13 Intolerable Tiny Black Bugs In Houses Near Windows

With the arrival of spring, many little black bugs start to appear on the windows and windowsills. 

Some of these bugs were overwintering inside your house during the winter and waiting for spring to arrive.

Also, open windows and cracks on the windowsills and frames are entry points for many bugs and flies that have started to breed in your yard.

Many of these tiny bugs are a nuisance. However, some bring infestation and damage risks to your home.

Not to mention, many of these windowsill bugs can also bite. 

So, what are these tiny black bugs in houses near windows that can be both a nuisance and damaging pests? 

And how to get rid of these tiny bugs and prevent them from invading your house?

Keep reading to learn the answers to these questions. 

Black Ants

The cracks on the window sills, frame and the gap between the window frame and window sill are the entry points for many black ant species that invade homes.

Odorous ants, carpenter ants, pavement ants, and other ants, like the red fire ants, will make their way inside your home through the windows.

When ants invade human dwellings through the windows, you’ll notice ant trails passing through the holes in the windows. 

These ant trails are worker ants making a move inside the house.

So, what makes these ants invade your home?

There are two reasons.

First, the number of ants in the yard has increased. And they’ve found an alternative nesting ground and food source inside your home.

Second, the weather outdoors has become dry, which has forced the ants to make their way inside your home through the windows.

Ants are moisture bugs. And they need to live near damp places to survive.

So, inside your home, ants will look for a nesting place in moist areas like the kitchen and bathroom.

Carpenter ants on the window sill can also signify carpenter ant infestation in the windows.

These ants will drill inside the damp windowsill to lay their eggs and build colonies.

Ants invade homes during the spring and summer. However, in the winter months, ants disappear.

It’s because they retreat to their colonies to overwinter. With the arrival of spring, ants reappear.

Clover Mites

Clover mites are tiny dark red spider-like bugs that feed on clovers and the grasses of highly fertilized lawns.

These bugs feed on clovers and lawn grasses.

Clover mites are extremely tiny, growing only up to 1/30th of an inch in size.

These small bugs appear as tiny reddish-black bugs crawling on the windows.

But clover mites are not microscopic bugs. You can spot them without using a magnifying glass.

The two long frontal legs in a clover mite are easily visible. A clover mite has eight legs in total.

Clover mites are not insects. They belong to the arachnid family, where the spiders belong.

Clover mites are active during the spring and summer.

Extreme weather, depletion in the moisture levels of the outdoors, and their increase in numbers, which can lead to scarcity of food, also make the clover mites invade your house.

They’ll gather on the windowsills to enter your home when the weather is too extreme for them.

During the peak of the summer and winter, clover mites either die off or try to move inside human homes for favorable living conditions.

Before invading your house, clover mites will appear in bulk on the windows, near the window screen, and on the window sill.

Clover mites don’t bite. But they’re nuisance bugs that can enter your home in thousands.

And when they’re inside your house, they can appear in the most unlikely places, like your bed.

Black Carpet Beetles

Adult black carpet beetles will bang their heads on your window screen, trying to make their way inside your home.

These tiny beetles are harmless, but the purpose for which they try to break inside the house is quite terrifying.

Adult carpet beetles enter homes to lay eggs on fabrics made of animal matter like leather, silk, wool, feather, fur, and silk.

They also look out for any tiny gaps in the stored food jars and pet food containers to sneak inside them and lay eggs.

But why do they do that?

The carpet beetle larvae, tiny black worms with hairy bristles, feed on these things.

The protein in the natural fibers made of animal matter is their food source.

Also, stored human foods like nuts, cereals, and pet foods are food sources for the carpet beetle larvae.

So, the carpet beetle larva is also a pantry pest.

The larvae also feed on dead bugs in the wall voids of your house and human and pet hair lying around in the home.

The adult black carpet beetle is also attracted to the light from the house.

They’ll gather on the windows trying to reach the light bulb glowing inside your house.

