHAT I READ IT SEEMS LIKE THEY MAY LIKE LOTS OF PAPER AND DUST TOO, SO ALL MY PAPER FILES ARE NOW IN TOTES IN THE ATTIC AND I AM VACCUUMING EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS, ALL THE BASEBOARDS, ETC. GOOD LUKC, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU MAKE OUT. I THINK THE BOTTOM LINE FOR THE BOTH OF US IS THE TERMITE PROBLEM. DO YOU STILL HAVE IT OR IS IT A THINKG OF THE PAST??