To be freaked out and never want to cook again?

[TimTheCircle]

Hoping my picture attaches.

2 days ago I found a gone of bag of potatoes hiding behind the cat food.
Swiftly removed but notice tiny little white speckles in the kitchen.

To my horror I then noticed they were MOVING!

Have cleared our any open food, bleached the entire kitchen, rewashed pots but they are still appearing. Mainly on glasses or cups left out, the kettle, the slow cooker, the vinegar bottle.

What in the hell are they? Why are they taking over my kitchen? And please please please, how can I get rid of them.

Not had a brew all day as just the thought shudder

Potato mites? Are they a thing?

I guess I've assumed they are related to the potatoes as I can't think of anything else.

Is it dry cat food?
If so they might be in that.

It was behind a box of sealed cat pouches although there is a box of biscuits which I will check before giving any to the cat.

A good clean of the cupboads and you should be fine.

Do you have a close up? Some of that just looks like fluff or casings?

Have you got an iPhone? Click the home button three times and get the magnifier on the little buggers for a good pic

Think it might be mould mites, my friend had a spare room that wasn’t used and when she went in, there was a lot of mould and those tiny white things were all over the walls.

I, for one, welcome our Tiny White Speckle Overlords.

The lower cupboards do smell damp, but I've lived here a year and never had them before.

I don't have an iPhone but will see if I can zoom in any.

I can't hold my phone steady enough for the focus, but seeing them zoomed in scurrying about has turned my stomach.

They are not even paying rent ffs!

Yep,I think mould mites too. Type these into YouTube and see if they're like yours, OP. Once you've confirmed, lots of websites will tell you how to get rid. Seems like the water damage needs to be dealt with first or they'll keep returning.

They're mold mites, presumably from the moldy potatoes unless there is dampness elsewhere? An insecticide would get rid of them, obviously after removing all the flood/utensils etc from the kitchen before using it, and giving it a thorough deep clean afterwards to ensure all trace of it is gone.

Is there an insecticide I can use that is safe for pets?

I don't think you need to use insecticide for mites, any household cleaner and hot water will do the job, or do you have a steam cleaner?

They are mould mites. And I know how you feel!

We got them when dh put off emptying our wet/dry hoover too long. It had to be binned, along with everything else that had them crawling all over.

Throw as much as possible away, straight in a black bag and in to the outside.bin. Use Dettol spray/wipes immediately and regularly. If done thoroughly, you shouldn't see any more after about 4 days from the first clean.

A) burn house down and move countries.
B) a bucket of bleachy hot water and rubber gloves and absolutely attack the whole area twice. I would probably spray the hell out of it with a spray applicator first, then scrub.
If that fails, see option A)
Ugh. I feel for you

I had this a few months ago. Before we went on a 3 week holiday I made sure I took the bins out, emptied the fridge of any food that would go off while we were away and felt very smug. But i forgot the bag of potatoes hidden away in a dark cupboard. We live in a hot country and it was the middle of summer, it couldn't have been hotter. so when we came back home after 3 weeks there was a horrendous smell and I couldn't wrk out where it came from until I opened my spice cupboard (where I also keep the potatoes). I found brown sludge covering the shelf and wriggly little maggot things (smaller than maggots but otherwise pretty much the same) amongst almost liquidised potatoes 🤢. They managed to get into a lot of my spice packets so had to bin the lot , and clearing it up had me retching. Even though it's been bleached numerous times over the last 6 months there is still a sight smell in there that I can't get rid of. Luckily though we got rid of those horrendous maggot things and haven't seen them since. I think they might be fruit fly larvae as the minute our bananas start turning brown we are inundated with the little fly fuckers buzzing around the fruit bowl so we have to eat fruit up quick now before they invade. So you have my sympathy, but not sure what else you can do except clean and bleach what you can until they go.

You could use a pet flea spray, Indorex or similar, but make sure you don't put anything back in there for a while, give it time to work and then wash it off.

I used it in a rental when we had unwelcome guests in the kitchen cupboards, not sure what they were now as the entire house had various bugs in it, grain moths or weevils or something, have forgotten.

I emptied the cupboards, cleaned then out with bleach, sprayed them and shut the doors for a few days, then opened and aired them. Finally another clean, aired again and put stuff back. They went.