We have an infestation of mould mites. These insects seem to love any sort of electrical item in the house and have taken up residence in my laptop. Niiiice. They are apparently extremely resilient to insecticides (as I know - I've tried most household sprays and stuff. Can't really do anything else since they're in electrical items) and can't be hoovered up either. URGH.
Turns out they love humidity and since our house is always cold (yay for condensation everywhere) they've made their home here. No wonder I have unexplained eczema all over my hands and I itch all over. Stupid bugs.
We either need a dehumidifier (can't afford one though) or for pest control to fumigate the house (can't afford that either). Joyous joy.
Really didn't need this, what with all the work I need to do right now (and most of it is to be done on my laptop as well). Grrr.
Edit: Managed to get a picture of one of these things...
This was taken as one of the mites was crawling on a bookend, the only one of many pictures that actually came out ok. Note: this is not actual size - I had to magnify the image several times so that it would show the bug. The mites are about 0.5mm in length.
Hillarie
12/02/2007 at 2:30
Ewwww. I'm sorry! Bugs freak me out, big time.
Jamie
12/02/2007 at 16:08
I didn't realize de-humidifiers were that expensive? I didn't pay that much for mine anyway. The infestation sounds awful. I hope you can find something to fix it :(
Mallory
12/02/2007 at 16:56
My family had some sort of mite infestation, it sounds like it could have been the type you have. I live in FL, so there's mold and humidity 24/7.
They pretty much bombed the house with insecticides. Then they threw out the old area rugs. They also replaced all the bed pillows and put a plastic cover on the mattresses. Then they put Sevin Dust in a perimeter around the house outside. Now it seems like the bugs are finally gone.
Good luck!
Jem
12/02/2007 at 21:02
Eeurgh, Amelie has fleas!!
Amelie
12/02/2007 at 21:04
They're not fleas!
...and contrary to popular belief, this sort of infestation has nothing to do with how clean your house is. It's how humid it is that determines whether you get these things or not. Bah.
Katy
12/02/2007 at 21:06
.. so how clean is your house? hehe :p
Amelie
12/02/2007 at 21:09
Cleaner than it was :P
Actually, they're in the bedroom at the moment which is the cleanest (and I thought least humid) room in the house. The most humid room is obviously the bathroom (what with the shower and all), but they don't seem to have gone there yet...
Jessica
13/02/2007 at 0:07
Ickkkyyyyyy. Bugs I can handle, but mites give me the willies. I try really hard not to think about pillow mites and other mites that I interact with on a daily basis. Hopefully you can find a dehumidifier on sale or something soon to be rid of the mini demons!
Stephen
13/02/2007 at 2:17
If they're in your keyboard, your computer must have mold and fungus! So clean it in a fungicidal solution and see if that kills off the mites. I doubt it'd hurt the electronics.
Or spray DDT all over your house :)
Carolynne
13/02/2007 at 5:26
Ick! I hope that you get your problem fixed. Doesn't sound like fun :(
Amelie
13/02/2007 at 9:42
@Stephen: I don't think my computer does have fungus in it or anything... I use it every day and I'm always moving it around and stuff :\ These bugs seem to like any electrical object, I can't understand why since those are the last places I'd think would contain moisture. Now the window sill, that's a different story... So why aren't they there?! Crazy.
Sabrina
13/02/2007 at 13:57
Luckily, I saw the alt text instead of the picture. Gross! I once had rats and cockroaches in my house, so who am I to screech 'gross?'
valerie
14/02/2007 at 0:41
You poor thing! I hope they clear out soon! Start surfing the ads for cheap dehumidifiers. We got ours for $10 about 5 years ago at a yard sale. I wish you lived closer, I'd let you use it!
Good luck!!!
Josh(ua/y)
16/02/2007 at 20:30
Our computer has a handful of dead bug thingies underneath the transparent plastic screen of the TFT monitor. They are always crawling around in the summer but this time of year is when the Mold mites appear, judging by this post, so "my insects" must be different...