Spring is the time when the adult carpet beetles are most active. And it’s their breeding and egg-laying season too.

The black carpet beetles grow up to 3/16 inches in size. And they’re oval-shaped.

They don’t bite. And they don’t carry any diseases either.

However, the carpet beetle larvae are damaging pests that create irreparable holes in your woolen carpets, rugs, and even your expensive clothing.

Dirty clothes and bedsheets can also make the larvae chew on the stained and sullied portions.

If the carpet beetle larvae on your carpet crawl onto your skin, it can cause intense itching and irritation.

Given the scope of the damage that the larvae can cause, they’re one of the most dangerous bugs that can be in your house.

Also, carpet beetles are not just black. There are carpet beetles with white spots, known as varied carpet beetles.

Gnats

Gnats are tiny mosquito-like black flies that flock at the windows trying to make their way inside the house.

Either they’re chasing the light source from your house (which is a light bulb), or their numbers increased in your outdoors.

In the outdoors, gnats lay their eggs on wet soil beds, in decaying moist organic matter and compost piles.

These flies multiply fast. Their maturity period from larvae to adult flies is also small.

So, their numbers increase within weeks.

Gnats don’t bite humans. And they’ve got an erratic flying pattern, making them appear as jumping bugs rather than flies.

But when they enter their homes, it’s a complete disaster.

Gnats are so irritating. They’re in every room of your home, hovering around the light bulbs.

The worst part?

These tiny black flies can get inside refrigerators, coffee makers, and dishwashers.

There’s more.

Gnats can even cause an infestation inside your house. They’ll lay their eggs inside the clogged sink drains, on the soil beds of indoor potted plants, and in cat litter boxes.

That’s why the source of the gnats infestation is not just the decaying filth at your outdoors but also your home’s interiors.

Drain Flies

Drain flies are tiny gray flies that appear as black dots.

They gather on the windows because their numbers have exploded in your property.

However, their presence on your property and inside your home signifies one thing. There’s a waterlogging problem.

The wastes choking the drains are egg-laying grounds that enable the drain flies to breed profusely.

As per the University of Florida, the life span of drain flies is short, spanning only 21 days at max.

But drain flies multiply in large numbers. So, their death rate is always lesser than their birth rate.

Drain flies, like the fungus gnats, also lay their eggs in decaying, moist organic matter and the choked drains.

So, there can be a drain fly infestation right inside your home.

The gunk and sludge choking the sink drains are ideal homes for drain flies.

Drain flies, also known as moth flies, will lay their eggs in the choked drains because their larvae feed on the wastes blocking the drains.

You’ll notice drain flies from your bathroom and kitchen sink drain holes when the larvae mature into adults.

At times, the tiny whitish-black larvae of the drain flies can come out of the drain holes of your bathroom sink and appear on the shower grout and bathroom floor.

Drain flies are extremely unhygienic. It’s because they nest and feed on the filthiest of places.

In some properties, drain flies’ presence is a sign of a breakage in the sewer system. No wonder these flies are also known as sewer flies.

Ripe fruits and vegetables and your cooked food in the open draw the drain flies.

The drain flies’ bodies have pathogens that can transfer to your food. Those pathogens pose serious health risks.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes on window screens are common when there’s a mosquito problem in your neighborhood or on your property.

Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water.

So, if you’re seeing them in your house and hovering around the windows, you’ve issues with water logging and decaying organic waste.

The mosquito season is spring and summer. But mosquitoes can also be active during fall months when the source of infestation is still active.

Properties with a swimming pool, fountains, ponds, and lush green yards or gardens can have a mosquito problem because mosquitoes lay eggs in these places.

Catch basins, choked drains, waste bins with rotting wastes, decaying damp mulch beds, and other organic matters are also the source of mosquitoes.

There are no mosquito-borne diseases in the US. But as per the CDC, dangerous mosquitoes like the Asian tiger mosquito carrying disease vectors are active in the US.

