Dreams about insects – what do they mean? (dream interpretation insects)
Dream interpretation insects or bugs. Dreaming about creepy-crawlies is not uncommon, but what does it actually mean? It can be several things.
NOTE: Corona-update (April 2020) – the corona pandemic has resulted in a huge increase in dreams about bugs/insects attacking / crawling all over the body (as shown in preliminary corona pandemic dream research). In this image these dreams might simply symbolize our reaction (deep down) to the pandemic.
Mostly our fear/anxiety in relation to the virus – that then might show that we are more afraid/anxious than we maybe think we are.
Other angles on insect dreams / dreams about bugs:
Negative feelings that haunt you. Dreaming about insects or bugs – especially in large numbers – is often a symbol of negative thoughts or feelings (guilt, anxiety) that haunt you or, more metaphorically, crawls through your unconscious mind. You might ask yourself: what is it I am trying to push away or will not face?
Is it an old habit or previous experience that I am trying to avoid confronting and which is now popping up? If previous bad experiences lurk in the unconscious mind, one thing is certain: they influence – often in a negative manner – the way you think and act when you are awake.
This can for example be about low self-esteem because of the bad experience or a significant unconscious feeling of envy that may ruin your relationships with others.
Not being in touch with your instincts. However, it can also be about a fundamental instinctive part of yourself that you are not utilizing. In other words, you can be too “in your head” (too rational or logical), and a dream about loads of insects can in this way be a strong indication to change your approach to life and the challenges you might encounter.
Try noticing how you feel instead of overthinking things.
The individual insects can also be significant. An ant can symbolize a more group based and organized approach to life – a lone ant can therefore mean isolation. Do you have to ask for help and bring others into the solution to your challenges, or do you have to find your inner organizer?
The group mentality also applies to bees, but a bee that stings you can mean that someone or something has “stung you” – have you recently been hurt by others (external interpretation), or has a sudden inner impulse/feeling left negative traces (internal interpretation)? A significant theme in the world of dreams is spiders – see the blog post about Spiders.
Caterpillars, cocoons and butterflies are often signs of something growing into something bigger and better – a process of maturing, in other words. What inside of you is right now a caterpillar that one day could become a big, beautiful butterfly?
Worms – depending on the species – often feed on decaying things, and a dream where worms appear might be a symbol of something within you rotting or decaying. This can be a positive thing (destructive thoughts and patterns that have died), but it can also be a strong and positive, but unused aspect of yourself, and if you are not careful, this aspect might be lost.
Worms, however, can also symbolize something you feel threatened by, maybe a weakness or negativism.
If you are dreaming about ringworm, this might mean you have to take better care of your body (it will rarely mean that you actually have ringworm).
Also read: Why I no longer interpret dreams for free
NOTE: Dream interpretation is not always an easy skill, and when you dream about insects, it is almost certainly about something different for you than it is for someone else dreaming about insects. It is crucial that you feel the interpretation fits you, but it might be the case that the above interpretations do not suit you and your situation.
i keep getting a recurring dream of a giant brown slimey bug with three stingd, kind of like an earwig, slug and scorpion combined but a footlong, being found in my living roon. Every time i am with different people. Sometimes I kill it, sometimes somebody else does.
In my most recent one, i remembered my other dreams whilst in the dream and told my friend its been happening a lot, and she says there must be a nest nearby. Theres never more than one at a time in the dream.
What could it mean?
Dear Syd,
thank you for your comment and dream! I currently cannot keep up with the enormous amounts of comments I receive daily (currently more than 200 unanswered), so I have decided to no longer offer this kind of help. I would however love to help you understand your dream in a private online session – see more here. Best regards – Michael
I don’t know why but in my dream I went inside a huge pit to retrieve something of mine (maybe a tennis ball) as soon as I came up to the surface. My legs were covered with very very small fleas
I removed almost all those fleas with a cloth but after some time my legs started burning and I could see 4 big wounds on my shin Calf. That pain made me woke up in shock.
I am sorry to inform you that I currently don’t help out here, as I am focusing fully on the completion of my next book. You can try asking this one major question with regards to the dream; how might this dream in any way be relevant for my waking life? I can however offer to help you in a private session (with payment), please see more here. Best regards – Michael
I’ve had a recurring dream every summer for the last three years, where every time i go outside there are these dragonfly bugs that attack me and not anyone else. Its not a swarm but one every couple of minutes and only ever when i go outside in my dream. When i tell someone in my dream they brush it off and say they’re not dangerous. Could you help me interpret this?
Dear May,
I am sorry to inform you that I currently don’t help out here, as I am focusing fully on the completion of my next book. You can try asking this one major question with regards to the dream; how might this dream in any way be relevant for my waking life? I can offer to help you in a private session (with payment), please see more here. Best regards – Michael
I just had a dream that I was at school and a classmate of mine notified me of a big blackhead on my arm which is weird cause that doesn’t normally happen but I went to squeeze it out and when I squeezed a giant worm beetle like bug would partially come and it would really scare me but I kept doing it for no reason it was like the bug burrowed in my arm it was really weird to me. What could it mean?
