2 Non Toxic Small Clear White Bugs In Your House

Two whites mites, spider mites and wood mites, are small clear white bugs in the house that infest indoor house plants and damp wood respectively.

In this guide, you’ll find out why and how white mites enter homes, what they look like, the risks they bring, and how to get rid of them. 

Keep reading.

Spider Mites – Tiny Clear White Pests On Plants

Spider mites are damaging plant pests that draw the sap out of plant’s leaves and stems, making the plant weak.

Spider mites are not insects. They belong to the arachnids family, the same family to which spiders and ticks belong. 

Spider mites are common in house plants and greenhouse plants. Infestation occurs when you bring in the infected plants inside.

White spider mites are tiny, have eight legs, and they grow between 0.2 and 0.5 mm in size. They’re translucent with two distinctive black spots on their back.

Spider mites can also come in different colors like yellow and green.

Despite being tiny, spider mites aren’t difficult to spot. 

But, during the initial stages of the infestation, when their numbers are low, spider mites can be hard to recognize.

You’ll make a mistake of dismissing spider mites as tiny specks of white dust on plants when their numbers are low.

But excessive moisture helps in the proliferation of spider mites inside the house.

That cause the spider mites numbers to shoot up. And they start to take over all the plants in the house.

Spider mites will lay eggs in the undersides of the plant’s leaves. The larvae hatch out of the eggs in 3-19 days depending on the temperature. 

The spider mites larvae will undergo four stages of development before they turn into adults.

Too many spider mites in the house is a nuisance. They start to show up in unlikely places like bed mattress, carpets, couches, appearing as crawling white specks of dust.

The signs of spider mites on plants are yellowing leaves, dusty layer on the leave’s surface (mite dust), plants losing their vitality, and the leaves wither off. 

Spider mites will also create silk webbing on the leaves’ of the host plants and on the branches. 

Spider mites also produce honeydew, a black sooty mold on the infested plants. The honeydew attract ants, which cause further damage to the plants.

These tiny white mites are a big risk to your plant’s health. Not getting rid of them can cause the plants to die. 

How To Get Rid Of White Spider Mites?

To get rid of white spider mites on plants, quarantine the infected plants. And use a plant-safe miticide spray on the plants.

Miticide sprays also remove plant pests like woolly aphids, mealybugs, and whiteflies, which also harm plants in the same way as spider mites do.

You can also use a soapy water spray by mixing dish soap and water. And give a strong squirt of that spray on the spider mites infesting your plants.

Soapy water spray removes and kill the spider mites on the plants.

Clean the areas of the home where you’ve noticed spider mites with a vacuum cleaner. 

And ensure that you eliminate these plant pests from outdoor plants too.

If you don’t, then there will also be chances that these mites will enter the house. 

Do Spider Mites Bite?

Spider mites don’t bite humans or pets. They’re harmless.

But there’s a big risk of having these little clear bugs in the house. 

The shed skin of spider mites have long hairs that can get suspended in the air. And they can get into your respiratory system.

That can start allergic reactions like sneezing and running nose in sensitive people. It can also trigger asthma attacks in asthma patients.

That’s why always thoroughly clean your home if your home had spider mites.

Wood Mites – Tiny White Bugs On Damp Wood

Wood mites, also known as the mold mites, are shiny glittery white mites that infest damp wooden surfaces both indoors and outdoors. 

Wood mites’ size is a bit bigger than spider mites. Wood mites grow between 0.3 and 1 mm in size.

They’re oval-shaped, flat, white, with clear bodies and eight legs. And wood mites are difficult to spot. 

Excessive moisture in the house cause molds on the hard surfaces like wooden furniture, floors, and walls.

These molds attract wood mites, because they’re food sources for these tiny white bugs. Molds also attract psocids mites which are way more bigger than the wood mites.

Given their likeness to damp and moist places, these tiny white bugs or wood mites will also spread in your bathroom and kitchen.

Like the grain mites, wood mites can also get to your kitchen pantry when there’s too much of moisture in the kitchen. 

But wood mites don’t get inside the stored food like the grain mites do.

Grain mites feed on stored food like flour, cereals, and stored grains. However, excessive moisture does play a significant role in the spread of both type of mites. 

How To Get Rid Of Wood Mites?

You don’t need to hire professional pest control to get rid of wood mites. 

Remove the molds from the damp wooden furniture, walls, and floor with a mold cleaner. It’ll remove the wood mites and their food sources.

Also, ensure that you control the moisture levels inside the house by fixing any water leakages. 

High humidity ease the spread of wood mites. Install a dehumidifier to reduce the humidity level in your house if you live in a humid weather.

Do Wood Mites Cause Allergies?

Wood mites don’t produce allergens in the house like dust mites and spider mites do.

But when there are too many wood mites inside a damp home, then there can be instances of allergic reactions in sensitive people.

Also, despite being wood bugs, wood mites don’t damage wood like termites. Wood mites only feed on the molds.

Spider Mites Vs. Wood Mites

Both of these mites are often confused with one another because both are small clear white bugs that can be difficult to spot.

And when you see them, you don’t notice the differences. 

Wood mites are a tad bigger than the spider mites. An adult wood mite can grow up to a millimeter, whereas a spider mite’s size ranges between 0.2 and 0.5 mm.

Like the wood mites, you can also find spider mites on damp furniture in your house. 

But wood mites don’t spin the little webbings. It’s only the spider mites that do it.

Also, wood mites are not plant pests. So, they’ll not infest plants like the spider mites do.

Another difference is in the families both these mites belong. 

Spider mites belong to arachnids family. Where as the wood mites belong to Acaridae family.

Under a magnifying glass, one more difference is noticeable. It’s the black spots or markings. Wood mites don’t have those spots.