What is this bug called - Ask Extension
We just bought a new house and have been finding these every day inside. Can you please help us identify it?
Knowledgebase
What is this bug called #796648
Asked June 18, 2022, 9:51 PM EDT
We just bought a new house and have been finding these every day inside. Can you please help us identify it?
Olmsted County Minnesota
Expert Response
This appears to be a fowl tick. Do you have chickens, ducks or geese nearby? Did you bring in wood that could have harbored them? I have asked our entomology expert for confirmation. If I find out differently I will let you know. See: http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/fowl-ticks
Our expert identified this as a bat tick. This is what he had to say:
“This is a bat tick, Ornithodoros kelleyi. They can sometimes get into homes when people have bats in their attics. They normally bite only bats, but on rare occasions, they will bite people, such as when they accidentally stray away from their bat hosts, or when bats have been driven away and excluded from attics where they used to roost.See: https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/insect/indoor/beetles/medium/battick.html
They are not known to transmit diseases to humans. If you keep finding them in your home, you likely have a bat colony in your house, or very close by.”