Dear Nathan,
I am sorry to inform you that I currently don’t help out here, as I am focusing fully on the completion of my next book. You can try asking this one major question with regards to the dream; how might this dream in any way be relevant for my waking life? I can offer to help you in a private session (with payment), please see more here. Best regards – Michael
I woke up fearful and shocked as I almost experienced the trauma of having many insects inside my body. I could see them move and I also saw myself asking for help from family members who didn’t help me and let me suffer in real life, a few years ago.
In the dream the same set of people again didn’t help me.
I also saw myself enjoying nature, laughing, speaking with someone, while I was sitting on top of a coconut 🌴 tree in the beginning of my dream. And then suddenly I fell and all wearied insects went into my body.
What is my conscious trying to tell me.
Dear Bhawana – thank you for your very interesting dream! Since I don’t know you, what is happening in your life etc. at the moment it is quite hard to guess. Dreams should always be related to the waking life – examined from the angle “How might this (strange) dream portray something of relevance to my waking life?”. Dreaming of attacking insects/insects crawling all over the body is a huge dream theme across all cultures /nations these days. In the first studies on pandemic dreams (dreams related to the corona pandemic) it seems that many seem to have the type of dream that you have (expressed individually of course). So – the dream might portray your unspoken / unconscious fear related to the Corona pandemic. But it also might mean other things of course – did you read the blogpost above? It might inpspire you to find the meaning of this dream that makes most sense to you. Best – Michael
Omg i just woke up and i feel exhausted from my dream. My frist time to dream about bugs and all sorts of insects crawling flying on the floor walls. Doors of our house. And i tried eradicating them by spraying insect killer and i kept running out tho my mom ang brother was just looking at me and they were so relaxed will i was running out and shouting. Woke up tired. What does this mean. This is crazy
Hi Gie – thank you for your comment and interesting dream! So many people (worldwide) these days have similar dreams. Your dream could be a reflection of how you deep down experience the Corona pandemic – bugs/insects in dreams can simply illustrate virus/bacteria – and how they invade our lives (bodies). In this case presumably NOT because you are ill yourself – but more because you are anxious about becoming ill (also see this article from New York Times covering this topic). There might also be other angles to it of course – did you read the blogpost above? Best regards – Michael
Hi, I dreamt of insects everywhere in the house and there is a baby. My brother trying to throw the insects outside.
Hi VB,
thank you for your comment and very interesting dream! Did you also read the blogpost above? I would however also consider seing the dream as a by now “classical Corona pandemic dream” – a dream that many people across the globe is currently having – dreams about insects attaching/invading… where the insects then symbolize the virus – and thus your deep fear / how you react to this perceived threat (it is a real threat indeed, buy maybe you are more anxious than you think -and maybe you – right now, in this very moment – could be more relaxed about it). Also read this NY Times article on pandemic (Corona) dreams: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/style/why-weird-dreams-coronavirus.html
Hello, I had a dream last night that inside a classroom, Inam thirsty then I get glass but all have water and when I get another glass it is damaged, until I get a disposable cup so I get water in the water dispenser, but when I am about to drink I notice that there is a two black dead fly and so I didn’t continue to drink. And then I go outside the classroom ( I think our classroom during Grade), what I don’t understand when I trt blow there is a fly coming out on my own mouth, maybe three time I blow and I see maybe 3 or 4 flies coming out flying, and I feel that there is something in my throat. My feelings when I blow with a fly is somewhat happy
Hi Ben – thank you for your highly interesting dream! It is very interesting that you find yourself happy when blowing out the fly – is it because you “get rid of it” then – or is the whole experience a positive thing? One way of seing the dream – (if the whole experience seems positive) is that the flies might symbolize inner instincts / sides of yourself. Flies seem to be persistent, they fly fast – how are these traits potentially relevant for you at the moment? There are SO many angles to flies in dreams, and the dream should always be related to your waking life situation/thoughts at the moment etc – so going more deep would require more time (feel free to book a session with me). Best – Michael
I had a dream that I was served a bowl of insects i’ve never seen before, one specific insect looked like a giant larvae, in black, with eyes all over it. In the beginning I had no idea they were eyes, just a bunch of round shiny spots on the bug. I’m casually eating this bowl with chopsticks when a documentary on those same insects show up. Thats when I realize that im eating BUGS and this is not something I do normally. I learn that those shiny spots are eyes all over its body. I start becoming extremely disgusting with that fact that all of those eyes are inside of my body looking inside of me. It kinda just ends there. I wake up disgusted with a vivid image of that insect in my head.
