Little Bugs Question

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, blackkayak.

[beetle]

Those certainly look like psocoptera (aka Booklice). They are harmless to people, and in general consume fungus that is growing on surfaces. They can also consume grain and starches, and are commonly found in libraries as there are lots of book binding glues for them to feed on. They are soft-bodied and generally require a fairly humid/moist environment (a boat is fairly ideal for them).

They are prolific in reproduction and fairly fast runners when escaping danger.

Psocoptera will tend to collect in areas where food exists, such as a particular patch of teak or area on a bulkhead; one thing I have done to knock down the popluation is clean those areas well with a cleanser, such as Simple Green or an ammonia-based window cleaner (such as windex). What you're really doing is killing any fungus that is living there. They also seem to die very rapidly if ammonia gets on their body.

Best way to get rid of them is to lower humidity, something that can be done in a library, but not so easy to do in a boat. I personally don't mind the ones I sometimes see on Beetle as I figure they are helping to keep the boat clean.

- rob/beetle

[Strait Shooter]

Originally Posted by sanssouci

I like your remedy for fruit flys, do you have a remedy for no-seeums?

Avon's "Skin so Soft" lotion is the only thing we ever found that works.

[Thin Line]

They aren't fruit flys, they don't fly at all..

[Thin Line]

Originally Posted by beetle

Those certainly look like psocoptera (aka Booklice). They are harmless to people, and in general consume fungus that is growing on surfaces. They can also consume grain and starches, and are commonly found in libraries as there are lots of book binding glues for them to feed on. They are soft-bodied and generally require a fairly humid/moist environment (a boat is fairly ideal for them).

They are prolific in reproduction and fairly fast runners when escaping danger.

Psocoptera will tend to collect in areas where food exists, such as a particular patch of teak or area on a bulkhead; one thing I have done to knock down the popluation is clean those areas well with a cleanser, such as Simple Green or an ammonia-based window cleaner (such as windex). What you're really doing is killing any fungus that is living there. They also seem to die very rapidly if ammonia gets on their body.

Best way to get rid of them is to lower humidity, something that can be done in a library, but not so easy to do in a boat. I personally don't mind the ones I sometimes see on Beetle as I figure they are helping to keep the boat clean.

- rob/beetle

Thank you, that sounds pretty spot on.. I think you solved the mystery ;-)