Bug on wood lid

[Professor_Nibbles]

I keep seeing this bug re-appear on the lid of my hamsters dig box. Sometimes it appears on the niteangel ladder but it might of just crawled over. I have soaked all wooden items from her cage in boiling water, ovened it at 150c for an hour 3 times over and plastikote it too, but this one bug keeps coming back. It is visible to the eye and I cannot see it anywhere else in the cage. I took out her dig box for a month to see if it appears, and it only appeared on one of the wood chew toy. There was nothing on the bedding and all sprays have been frozen. She was at the vets a few weeks ago and was cleared of any bugs. This wood bug appeared before her vet trip and again today even though everything was boiled and ovened just 3 days ago for the third time. Can someone tell me what it is as it's driving me crazy. Thank you.
Ps, it also moves quite fast.

20240308_135653.jpg

[SKB_Hamsters]

It very hard to determine what bug it is from the photo. My advice if you are only seeing one at a time try to squish the bug. If you are seeing multiple at time you might need to do a deep clean on the cage as they may be living on the substrate.

[Professor_Nibbles]

Update. I boiled and ovened the lid again yesterday after finding that one bug. Today I see 2 of them. I wonder if they are breeding/hatching from inside the middle of the lid and crawling out from the little damaged bit at the side. Also wondering if the middle of the wood is maybe damp even though I have ovened it 150c at 1 hour. I thought heat was suppose to kill potential bugs? I have taken the lid out to monitor it I case it came from my hammy, but if that was the case, they would of appeared everywhere else but there's nothing. Just that lid. Might just need to get a new dig box as am worried the wood used to make the lid and dig box is maybe habouring undestroyable beasties

[Jeir]

I've had something similar in the past, where I didn't put new wooden items in the freezer before placing them in the cage. They liked living in the inside of the house, so I didn't find them until there was a small infestation. It required a full cage clean, and either destruction or freezing of all porous (wood, cardboard) items. Thankfully there was no harm done to my hamster, and I didn't find any bugs in his cage again (or since, with newer hamsters).

Generally, it's recommended to put any new wooden items in the freezer for a couple of days, but I've found 2-3 hours is usually enough. I've never heard about putting wooden items in the oven, probably due to it being a fire risk.