Household Flies

There are many species of flies that gather near windows and enter homes.

The most widespread flies in homes are house flies, phorid flies, cluster flies, and fruit flies.

The source of these flies is outdoors.

These flies will lay their eggs on decaying organic matter, animal feces, wastes in the trash bins, and even on dead creatures.

Inside the house, these flies turn into a nuisance. The kitchen’s ripe fruits, vegetables, and food waste attract these flies.

All these flies carry pathogens that can transfer to your food and cause diseases like salmonella.

If you live in a barn or on a farm, then biting flies like horse flies and deer flies also use the windows to fly inside the houses.

Springtails

Springtails are the tiny black jumping bugs near windows. Springtails are harmless bugs, and they don’t bite.

Some springtails can also be white and in bright colors like yellow and blue.

Springtails feed on the decaying organic debris and the molds and fungi that form on the soil beds.

Springtails live in compost piles, damp soil beds, dense vegetation, leaf litter, mulch beds, and underneath stones, tree bark, and firewood piles.

Springtails are attracted to light.

So, springtails can jump and land on the windows if there’s a springtail habitat like dense vegetation or mulch beds along your home’s perimeter near the windowsills.

Springtails will look for damp places in your house to hide. So, they’ll go for the bathroom, basement, and laundry room.

Your home isn’t an ideal habitat for the springtails to live and breed. And they don’t cause any damage either.

But their presence inside the house can attract predators like spiders.

And springtails can also die of starvation inside the house. The dead springtails can also attract ants.

Booklice On Windowsills

Booklice are tiny brown bugs that live in the tree barks and moist wood outdoors.

These are tiny moisture bugs, and booklice can look like bed bugs on a casual look.

When the weather outdoors becomes too dry and hot, these harmless bugs try to make a move inside your home, looking for a damp place to live.

So, booklice will gather on the windowsills and near the home’s doors and windows.

Any thin gaps in the windows are enough for them to sneak inside the house.

These tiny bugs grow less than 5 mm in size and can be difficult to spot.

But once inside the house, their population skyrockets fast.

And they become noticeable on moldy surfaces like damp floors, walls, and on furniture like bed and couch.

Booklice also feed on the molds that form on cardboard boxes and books.

If booklice feed on the black molds, their color can change from brown to black.

And they can look like tiny grayish-black bugs in houses.

Silverfish in homes can also target your books. But booklice and silverfish don’t destroy your books as the termites do.

But unlike termites, booklice don’t eat wood.

Flea Beetles

Flea beetles are tiny black beetles that primarily infest vegetable gardens.

These beetles are plant pests. And they chew on the plant’s leaves and stems.

But their larvae are more damaging than adult flea beetles.

The larvae will create big holes in the leaves; unless controlled, they can inflict heavy damage on the vegetable plants.

An adult flea beetle’s size is between 1/16 and 1/8 inches. And they’re oval with shiny black bodies.

Flea beetles look like black carpet beetles to a novice.

But the elongated antennae and the extra sheen on their back are the two major differences between the flea beetles and carpet beetles.

Flea beetles are good jumpers. Some will jump over to the windowsills when they’re on the plants bordering your windows.

Flea beetles can even get inside the house through the open windows.

But flea beetles are harmless bugs. They don’t bite.

Flea beetles cannot survive for long inside the house because it’s not their habitat.

Boxelder Bugs

Boxelder bugs are tiny black bugs with red or orange lines on their backs.

These bugs are active during the spring and summer months. And their size varies between 0.25 inches and 0.5 inches.

Boxelder bugs will gather on the windowsills or near the windows during late fall, especially when the window gets direct sunlight.

During the winter, you’ll notice boxelder bugs near the windows basking in the sunlight.

But it’s not that they’re taking a sun bath before winter arrives.

They’re waiting to find any thin crevice in the windows or walls to enter the house.

Boxelder bugs become desperate to enter human homes during the late fall because they look for a warm place to spend their winters.

