I'm sitting at work. Five, I think, that makes five.

Because yesterday had been an extremely dreary day that prompted my officemate to turn on the fluorescent lights, I brought in two spare floor lamps from home. One of them I had received just a week ago from my mother when she moved out of her apartment.

In the middle of the morning, I noticed two very small…caterpillars? larvae? hanging from my mother's lamp on silken threads. There's small, brown-black, and seem to sort of half-walk half-hop. I caught them with my empty water cup, and rinsed them down the sink.

Now, I like nature, and care for it, but I prefer to keep bugs outside, where they belong. I don't think they'd survive long outside - temperatures have been dipping nightly to the frost point.

Later, I noticed a third one crawling on the lightbulb of said lamp. I disposed of it in a similar manner, wondering if was related to/the larval form of carpet beetles perhaps?

Not too long ago, one used its silk to slide down the side of my monitor. I asked around a bit about it, but no one knew what they were. My officemate is gone for the day. It met a similar fate.

Now there's a fifth. I'm worried that I've just infested the office. Those in high command are gone. Do I kill the fifth one, or is it futile?


Reading the writeup about the carpet beetle, it doesn't sound like it -- it isn't hairy. At the same time, I figure each one gone is one less thing to deal with. Instead of sending this one down the porcelain rapids, I decide to smash it with a heavy object. Odd. It has orange-red blood.

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