I tend to have reoccurring dreams (this is not one of them) and dreams where it feels like someone else is also inside of my dream. A really negative tone, thats felt reoccurring in different concepts of dreams for almost 10 years now. Midway through this dream where I felt disgusted, the tone shifted, it almost felt as if those bugs were maliciously trying to pry into me and watch from the inside. This is one of the softer odd dreams I have, they’re usually more intense and I’m a bit lucid in them. I’ve never publicly spoke about this til now, I have no idea how to decipher it.
Hi Yoshi – what an interesting – but also upsetting – dream you’ve had! Since I don’t know much about you/your life situation it is hard to say what this might mean (dreams should always be related to waking life situation). But I can’t help but thinking that this might be a pandemic/Corona-related dream. Dreams about insects attacking have thus been reported in current/ongoing research in corona-related dreams (https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2020-04-07/coronavirus-quarantine-dreams). And since you in the dream have seen a documentary about insects – and you then at the same time eat them – this might be why you have this dream. I expect you – as most – read/see/hear/think a lot about the pandemic these days. Best rgds – Michael
I had a dream about thousands of diffent insects falling from the sky, mostly large flying insects, flooding through windows, doors and me rushing around trying to close all the windows to stop them coming in. I asked why it was happening and apparently the female bugs were dying.
I wrote this right when I woke up, Bugs squishing them more come tinier and tinier and they sting
With a friend trying to help me but then leaves me when man and a mob of black men start surrounding me because they thought I said a racist comment by saying I couldn’t see a guy in the bushes in the dark and he was black although I didn’t even make the comment that he was black, they surrounded me Ian alley and by that time my so called friend was gone, and they wouldn’t leave me alone until I went into the alley. When I finally did at the end of the alley there was a door and a sink filled with dirty dishes and the other side was filled with water and a tortilla floating in the middle and a woman that looked Hispanic to my knowledge told me to flip in and there were cockroaches in the sink and everywhere walking and I thought that was what was going to pop out when I flipped the tortilla, I screamed a little quietly and flipped the tortilla then what came out was a huge bug colors red white and blue like the ones I was squishing and more came out of them so I stepped on it, and before it exploded I shut the door and for some reason screamed without being scared but to assimilate that they’d done something horrible to me so that they would leave me alone so as I ran down the same alley I thought maybe they are the one who r putting these bugs were I was to scare me but why , and then all of a sudden I appeared in the back of what seemed a posada and they were praying and I had a white sheet like fabric hoody in like the kkk one but a bit different, then this women took my hoody of and realized I was part of that but when I thought she was going to tell on me she said to following her down the stair to where there god to which they were praying for at first it looked like it would be of the virgencita but I looked I higher up and it was la muerte and I was scared although I kept on praying so they didn’t notice anything odd about me and then I woke up.
I had a dream last night. I was sleeping in my dream and woke up to many red bumps that looked like kinda pimples. They were itchy. Since I’m allergic I thought this is some king of allergic reaction and they were really itchy and with a closer look there were many bugs coming out of them out of every bump in different sizes according the bumps they were coming out. They were like blooming. They didn’t move but I’m talking about hundreds of them. I fainted but since it was a dream not really. I immediately got my consciousness back. I remember crying screaming in the dream for some people to help both friends and family but nobody seemed to think it was anything important. It was rather horrible dream never experienced such one. Even though I get nightmares this one was on a whole another level.
I had a dream that I had a pimple/boil on my hand (in the skin between my thumb and pointer finger), and every time I squeezed it or even flexed my fist, a bunch of baby ants (maybe spiders? I remember not being able to tell in the dream) started pouring out. The feelings I had were sheer panic panic, fear and a bit of morbid interest (like seeing a car wreck and not being able to look away). What does it mean?
I had the most horrible dream that we were out of town and my son was playing in dirt and started cry all of a sudden then on his back it looked like little maggots forcing their way into his skin and they started to feed off of him and on the middle of all this a tornado was starting to happen and I was told I needed to get the bugs out quick or he would dye so I had to look for the tools I needed quickly and the bugs would leave these big holes in hos back as I pulled them out and the bugs ended up forming into botfly like things with claws like lobster then i woke up before i could get them all out.
Ik this isnt about this but i dreamt that i was at school and then no one had clothes, and when we tried to walk, we went back to the same place we already stood before like glitching, and when my step mom came to get me she yelled at me for something i did, i dont remember much, and then at home we suddenly lived in the city, as u know i live on the countryside with a neighborhood long away from the city, i looked out the window and said that i had no one to be with and then dad said ” i dont care. ” then i said something else and then he said the same thing just with a chuckle, then i went up to my room seeing ALL TYPES of bugs and insects, i went to my window in my room as there were insects on the net thing i used to set up so no bugs could come in
What does this mean?
I had a dream the other night that I crushed a beetle shell. The beetle shell was a yellow terquiose color. And maybe some green. What do you think that means?