tiny little bugs in kitchen . . . ?

We've discovered some tiny little bugs crawling on our pans in one of the bottom shelves (near the floor) in our kitchen. They are gray-ish and move very slowly. They're not in the food, it seems, and there aren't a lot of them. But I've not seen them anywhere before, and needless to say, they're a bit disconcerting. Anyone have any clues?

thanks

RH

Have you brought in any fresh veg recently?  I once had something similar and they were teeny little bugs brought in on a beetroot.  We had to vaccum them up eventually.

Could be the same thing, could be different.  Tiny, gray, slow bugs isn't a lot to go on. 

I think you are suggesting larva of some sort (don't want to say the 'm' word).....if so they can be challenging...

Bug spray and patience....

the eggs are probably behind the kitchen unit, and they will continue to crawl out as they hatch.

England needs screens...

Could they be woodlice or woodlice larvae?

My guess is that they are book-lice or similar (Liposcelis spp.)  You say you found them in your pan cupboard, near the floor... in the UK they are often reported from locations like this.  Are your kitchen cabinets made of older, chipboard/composite type material that might be damp in places?  Because that would be an ideal habitat for book-lice or similar species, they can live on the glues that are used in the manufacture of composite boards.  (Just like book-lice eat the glues in a book's binding.)

I assume they are completely harmless.  Me, I wouldn't have noticed them.  I avoid wearing glasses in the kitchen!!

I should give some sense of the scale: they are about a millimeter in length. They crawl around at a fairly good pace in a directed way, but they don't fly. Looking at a magnified version of a photo I took, they appear to be oblong (one end narrower than the other), and they could be described as black. Based on the photos of wood lice I've seen online, I think we do have wood lice in the house elsewhere, but those are about 7 mm in length and tend to be isolated. These are in groups (rather more than I originally suggested). What's odd is that they are attracted by our cooking pans - i.e. they're not on the cupboard surface - traces of oil, I suppose (?).

sonofasailor: they don't look like larva to me, which I would expect to just wriggle and not crawl in a directed way like these. By 'm' word do you mean maggot? Wouldn't that be white, anyway? And somewhat larger than these, I think.

I should give some sense of the scale: they are about a millimeter in length. They crawl around at a fairly good pace in a directed way, but they don't fly. Looking at a magnified version of a photo I took, they appear to be oblong (one end narrower than the other), and they could be described as black. Based on the photos of wood lice I've seen online, I think we do have wood lice in the house elsewhere, but those are about 7 mm in length and tend to be isolated. These are in groups (rather more than I originally suggested). What's odd is that they are attracted by our cooking pans - i.e. they're not on the cupboard surface - traces of oil, I suppose (?).

sonofasailor: they don't look like larva to me, which I would expect to just wriggle and not crawl in a directed way like these. By 'm' word do you mean maggot? Wouldn't that be white, anyway? And somewhat larger than these, I think.

Yup-- sound like booklice. 1mm is about right for them.  We used to have them on some decorative table mats we used in the dining room, they were made of raffia or some similar straw-like material.

OK - so if they're booklice, how do I get rid of them?!

RH

Starting to answer my own question:

http://www.northampton.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=251&pageNumber=1

Starting to answer my own question:

http://www.northampton.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=251&pageNumber=1

We put the place mats in the freezer for a while - No more book-lice.  I see that is one of the strategies recommended in this very good help sheet from Northampton that you link to.