Mites

What Do Mites Look Like?

Most mites look like a moving speck of dust or pepper. Adults are usually less than 1 mm long, which is smaller than a pinhead. You need a magnifying glass or a zoomed-in phone photo to see the legs. Up close, a mite looks like a tiny, round spider. It has one blob of a body, no waist, no wings, and no antennae.

Four things tell you you’re looking at a mite:

• Adults have eight legs. Mites are arachnids, like spiders and ticks. They are not insects, which have six legs. Baby mites (larvae) hatch with only six legs and add the last pair after their first molt.
• The body is one rounded piece. An insect has three body parts. A mite’s body is fused into a single oval, so you can’t see a head, chest, and belly.
• There are no antennae. The mouthparts sit on a small knob up front. On clover mites, the long front legs stick out ahead of the body and get mistaken for antennae.
• The color points to the type. Red-brown mites on a sunny windowsill are almost always clover mites. White or see-through mites in flour or pet food are storage mites. Gray mites that turn dark red after a meal are rat or bird mites.

There are about 55,000 named species of mites, and the true number may top one million, according to the Acari overview in the USDA-supported invasive mite identification key. Most adults are under 1 mm. A few, like velvet mites, are big enough to spot from across the patio.

Types of Mites: Identification Chart

Where you found the mite narrows it down faster than anything else. Start with the “Where you find them” column.

Mite	Color and size	Where you find them	Bite people?
Clover mites	Red-brown, about 0.8 mm, long front legs	Sunny walls, windowsills, patios in spring and fall	No
Chiggers (harvest mites)	Orange to light red, smaller than 0.2 mm	Tall grass, weeds, and brush in summer	Yes
Velvet mites	Bright red, fuzzy, 2 mm or more	Soil, patios, and leaf litter	No
Rodent mites	Gray, then dark red after feeding, about 1 mm	Near old mouse or rat nests, after the rodents die or leave	Yes
Bird mites	Gray to red-black, under 1 mm	Near bird nests in eaves, vents, and chimneys	Yes, when the birds leave
Oak mites and straw itch mites	Nearly invisible	Under oak trees in late summer; in straw, hay, and grain	Yes
Storage mites and grain mites	White to clear, 0.2 to 0.5 mm	Flour, cereal, pet food, and damp shelves	No
Dust mites	White, about 0.3 mm, too small to see	Beds, pillows, carpet, and couches	No (allergy trigger)
Spider mites	Red, yellow, or green, about 0.4 mm	Under leaves of houseplants and shrubs, with fine webbing	No
Scabies mites	Microscopic	Burrowed in human skin	Yes (see a doctor)
Ear mites and fur mites	White, tiny	On cats, dogs, and rabbits	Pets (see a vet)

Common Types of Mites, by Where You Find Them

Every species below has its own ID page with photos in the species list at the bottom of this page.

Mites That Come Into the House From Outside

• Clover mites are the mites homeowners in our area see the most. They pour off the lawn onto warm walls and get in around windows. They don’t bite, but a crushed one leaves a red smear.
• Velvet mites are the big, fuzzy red ones. They hunt other small bugs in soil and leaf litter, and they don’t bother people.
• Winter grain mites are black with red-orange legs. They feed on cool-season lawns in late fall and winter.
• “Concrete mites” isn’t a real species. It’s the name people give the red specks running across patios and sidewalks, and our concrete mites guide explains what they usually turn out to be.

Mites That Bite People

• Chiggers, also called harvest mites, are the classic summer biters. Only the larvae bite. They are orange to light red and less than 1/150 of an inch across. They bite where clothing is tight, like sock lines and waistbands. They don’t burrow or drink blood, but the bites “itch intensely for several days,” says Iowa State University Extension.
• Oak mites (oak leaf itch mites) feed on tiny fly larvae in pin oak leaf galls. They drop out of the trees from late July into fall and can blow a long way on the wind. In late July 2021, University of Maryland Extension got reports of red, itchy bites across the DMV. The bites showed up on the neck, shoulders, and chest 10 to 16 hours after people spent time under oaks.
• Straw itch mites and other itch mites live in straw, hay, and stored grain. Handling straw bales, hay, or stored grain is the usual way people get bitten.
• Scabies mites burrow into human skin. That’s a medical problem, not a pest control one.

Mites That Come From Rodents and Birds

• Rodent mites include the tropical rat mite and the house mouse mite. The tropical rat mite is about 0.03 inch long, roughly the thickness of a credit card. It looks gray before it feeds and yellow to dark red after. Bites usually start after rats are killed off and the mites go looking for a new meal, according to the University of Kentucky.
• Bird mites, chicken mites, and northern fowl mites live in nests. They come inside when baby birds leave a nest in a vent, gutter, or attic. The same Kentucky fact sheet says chicken mites look like “a speck of black pepper” and bite people mostly at night.

None of these mites can breed on people. That’s why removing the host animal and its nest is always step one.

Mites in Food and Stored Products

• Pantry mites, grain mites, flour mites, and storage mites are pale mites that build up in old flour, cereal, and dry pet food. A big group looks like light brown dust that moves.
• Cheese mites show up on aged cheese and other high-protein stored foods.

They all do best in damp conditions. Toss what’s infested, wipe the shelf, and keep dry goods in sealed containers.

