Creepy Crawlers In Your House

You know they're there when holes appear in your favourite woolly jumper. But you don't often get a close-up look at the millions of creepy crawlies that lurk in your wardrobes, nest in your carpet and scoff through your food. These 150-times zoomed 3D photographs show the insects that are rife throughout your house during the summer months.

A bug's life: 'Macro' photographer Stephen Gschmeissner used a scanning electron micrograph to create this 3D image of a common furniture beetle emerging from a wooden hole

Retired scientist and specialist up-close, or 'macro' photographer, Stephen Gschmeissner, 62, from Bedford turned a £100,000 electron microscope onto the bugs to create an incredible photo-tour of our own homes.

'I wanted to show people the insects they are living with everyday,' he said.

'These range from creatures that can literally bring your house down, like woodworm and termites - nuisances like book worm and beetles that get under the wallpaper.

Uncovered: This worker termite feeds on wood, paper wood and carpet

'People just don't realise what's going on under the covers of their beds, in the carpets underfoot and inside the wardrobe.

'We can't see the little creatures so it's not on our minds - until the damage is done.'

Mr Gschmeissner wanted to take 3D images of the insects he had to use a very special method.

'The equipment is called a scanning electron microscope and it builds up 3D image using electrons not light,' he said.

'Electrons are tiny electrically charged particles that rotate around the atoms that make up everything we can see and touch.

In the floor: Carpet beetle larvae are a significant pest, feeding on animal materials including fur, feathers, hair and leather

'The bugs are covered in a thin layer of gold or platinum to reflect electrons - otherwise they would heat up and be destroyed by the process.

'All this is done in a vacuum so the electrons can travel as a beam and produce the pictures.'

The amazing pictures show one of many species whose young are known as woodworm and feed on wood, - these larvae come out to eat in July and fatten themselves up in August.

And in the case of the tiny common furniture beetle they are so greedy that the ugly-bugs can cause large scale destruction to favourite sofas, dining tables and chairs.

Watch what you eat: The German cockroach contaminates food and also feeds on toothpaste and books

By the end of summer the munching monsters will be fat enough to shed their skins, pupate and turn into adults - most of which are no longer a danger to your home.

'It's mostly the larvae that do the damage,' said Mr Gschmeissner.

'In the case of clothes moths we tend to notice the adults flying about.

'But they don't eat cloths - once you see them they will have already had their fill as youngsters.

'Each adult can lay between 40 and 50 eggs at a time.

Lock-up your jumpers: This clothes moth feeds on cotton and wool, destroying valuable garments

'But if they are killed at this stage ultimately they won't get to lay eggs so this can help to prevent the problem.

'Clothes moths only tend to eat natural fibres like cotton, wool, cashmere, fur and even silk.

'So it is the more expensive cloths that get targeted - they're a pest of the posh.'

Experts recommend keeping houses and clothes clean and treating wood with varnish to reduce insect infestation - but it is impossible to completely eliminate them.

Lunchtime: An French book damaged by Order Isoptera termites which feed on wood and paper and can cause considerable damage to buildings and possessions