I live in Queens, NY and I moved into a new condo this year. It is on the 4th floor. When the weather started to get hot, these tiny black insects started appearing at night near my light. They are very small, ranging from maybe about 1-2mm. I usually see them crawl on the ceiling around the light. The few I found not on the ceiling would seem to hop around when I tried to squish them. I’ve resorted to vacuuming them whenever I see them. I vacuum maybe 20 or so throughout the night.
The other night I tried spraying Ortho Home Defense Max on all my windows, but it didn’t seem to prevent them from showing up. I’m not really sure where they actually come from though. I have even resorted to keeping my windows closed, but that doesn’t seem to prevent it either.
They don’t seem to show up in any of the other rooms of my condo in large numbers, just my bedroom. There is a large terrace right outside of my room that used to leak into the apartment down below so they re-did the water sealing stuff (tar?) but haven’t put in new tiles yet.
Here is a picture: http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7295/whatisit.jpg
Based on the photo, it would appear you are seeing springtails. The photo in one our recent posts sure looks like an exact match of the photo link you sent:
These guys love moisture and will commonly infest flat roof tops, decks, patios and from there make their way inside. To get rid of them will mean having to treat the terrace with some of the products listed in our SPRINGTAIL CONTROL ARTICLE. As you’ll learn in our article, the only way to get rid of this pest is by treating them where they’re nesting.
Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:
Springtail Control Article: http://www.bugspray.com/article/springtail.html
Springtail Control Post: https://www.bugspray.net/blog/springtail-infestations-and-where-to-treat.html
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