Carpet Beetle Larva
There are no uninteresting insects, only insects that are insufficiently magnified
S_ found this little larva while cleaning out a cupboard. It was in the back of the shelf, happily chowing down on a dead ant.
So far, it just looks like your typical little thing with lots of legs. Let’s zoom in a bit:
Ah, that’s better. Now we can see that it doesn’t actually have lots of legs, what it does have is a lot of bristles that stick almost straight out, or maybe angled a bit towards the head. There are also two tufts of bristles on the tail.
On the underside, we can see the actual legs, which aren’t really a lot longer than the bristles. It also has bristles on the bottom of the abdomen that give it an amusing, needs-a-shave sort of look. Note that, unlike butterfly and moth caterpillars, it does not have prolegs on the abdomen (beetle larvae do not have prolegs, only the six true legs). We can see the legs a bit better in the next picture, where it is trying to flip itself over:
At first, I thought that this was a larva of a larder beetle, like this one I posted a few months ago. But, looking at it more closely (particularly the tufts of bristles on the abdomen), I think its actually a carpet beetle, probably genus Anthrenus . I’ve been finding these Buffalo Carpet Beetles around the house, and so there is a good chance that this larva would have grown up to be one of them. Larder beetles and carpet beetles are all types of dermestid beetles, but while the larder beetle is more into stored foodstuffs, the carpet beetles are rather keen on animal proteins that are normally considered indigestible (hair, wool, feathers, skin, exoskeletons of other insects, that sort of thing).
Carpet beetles are evidently one of those species from arid or semi-arid regions that have moved into the house environment. They are adapted to a lack of water, and so can manage in spite of the dryness of the average house. Their original environment was apparently bird and mammal nests, where they ate the bits of debris that the inhabitants shed (and, in cases where the inhabitants died, ate what was left of their mummified corpses after the flies and carrion beetles were done with them. Once the dermestid beetles finish, they leave nothing behind but the polished bones of the animals’ dry, articulated skeletons)[1]. Basically, these beetles are still living in mammal nests, it’s just that these nests are now our houses instead of a hole in the ground with, say, a badger living in it.
As I mentioned in the larder beetle entry, the diet of dermestid beetles makes them real murder on things like insect collections, taxidermy, wool products, natural-fiber carpets, and museum specimens. They are also likely to be around regardless of how clean you keep your house. Even if the carpets are synthetic fibers, there are always bits of dead skin and hair, miscellaneous organic dirt, and the remains of insects that got in, couldn’t hack the indoors environment, and died. They’re in overlooked corners, under beds, in carpets, you name it. I even found one crawling across the ceiling in a very new house downstate which has only two people living in it and no pets, and is kept scrupulously clean. Seek and ye shall find, and all that. They are there, somewhere. Count on it.
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[1] A while back, we were doing some work on the walls in the house, and found a perfect mouse skeleton. Not a trace of hair, flesh, or skin, just a complete and undamaged skeleton still posed in its original owner’s final death throes. The dermestid beetles had obviously been at it.
Worst day ever. The thing that I hate is that I was having a good day until I came home to find a larvae wriggling around on a blanket in my bedroom. It was under a perfectly clean housecoat sitting on a footstool beside my bed. The same height as my bed. So either it crawled up there or came off of something. Lord knows how long it has been there. I had two bags of things I’d been trying to keep as carpet beetle-free as possible but we all know too well that that only lasts so long. Nothing is sacred with these things. This is the first larvae I found in my bedroom. I knew it was a matter of time but I wasn’t prepared for how unnerved I would be.
Making things worse is how my mother makes me feel crazy for reacting how I do to these. They’ve followed me through 4 apartments and ruined 3 years of my life with being preoccupied with trying to limit transferring them to places as much as possible. My reaction isn’t irrational. It’s completely rational. The only reason she thinks otherwise is because she doesn’t understand what a huge problem these things are to get rid of. She still just says “we’ll kill them as we see them that’s all we can do.” She also gets mad at me because I won’t do the laundry because I’m afraid of finding something and I don’t like using the vacuum because the part where hot air comes out of it I’m worried might also be blowing these microscopic eggs out of the dirt it’s picking up. She of course sees this as making excuses and me being lazy which makes me feel just great.
I still don’t have a job. I honestly don’t think I could function well enough at a job if I found a beetle at home that morning or something. I am sometimes completely paralyzed by the thought that I will have these things living with me for the rest of my life. I wish these were as well known as bed bugs or something because then it would be easier to know what to do. Most people don’t even know such a thing exists. Lucky them.
