Help with an insect
For about 10 years I have seen the attached bug in my basement where our animal hospital is. We see them in the spring/summer/fall, possibly one a day, maybe less. They are now showing upstairs in the house. This one "bug" was in the kitchen (it's slightly squished explaining the entrails out the back), but last week my daughter had one in bed with her, and then recently, I had 2 in my bedroom the same night - one woke me up crawling on my face, and after I flushed it down the toilet, I found a second on the rug by my bed "bug length." They are 2 cm long - don't fly, just crawl.
Howard County Maryland
2 Responses
This is a false bombadier beetle, a type of ground beetle. Since it is a predator of insects, try to eliminate its food sources indoors. That may entail lots of cleaning to remove whatever is attracting other species of insects.
Since this is an animal hospital, and you probably don't want to be applying toxic chemicals indoors, use sticky traps (such as those used for cockroaches), where applying insecticides is unhealthy. You could consider applying a perimeter insecticide.
Here is a good, general page about false bombadier beetles: https://uwm.edu/field-station/false-bombardier-beetle-redux/ They have evolved quite effective weapons.
Ellen