Mites in Dust and Bedding

Dust mites are too small to see, and they don’t bite. They eat flakes of dead skin in beds, carpet, and couches. The problem is allergy: the American Lung Association calls them one of the major indoor triggers for asthma. It says about four out of five U.S. homes have dust mite allergens in at least one bed. Keeping indoor humidity under 50% and washing bedding weekly in water at 120°F or hotter does more than any spray.

Mites on Plants and in the Garden

• Spider mites and two-spotted spider mites suck juice from leaves and leave fine webbing and pale speckles.
• Southern red mites hit azaleas, hollies, and camellias. Spruce spider mites go after spruce, arborvitae, and juniper in the cool months.
• European red mites, broad mites, rust mites, and bulb mites are crop and garden pests that rarely come inside.
• Predatory mites are the good guys. They eat spider mites, and gardeners buy them on purpose.

Mites on Pets and Bees

Ear mites, fur mites (also called Cheyletiella mites), sarcoptic mange mites, and notoedric mange mites live on dogs, cats, and rabbits. Those need a vet. Varroa mites and tracheal mites attack honey bees, so they matter to beekeepers, not homeowners.

Mites in the House: Which One Do You Have?

If you’re seeing tiny mites inside, match what you see to one of these:

• Tiny red or brown specks on a sunny windowsill in April or October: clover mites.
• Bites at night after you got rid of mice or rats: rodent mites.
• Bites at night after birds nested in a vent or gutter: bird mites.
• Itchy welts on your neck and shoulders after sitting under an oak in August: oak mites.
• Itchy red bumps at the sock line or waistband after yard work: chiggers.
• Light brown “moving dust” on flour, cereal, or pet food: storage or grain mites.
• Sneezing and a stuffy nose, but no bugs you can see: dust mites.

To get a closer look, press a strip of clear tape on a few, stick it to white paper, and zoom in with your phone. Count the legs. Six legs means an insect (or a baby mite). Eight legs and no antennae means a mite, a tick, or a tiny spider. A clover mite’s front legs are much longer than the rest and point forward “like antennae as the mites crawl,” per the Maine Department of Agriculture.

Clover Mites: The Mite We See Most in Northern Virginia

In my experience, there’s a window of a few weeks each spring and fall around DC when clover mite calls spike. When someone tells me they have mites, it’s almost always clover mites and rarely chiggers. Customers usually see them on the sunny side of the house. One homeowner told me they smushed easily on her patio when anyone stepped on them and left a red mess.

That timing matches the research. Ohio State University Extension says clover mites invade from mid-April through mid-June and again from mid-October through December. They gather on the south, southwest, and east sides of a building. Clover mites also don’t need males to breed. The females lay eggs on their own, which is how the numbers jump so fast.

Daren, one of our registered technicians, saw the worst case either of us can remember. The customer had an off-white stone patio so covered that it looked like a moving sea of red. Her daughter’s wedding was coming up, so he went back week after week for three or four weeks. He even treated the whole yard the way he would for a mosquito job. Daren says clover mites “really pop after the lawn guys pump the yard with nitrogen” fertilizer. Ohio State says the same thing: most outbreaks happen in May next to well-fertilized lawns. He also says that nine times out of ten, the customer thinks they’re ticks.

Here’s what actually works:

1. Clear a bare strip. Pull grass and weeds back to leave a strip 18 to 24 inches wide along the foundation. Fill it with gravel or bark (Ohio State’s advice).
2. Treat the perimeter and the lawn edge. Our clover mite treatment covers the foundation plus the first 1 to 2 feet of lawn, mostly on the sunny side, with a non-repellent product. A non-repellent is one the mites can’t sense, so they walk through it. Most homes settle down in one or two services.
3. Vacuum the ones inside. Don’t wipe or crush them. That’s how you get the red stain.
4. Talk to your lawn company. The mites breed in the turf, so ask them to treat the yard itself and go easy on spring nitrogen.

Which Mites We Treat (and Which We Don’t)

• Clover mites: yes. They’re part of our regular home pest plan.
• Rodent mites: we fix the cause. The mites go away once the mice or rats and their nests are gone. Kentucky’s fact sheet says mite control is only temporary until the rodents are gone. Our rodent control handles that part.
• Bird mites: we don’t handle birds or nests. A wildlife company should remove the nest and close the opening.
• Dust mites, scabies, and pet mites: call your doctor, allergist, or vet. These aren’t pest control problems.
• Plant mites: a lawn or tree care company with a miticide program is the right call.

Health Note

Some mites can bite or cause allergic reactions. If you have health concerns about mites, please talk to a doctor. This page is for general information only and is not medical advice.

Related Reading

• What Are the Tiny Red Bugs? - Identify the small red crawlers on your windows and walls.
• Clover Mites vs. Chiggers - How to tell the harmless red mite from the one that bites.
• What Attracts Clover Mites to DC Homes - Conditions that draw clover mites to your property.
• Clover Mites in House: Removal Guide - How to handle a clover mite invasion indoors.
• Concrete Mites: Identification & Treatment - Red mites on patios and sidewalks explained.
• Are Arachnids Insects? - Why mites and spiders belong to a different class than insects.

References

• Acari (Mites) Overview - Invasive Mite Identification Key, USDA Identification Technology Program
• Clover Mites - Ohio State University Extension
• Clover Mites - Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
• Bird and Rodent Mites - University of Kentucky Entomology
• Oak Leaf Itch Mites and Periodical Cicada Eggs - University of Maryland Extension
• Chiggers - Iowa State University Extension
• Dust Mites - American Lung Association