Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The “bug guy” stopped by this morning. It is, indeed, a clover mite. Had we just consulted our marking/binding supervisor, Deb, we could have skipped consulting with our pest control contractor. When I told her about the clover mite, she said, “oh, yeah, my grandkids love them. They like to squish them and see the sidewalk turn red.” It’s all in knowing whom to ask! Probably most gardners would know that our bug was a clover mite.

The biggest danger to our books is that these bugs do easily squish and leave a red stain. We are monitoring the books. So far, nothing. Since they don’t breed in or munch on books, the books will go back to the processing area tomorrow.

Our pest control contractor told us that there are lots of these clover mites just outside the dock door and outside the south Main Library entrance. They either came in along with our box of books or rode in on the student who found them.

A careful observer — which I, obviously, am not — can see these little critters in the flowers just outside the library.