Knowing the standard look of sesame seeds may come in handy when identifying a potential bug infestation. Sesame seeds are tiny, with a flattened pear shape. They can be red, tan, black, white, or brown. In the USA, the popular sesame seeds appear pearly or creamy white.
Deer ticks, bed bugs, and aphids are some of the most common bugs which lay eggs that look like sesame seeds. Like most bug eggs, tiny sesame seeds are pearl or off-white and range from 2.5mm to 4.0mm long.
It is usually difficult to know if there is a problem because bug eggs are really tiny. Unearthing the presence of bugs may also be hindered by a lack of a bite reaction. If you have a rash, it is tough to know whether you have an infection or the exact insect that caused the bite.
Types of bug eggs that resemble sesame seeds
Finding what appears like sesame seeds attached to your bed, cushions, couches, or the joint between the ceiling and wall, may point to a bug problem. Bug eggs that look like sesame seeds may come from:
1. Bed bugs
As nocturnal insects, bed bugs revel in feasting on your blood as you sleep. The parts of your skin often exposed to bites are your hands and arms. Bites on your skin are not a clear indicator that your home faces a bed bug infestation since you may not know if bed bugs or other bugs bit you.
However, eggs that resemble sesame seeds in your home are a reliable sign of a bed bug issue. Female bed bugs lay many eggs, about one to seven eggs daily. Although the eggs are visible to your naked eye, you may have difficulty recognizing them if you do not know how they look.
Comparison
Apart from looking like sesame seeds, bed bug eggs usually have a glue-like substance that attaches them to different surfaces. Because bed bugs are good at hiding, there is a high chance of finding the tiny, whitish bed bug eggs in your home’s hiding spots like smaller crevices.
Egg-laying bed bugs tend to move around a lot, leading to a higher possibility of spreading an infestation in a house.
If the bed bug eggs are more than five days old, you will see that they have small black spots.
Prevention and control of bed bugs at home may include:
- Frequently wash and heat dry your blankets and bedspreads.
- The use of a bed bug encasement. That makes it harder for the bugs to come into contact with your skin and feed on your blood as you sleep.
- Exterminating the bed bugs by exposing them to high temperatures. If the body temperature of a bed bug reaches above 45°C, it will die.
- Hiring a professional bed bug removal expert.
2. Deer tick
Also known as the black-legged tick, the deer tick is another type of bug that lays eggs with the shape and appearance of sesame seeds. You can recognize deer ticks by their black legs.
The distribution of the insect depends greatly on its reproductive host, which is the white-tailed deer or Virginia deer. The deer tick is mostly found in the USA’s central, southern, and northeast regions.
The tick is of concern in the medical field as it causes numerous health issues, including Lyme disease.
For home removal and control of black-legged ticks:
- Keep the grass in different parts of your home cut and short all the time so that there are no hiding spots for bugs.
- Remove debris and other spots that provide a perfect nesting area for deer ticks and other bugs.
- Ensure the lids of garbage cans are properly secured. That may help prevent hosts of deer ticks from coming into your yard and triggering a bug infestation and spread.
- Wearing light-colored clothing may make it easier to spot a bug attack.
- Do not often allow your pets, like cats, to wander around since they may easily be exposed to attacks by deer ticks.
- Remove a tick attached to you or on another surface using tweezers and kill it via exposure to high temperatures or harsh chemicals.
3. Aphids
Aphids belong to a group of bugs that are soft-bodied and like sap-sucking. You can easily spot aphids and their eggs looking like sesame seeds on the plants in your yard. The color of aphids depends on the plants they feed on and their particular species. An aphid may appear yellowish, greenish, brownish, blackish, or reddish.
The pests pose a serious problem to plants. For instance, a plant dealing with an aphid attack may be deformed, have viral diseases, and experience stunted growth.
When the aphids are in large numbers in a plant, they may excrete large quantities of a sticky substance called honeydew. The substance may turn black with time, which fuels sooty mold growth.
Bugs do not feed on animals and humans. And since aphids only attack your plants at home, it is easy to get rid of them. You can control and get rid of aphids by:
- Spraying your plants with a high-pressure water stream. If you have delicate or younger plants, do not subject them to the high pressure of water to avoid their damage.
- Wear your garden gloves and remove the aphids from plants with your hand. Ensure the aphids find themselves in a bucket with a treatment solution like soapy water. Alternatively, prune off or remove the parts infected with aphids and put them into your bucket with a treatment.
- Employ the use of natural predators for aphids. Birds, green lacewings, and lady beetles can feed on aphids, so they do not pose a problem to your plants.
- Grow plants that attract predators of aphids, such as garlic, onion, and clover.
Do flea eggs look like sesame seeds?
Flea eggs look like sesame seeds. Therefore, you should understand how sesame seeds look to be able to identify flea eggs. The body segments of fleas that are dried out also usually look like sesame seeds.
Do bed bug eggs look like sesame seeds?
Bed bug eggs look like sesame seeds to the human eye. If you see something appearing like sesame seeds on any surface, like your bed, that may indicate an ongoing bed bug attack in your home.
If the “sesame seeds” are not glued to a surface using a substance, what you see may have nothing to do with bed bug eggs.
What is the bug that looks like a black sesame seed?
In most cases, bugs that look like black sesame seeds are bedbugs. If you recognize something appearing like sesame seeds, but you are sure it is not, you may be dealing with bed bug eggs.
On the other hand, when you spot a brown and seed-like something moving, that may be an adult bedbug. You can get bed bugs from hugging, sitting, or sleeping in an infested seat or bed.
In conclusion, always look for bug eggs and other signs of bug infestation in your house. That may help you avoid having to deal with a difficult or costly problem in the long term. It is also important to know the size of a sesame seed and what it looks like. This helps in telling the difference between the seeds and bug eggs.
Calina Mabel has over 15 years of experience in the field of journalism and communications. Currently, Calina Mabel is the Content Writer for categories such as Cockroach, Ants, Bed Bugs, Mosquito, Rodent, Termite, and Flies on Pestweek.com. She aims to build content for these categories with a focus on providing valuable and accessible information to readers, in order to create the world’s largest knowledge community about Pests.
All content written by Calina Mabel has been reviewed by Emily Carter.