Has anyone had this happen before...
 

I woke up this morning and had my boyfriend grab the dogs dish so I could feed him. I hear a "GET IN HERE NOW" followed by a "grab the dog" I panicked when I realized that the wall behind his crate was covered in bugs and his food dish was the main attraction. YUCK. I have a spotless house I am not a slob, I wash the floors at least once a week, I change his dishes every 2 days, and his indoor toilet is cleaned regularly. So i was shocked and upset that my poor little guy had to deal with this overnight. I think we killed close to 25-50.

I have no clue where they came from. I'm in an apartment building, but we've been here two years, and have never had a problem before.

So I did a little research and thought they were these bugs that are commonly found in pantries and that they may have come in on the dog food. So i put all of dog food in a clear bag, and shuffled through it, but there are no bugs in there.

Any thoughts, do you think they came up through the wall or something? Like this is really random. And really gross, the good news is when I got home the appeared to be gone. (we javexed and fully cleaned his room, and aired it out before putting him back in, so if they were in the wall, I think I killed a bunch).

I hope they're gone, but it would be nice to know where they came from

Thanks!

If you used any poisons to kill the bugs, please be careful. One lick of any residue and he could get sick. I'm not familiar with what you used, but I bet your vet can tell you over the phone if that is something toxic to your baby.

The problem with living in an apt is that you could be the neatest clean freak in the world, but if your neighbor is a dirty slob, their bugs can infest your apt. It's gross. I had a problem with cockroach not to long ago. It seemed one of my mom's friends was bringing them in from her apt. They were hitching a ride in her bag and spreading to my apt. My dad bought all sorts of baby and pet friendly bug traps and we didn't catch any. They all came with that lady. It was gross!!!

Can you identify the type of bug? That might help determine where it came from.

I don't know what type of bugs they could be. Where I live we sometimes get tiny ants when it is very wet outside after heavy rains and that just grosses me out. I have to put the dog food and water bowl away or else ther's tons of ants in it.

As posted above, if you live in an apartment building they can infest your space easily. And the heat we have at the moment doesn't help either. I would wash the dishes after each feeding though. If they come back I would call Pest Control, they know what they are doing.
Good luck.

Not 100% sure what type of bug... they are about 5mm long, light brown. kind of beetle like...

Thankfully I haven't seen any more tonight... I checked the dog food again, and I think we did conclude it must be from another apartment, just gives me the creeps...


Also I made sure to clean properly so that there was no residue. Javex is a brand of bleach. I also used Mr. Clean. and then rinsed with water and fully dried. and ventilated. so I made sure to use something safe. :)

So our baby is going to sleep in a nice clean bed, with fresh bedding, a clean room, new food, a disinfected crate and hopefully no creepy crawly friends...

Thanks all, I'll update if anything else happens.

They may be coming to the food. Do you need to leave food out all night? I know sometimes my mom has had ants go in the dog food.

My dads house had those tiny beetle-looking bugs at our house too. All the sudden they were everywhere! We had an exterminator come out and I forget what he called them but he said they are specifically attracted to dog food.

Yes I do leave his food overnight. which sucks... but he eats a fair amount over night,.. I figure it's just too hot in the day for him to eat. And with him being so small 3lbs I really don't want to leave him without food, I'd like him to hit 4lbs when he's full grown if possible. (9months old)

It sounds like cockroaches and they are a common pest for apartments

I had a certain food I was trying for my 2 and the same thing happened - not the kind of bugs you described but little knats - I think they're called fruit flies & they invaded the dog dish ....I threw the food out and went back to what I was feeding them before the switch and no problems since

I'm in an apartment and I'm very clean too -

Oh and with cockroaches it doesn't matter how clean you are if your neighbor has them you will have them. Also the ones you killed arrant the only ones you have they will reappear. You will need an exterminator to come in. I have one come in and spray my house once a month because I have a pond and stream in my back yard and that attracts all kinds of bugs

Ew that sounds really scary!!
I hope you find out what they were and how to permenantly get rid of them.
As others have mentioned if you live in an apartment they could well be coming in from another persons apartment in the same block.
I would ask your neighbors if they have seen these bugs too :)

There are products that you can look up online too that won't hurt your animals, but will definitely kill the bugs. I had a problem with sugar ants, and it took care of them. None of my babies got sick. I can't remember the name, but I can't seem to remember the name of the product. Good luck with it.

Never tried it before,but,maybe it's worth a shot.....Sani-Moat Ant Barriers at PETCO it seems to have gotten a lot of good reviews.

