Sup /an/, I was wondering if any of you knew what animal this was. (Yes I tried Google, you guys are my last resort.) I was about use my new paint brushes I bought a month ago when I pulled them out, and sitting on the brush was this tiny black and orange caterpillar type animal. I only ask because my brushes have been sitting in my bottom drawer for a month in complete darkness. I think I disturbed him because he's crawling around now. I want to put him back in the draw but I don't know if he'll grow into some penis eating butterfly or something. Thanks for reading, I'll post more pics of him as he goes about his night.
Brown recluse.
I'll try and get a better quality picture. My camera is pretty fucky.
UPDATE: He's gone into hiding underneath the label, because he probably hates the light. There seems to be tiny specs sprinkled throughout the packet, like tiny ant eggs or something. I'll try and get him out of the packet safely to see better.
I'm unsure what it was so I just put it back in the draw with a couple of paint brushes and whatever those eggs/dirt was. The sprinkles kind of looked like when my cat would get dirty and I'd pat her for ages and she'd leave a bunch of white dots all over my lap. Anyway I'll just let nature take its course.
>>2084106
>tiny specs
Probably poop
Does it look like this? If so, it has been munching on the bristles of your brushes. If not, I dunno what it is without a better pic
>>2084101
Pretty sure it's some kind of dermestid, like >>2084109
said.
I'm currently raising a few I caught in my pantry. Even though I started with just two larva, they are multiplying pretty quickly.
They are considered pests, so you may not want to let it roam freely in your home. If you don't want to kill it, you can just put it in an enclosure with some food(I'm using dried meat and dog pellets), like I did with mine. When the climate gets a bit more arthropod-friendly, I guess they can be safely put outside.
Also, I'm pretty sure those "eggs" are just excrements. Only adult insects should lay eggs, and only after copulating with another beetle.
>>2084109
>>2084110
Sorry I almost abandoned thread, I could bring him back out for a better pic. He's black and orange, and I hadn't considered the specs being excrement. I don't want to kill any animal even if it is a pest, I accidentally washed a tiny spider down the sink the other day and felt really sad for it. I'll pull him out of retirement one more time for a photo shoot.
There are loose bristles everywhere in the packet so he probably was feeding on them. He's hiding deeper into the bristles so I think he hates light. I'll move him back into his home now.
>>2084119
Nice. About how big is it? Longer than one centimeter? Also, can you see any empty moults in the drawer? It could help with identification, since dermestid larvae moult a lot.
>>2084121
I couldn't identify any moults but I'd say he was just longer than one centimetre, but I didn't measure him, I just looked at a ruler after you mentioned that. I disturbed him twice and I'm unsure about getting him back out. This is the drawer he was living in, it's my arts and crafts draw. There was wrapping paper too but it fell behind the drawer when I was looking for moults. The back right corner is where I found my brushes. I should also mention I live in Australia, in Northern Queensland, where it's very humid most of the time here. At the moment we're going through a little wet season but it's ending soon. I hope that information helps. You've helped me more than any other source so far, I'll look into dermestids now.
>>2084121
Yeah it must be a dermestid larvae because this Google image looks a lot like the one in my brushes. I almost want to make him my pet now that I have an idea of what he is. Thanks for your help too, I really appreciate it.
>>2084128
No problem. Good luck trying to keep it. Since it's alone, you shouldn't have to worry too much about it having offspring, either.