Hi Amanda, this is Annie. Its been awhile since I posted. I moved, spent 2 months just about in a hotel called Executive Suites with my 4 cats, 3 rats and 2 box turtles. I did not find any signs of larvae or beetles the whole time even still driving my car before it got fumigated. I did change my clothes and socks and washed constantly. Then I had the car fumigated and thought I was moving into a great place with a cool landlord. Well. the first night after I paid for flooring to be put in and the owner was supposed to pay for the installation and freshly paint the apartment. Well he took my money and remodeled the kitchen.
The first night I found a beetle in front of the fridge. You should have seen the underside of the fridge Packed with the previous tenants cats hair, dust, crumbs etc Then 2 days later larvae under the sink cabinet in the bathroom.
Then the toilet tipped at which point i closed the lid cried an noticed all the wood doors for the first time. White stuff in the grain holes on the front bottom of 2 doors and the side edges. Some of it is paint but most of it from larvae It is gong away after each monthly spray. it won’t wash off!
Amanda I have bags with dates etc and at least 14 beetles from the new place and 3 larvae.
I am going to tell everyone of a very special program for healing. healing stress, depression, cancer, Hep C, ear infections , sadness and even helps people transition during death.
I have been so depressed and pissed and angry and looking at the walls that did not get painted and making sure spots are not bugs or larvae. etc etc.
I emailed the Dolphin Energy Club address your email To Ann and tell her what is happening and that your depressed or have headaches or just stressed. anxiety whatever you feel is keeping you upset or ill.
She will contact 10 trained people from all over and they will meditate on you for 2 weeks at a time. I have been doing this since my diagnosis of Hep C back in 1989. That was cleared in less then 2 yrs I was the only one out of 27 people in my research study group that cleared the virus and I literally felt the healing begin on a Saturday . from that day on I have tested neg for the virus.
I have referred over 10 people I just thought about a week ago wow I am so out of it I should email to have a healing done. 2 days later I stopped crying every day. My head was clear and I began feeling like I could get my life somewhat back in order. I am going to repeat the healing in a week
They are free so email address is:
DEC1pd@aol.com
its part of the Monroe Institute in Virginia. Ann will do it every two weeks if you need help coping with the larvae.
I was so afraid to talk about it yet I had to My son listened. but I got down to 97 lbs from the stress. I am so in tune with the darn thing.
this place is about 80% less infested then the last place I do know to expect the larvae to be worse soon I did not go and buy furniture well a desk , an exercise ball to sit on. my air mattress
The larvae has kept me away from training as a vet assistant on saturdays , pet sitting, friends, having an enjoyable life. serious. I am damaged by the experience that was so much like yours Amanda.
Please try emailing Ann you do not have to believe it will work I know you will get some peace and be able to figure out where and what to do
I am seeing a lawyer on Monday to sue the landlord here and the last place.
this guy just used me after I told him about the horrific 2 years.
I was outside on the other side of the building. This is a 4 unit place. My neighbor told me she had cockroaches but was scared the owner would blame her. she is upstairs like me. there was a cockroach on the outside wall at 2pm in 79 degree weather. How disgusting is that, the bottom apartments are gross and the owner is one of them He is like a hoarder and I will not live with bugs
When I told him I found a beetle he told me there were none. I told him all the doors and the new cabinets had signs of the larvae . They do and look very much like the photos of the last place. I have over 1000 photos which includes all my things I lost to the dump , the damage done to my things even the plastic containers I have one I kept its amazing the trail that is left on the inside of the container It held all the bug spray. My son could not believe it it looks like its just white lines that will come off but they don’t and they matched the markings on a piece of furniture one of my clients gave me. I cleaned it but 3 weeks later it had trails on two of the legs.
I need to get back to work on my ledgers and notes etc for the atty
Please anyone on this site stressed out email Ann you can tell her I referred you. my last name is Newman
if we have to have these critters in our lives and boy have I studied them then I will not be stressed stress will kill a person faster then some cancer.
its free she may ask you to do a simple survey at the end of the 2 weeks
check out the web site as well Its named and founded by Robert Monroe to study outer body experiences. They even work with people who need surgery but are allergic to anesthesia so they are pain free not feeling the surgery .
be well I will get the photos up after the legal stuff is done.
Maybe we could write a book You know I have scars from the larvae crawling on me. I have a shirt that was washed 3 times and the stuff they left on it over night will not come off.
it is something that is out of the norm. I know more then the bug control people. the agriculture dept guy for the state. he had to have a live beetle and thought it was a bed bug at first. Bed bugs look a bite like cockroaches but not carpet beetles.
he told me he could not say what was causing the holes and tracks and dents in the stuff.