I think I'm going to mention it to the landlord, and see if they'll investigate. Our building has A LOT of issues, we are moving in 1 1/2 months. Hopefully I can keep the little creepers at bay until we move.

I'm not sure if they're cockroaches or not... I thought those were a bit bigger... but maybe they were babies... or whatever insects have...

so true ! I never ever saw a roach when I had the house cept for those huge outside flying tree roaches - but they aren't the same as the nasty little ones

I'm a fanatic about my kitchen and always on the lookout and so far so good !! When my son was here we started seeing baby roaches and I got on him pretty good about never leaving crumbs etc on counters - In the 2-2.2 years I've been here I hardly ever see any and if I do - I dose the kitchen really well and it seems to be working

they live in walls - pipes and underground so basically we're at their mercy in apartments -

Those buggers come in all sizes and varieties. Some even hiss!

I just wanted to say how sorry I am that this happened to you. I hope you can get rid of these bugs once and for all once you find out what they are and what caused them to appear like that. I hate bugs and can sure understand how upset you must be. :(

Living in Florida experience:
If you decide to treat your outside or neighboring walls with pesticides do not tell your neighbors- They will treat also and send the little critters right back to you, better to move your pup to an interior wall and keep an eye on the food dish.
Borax under the baseboards works wonders if you don't want to use pesticides! It's safer to set up a barrier from outside, if you don't have a problem from within.

YUCK! I think I'm gonna be sick...

Thank god those things haven't come back yet.

Oh, so sorry for what you're going through - that's really awful! But I did read somewhere that to prevent ants, bugs, etc. from getting to the dog's food, or the entire crate, you can put down 2-sided tape on the floor as a barrier. Also, if the bugs are bigger, then on top of that tape barrier around the crate, add a nice thick coat of vaseline. At least this will give you peace of mind that if they DO reappear, they will not get at your pup in his crate. And if they can't get to the food, they have no reason to return. Trust me, I researched it because when Rocco was only 9 weeks old, he woke me with frantic cries for help and ran around throwing himself onto the floor. I figured out that an ant got into his crate and then inside his ear while he slept and must have bit him :eek:! It took another week for him to go into his crate and to this day he HATES ants.

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I am really glad you are getting to move if you are having issues at your current place. We lived in an apartment for almost 3 years and had some horrible experiences with bugs and our neighbors at first. They were a bunch of underage kids living in an apartment rented in one of their sister's name. They were nasty little critters and we could not get rid of ants while they lived next door.

They only stayed a few months before being asked to leave. The cleaning crew told my husband they had never seen one so nasty when they left. Good luck in staying rid of these pests and your future move. :)

Is the food bowl by his crate? A couple times we had ants when there was a piece of kibble under the crate we didn't see right away. Good luck!

The little (bleep bleeepin bleepers) :mad: keep coming back!!!!!!

thank-fully not in large amounts, but I killed 5 more under Harley's crate before bed last night.... URGH!

I found some in my livingroom on the weekend, needless to say my whole apartment got sterilized... again!!!!

I'm looking for a temporary fix, because I don't have a place to board Harley in order to have an exterminator in, we're only going to be living there until September 6th, So do pet stores sell some sort of pet safe bug bomb? BLAH this is soooo frustrating!

Gross.Do they really hiss?Thats just creepy.

This thread is makin me itchy!! I don't have a solution for you...Just have to tell my bug story...One night i went into the kitchen at 3 am to get some milk, I went to open the cabinet door to get a glass when something creepy crawly got on me! I turned on the light and there were hundreds of bugs in my kitchen! On the counters,cabinets,everywhere!! I nearly fell over from heart failure!!! I screamed for my dh to get in there. He came running thinking I was being attacked! we spent the next hour swatting and vuccuming up bug peices.EEEWWWW. The next day i took one to Home Depot in a baggie and they said it was a termite! We have had our home treated for them for years and years! These were flying bugs tho, does anyone know if termites fly? we never figured out how they got in, they never came back...Thank God... i might actually have te heart attack next time:eek::eek:

Yes, termites fly.

I think the bugs you found by the dog food may be a grain beetle. They are very small and brown. I think they can just form in grain foods - even people grain foods like cereal. That is, if they are what I'm thinking of. The reason I say they can form in grain foods is because (this is going to gross everyone out) that all grain foods, if I remember correctly, do have tiny insects that you can't see in them.:)

Termites fly from one house to another. They can also travel through tunnels underground. They eat wood, so an exterminator is a must unless you want your house falling down around you.:eek: The exterminator must find the source in your home.