That’s why, if there are too many boxelder bugs in your outdoors, then they can sneak inside the houses.

Therefore, it’s important to get rid of boxelder bugs before they invade the house.

Boxelder bugs will not cause any damage inside the house.

But like the stink bugs, boxelder bugs can also emit a stench if you smash them or disturb them.

That’s their defense mechanism.

Winged Ants

Winged ants are the reproductives that leave their old colonies to find a place to build their new colonies.

These ants, also known as alates, are attracted to light.

And during the swarming seasons, between spring and summer, flying ants can invade your house through the windows.

The flying ants will chase the light source from your house.

That’s why evening hours are the most common time of the day when these ants can fly inside the house.

If the windows are closed, you’ll notice these flying ants flocking on the window glass.

Flying ants can also crawl.

So, some flying ants will crawl inside the house through the gaps in the windowsills and frames.

Once inside, these ants will mate, lose their wings, and the queen ants will hide in the house to lay eggs and start an infestation.

The male ants die.

So, you will see broken wings and dead flying ants if they’ve made their way inside the house through the windows.

Winged Termites

Like the winged ants, winged termites also leave their old colonies to start a new ones.

The termite swarm can fly inside the house through the open windows.

And they follow the same mating procedure as the winged ants.

However, the queen termites can drill inside the windowsills and begin an infestation!

All termite species swarm. However, the drywood termite swarm can be the riskiest for your home.

It’s because they attack the structural lumber of your home and the roofs too.

The flying termites will flock to the windows and try their best to make a move inside the house.

How To Get Rid Of Tiny Bugs On Windows

Removing the bug’s sources in your property and closing the gaps in the windows are keys to preventing bugs from using your windows to invade your house.

So, begin with removing wastes and stagnant water sources in your yard.

Fix any water leaks and clogged drains in your home and property to ensure that flies like gnats and phorid flies don’t use them to lay their eggs.

Ensure that there are no organic wastes like leaf litter, rotting wood pieces, trash in the garbage bins, and tree stumps in your yard or garden.

These are all egg-laying grounds for flies, roaches, and many other insects.

And removing them goes a long way to controlling pests and keeping bugs away from the house.

Remove vegetation touching the windows.

Bugs use them to reach your home’s windows and sneak inside the house.

Also, if there’s a mulch bed along the home’s perimeter, replace it with mulch that repels bugs.

Use Epsom salt or diatomaceous earth on the wet soil beds, firewood piles, and compost piles.

Both are desiccants, killing bugs like fungus gnats and their larvae that inhabit these places.

You can also plant-safe insecticide sprays on these places.

Install window screens with fine mesh on the windows, especially during the spring and summer.

Many insects and flies are active during these periods.

Also, seal all the gaps and tiny holes in the windows, especially on the windowsills and door frames.

These cracks are the primary entry points for bugs that gather near windows.

Light sources from your home attract bugs to your windows.

So, use bug-repelling light bulbs for the patio, doorway, and terrace in your outdoors. It’ll prevent bugs and flies that are attracted to light.

You can also install bug zappers near the windows to electrocute any flies that try to make a move inside your home through the windows.

Spraying repellants like peppermint oil will immensely help you.

Bugs hate the peppermint smell. And if your windows smell of peppermint, then they’ll avoid the windows.

Conclusion

Dry weather, change in temperature, and the overpopulation of bugs in your yard can make bugs appear on the windows. 

Many bugs and flies are attracted to light. So, they’ll flock to the windows trying to make their way inside the house to reach the light source.

These tiny bugs near windows will use the thin gaps and cracks on the windowsills to make their way inside the house. 

Any bug, like pill bugs and rice weevils, can sneak inside the house through the windows.

However, some bugs are more prone to sneak inside. This guide revealed 13 of those bugs.

It also has proven methods that you can use to make these bugs avoid your home’s windows.

However, if there’s a severe bug infestation on your property, it’ll be best to hire professional pest control services to remove them.