I know what the hairs look like when compared to our hair or a beard trim that has been left in the sink.
the pest control where stunned. they could not even tell me anything. Nada
zilch big fat 0!!!!
At least my MD and therapist believe me right from the start. My MD actually had a mite invasion. She was allergic and so was itchy her husband was not and thought she was losing it.
Sound like most of our situations.
I use Gentrol spray once a month after I spray vet Kem due to the animals . It kills the beetles and larvae. the Gentol keeps them from beign able to reproduce so there should be no carpet beetles or larvae in about 4 months.
Thanks Annie. I will definitely email. I need all the help I can get. I just feel so helpless in all this. I’m 26 and not looking forward to living the rest of my life like this. I started today yet again with finding another larvae on the floor right at the end of my bed. I stayed up until I physically couldn’t anymore last night just because I was afraid of going to bed. Then I proceeded to lay there for like an hour convinced something was crawling in my ear. I feel like I’m going insane. Certainly if I told anyone about this they would write me off as crazy just like my mom has.
And yeah I’ve been there with knowing more about these things than the so called pest control companies it’s ridiculous.
Also Annie what are these white tracks you speak of? I’ve heard about those before but (knock on wood) haven’t encountered any. Ugh another colour to be afraid of other than brown and black things. This weekend was so bad right up until the end. Mom found a larvae under my bed right before she went to bed. I swear every day like 100 times I think “I’m sick of living like this.” I would give everything I have and more to anyone who could remove these things from my life and memory. I was just starting to get my life back too. I just got rid of the (I know this sounds lovely) toe fungus I had developed from wearing slippers all the time (I simply cannot be barefoot.) Putting wet feet straight from the shower in slippers isn’t good but it was all I could do. I gained so much weight from the stress of this and feeling like I couldn’t exercise because I can’t even think of laying on the floor without freaking out. I joined a gym and things are great but it takes everything I have to do my stretches in the carpetted area. When I see a bug there it will all be over.
Amanda, I know what your saying about the vacuum you need to get one with a hepa filter. I have become a dyson fan but lost mine in the move. I tried the shark. its sealed so the air coming out is clean. the problem with it Navigator lift away. is you cnat use the hose without it falling on you and I thought the tools were working but they have no suction so they left alot of cat hair behind
the dyson slways worked you can see about a used one on overstock i kknow they are expensive
you could try a shop vack with hepa filter asmall one. and get the carpet tool my son got me one but the extension link to use with the carptet cleaning piece does not fit so I cant use it i am not sure it will work
you can iron what wont melt. keep all foods in container and in freezer or fridge.
what have you tried just killing them as you see them does notthing. most you wont see. I happen to be in tune with them now the other place was so massively infested they were burrowing through the linoleum Yes i know it sounds like sci fi but they were.
i only saw about 20 larvae wooly bears and maybe 9 beetles I saw signs though the larvae are born microsopic so they do not look like much whenever my socks an clotes start to get fuzz i know something is wrong. i would ssee their trails like squiggles and lighninng bolt like pattern they are not continouow there were holes with shedding my things,
jsut bizzare as soon as i finish with this new owner and get the demand paper work done i will get a collection of the best photos and post them.
if nothing else vacuum get the gentrol and some kind of spray labeled for carpet beetles and spray that first to kill what you can and then the getnrol let it dry and move back in the room do that to the entire house i know how hard it is think head lice ugh same thing. it so mch work but this would be once a month take two days if need be then in 5 months they should be gone unles more beetles got in and laid eggs
Yesterday was bad. Yet again started and ended the day with larvae in the bedroom. The one last night was so tiny I honestly believed it was just lint (I always pray it’s just lint and it never is.) Mom picked it up in a Kleenex and it took a while before it moved. She was so shocked it nearly got away.
Finding larvae every day isn’t out of the norm so that wasn’t even what made yesterday so bad. Something happened in my personal life that would normally lead to me just wanting to stay in bed for probably a month but with these bugs crawling around I try to only spend the necessary few hours in bed and even doing that is difficult. I can’t even relax in my bed as the world falls apart. Ugh I hate carpet beetles.
I spent yesterday shopping for some new tops. They’re all made from polyester or spandex so hopefully they won’t get eaten. I have put them in one of the few safe haven areas I have left in the apartment so hopefully I’ll actually get to wear them for a while. I’m getting sick of having to spend money I don’t have to rebuy things. I have a lot of clothes but can’t bring myself to wear them because I’m worried about what might be living in them.