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.
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I guess I am joining the club. I had an ant invasion here about a week to 10 days ago. I had gotten good at dealing with them and went and got Terro for outside and the inside traps. I also
sprayed with mint SAfer spray. They took over the entire wall, sink area of the kitchen coming form the ground into the hole in the ceiling. My apt is warmer then the the downstairs as I have box turtles and they need to be 85 degrees.
This is a duplex with alot of wood rot. I moved from a similar situation and was forced to find a place.
I laughed that the ants did not have eggs with them.
Well cleaning up all the dead bodies was almost like a having kids with head lice.
I just get so blown away by the fact that all these little things may be in my cat food bowls, my turtle tank, my bed, my hair etc.
Then I noticed a pile of saw dust stuff and what I thought looked like a shell or piece of heishi from an American Indian necklace.
Then I yelled omg an alien . look at this thing. so I had the larvae shells ( like a meal worm shedding) then I had a hole plugged with some other stage and this tiny shell thing that started to move. I got my magnifying glass and knew it was something with its but down laying eggs or changing.
Now the cabinets are full of them. Its freaking me out. Housing is going to think I am a nut case. I cleaned one window and found what look like lady bugs but greenish with black dots.
The bugs in the cabinets are more like the larder beetle.
ugly son of a gun
So help please.
what do I tell the owner. I did not bring these with me. Believe me. I had so many ants at my other place and everything was sprayed before I moved
This place the stove was a grease pot the the floor looked burned and now I think it has been eaten by the beetles.
How do I send photos??
what to do. how does the nitrogen work.
I can not afford to get canisters for everything but will do my best.
thanks Annie
Yes it has taken over my life and I know I shouldn’t let it get to me. I think it’s because I’ve fought some other big battles to get where I am today and just when I thought my life was going well I get hit by CB. When you guys see them in other homes – is it a lot or just one or a few? Since I haven’t been to another house since I saw a bunch of them, I can’t tell if others do but no one I know has even heard or seen them (but they just may not know what they look like).
ahah you’re right reading this blog actually made me worse, but at the same time it made me feel better too that I wasn’t the only one dealing with it. I guess it’s good and bad. I think I will be fine once I move, don’t find any more (I reallly really hope), and then I’ll probably stop itching.
Annie – tell the owner immediately. They should take care of these pests as it’s their responsibilty (should say in the contract). I would try to get rid of them as you see them to keep the numbers down low.
My landlords told me the reason why the exterminator did not use the liquid nitrogen is because it would only work if the nitrogen hit every beetle and larvae. If it didn’t well it would be as they hadn’t sprayed. which is why they went with a “residual” spray — though in my opinion I don’t think that really made a difference unless I’m just supposed to keep waiting and see what happens.
Check all of your place – not just the kitchen because if its that much infested, you can almost be sure it’s in your other rooms.
Also, it doesn’t seem like CB have anything to do with you being a nutcase/not clean etc since it seems like most people here are very clean yet still get them.
Hi there! I haven’t checked in since this January. My full story so far is in my 8/31/10 post and the update in January. Spring is beginning and I am glad that so far I have found only two this month – one very old dead one on top of my synthetic berber carpet, and one dead one on the floor next to the cat box. So no new infestation so far. Just the usual strays. I’m so sorry for all of you with the more agressive versions of the CBs.
For those of you wondering about damage to your clothing, the first type of damage is a scuffed appearance to the surface of the cloth – as if you had taken a fine grade of sandpaper and run it lightly over the fabric in a small spot. Often, this is all you will see until you wash the garment and the frayed fibers spread apart in the wash. If you weren’t talking about cotton clothing, I would suspect the square holes were from moths, but I’m sure the beetles can eat enough to finally wear a hole in a spot.
Thank you Cynthia for the words of encouragement. I guess we all get ICD when it comes to bugs.
People have said oh ants the scouts come all the time but when you have 4 inch trails w/ eggs they are not scouts so I have learned to ignore and document as much as I can. It was just that I was so careful yet so stressed I did not see or was not in the moment to see until after I signed the lease and then cried for 3 days.
I really do think they knew about the bugs as the cabinets are weird and the molding is gone., counter falling apart etc. The linoleum tile looked burn but with a magnifying glass it looks more like eaten. The strange thing is I mentioned to a friend I did not understand why more black spots and holes whee showing up. I do not smoke or wear shoes in the house.
Do they eat linoleum?
So what are the ones that look like ladybugs but greenish and black??
do any of these turn into moths.
Can I bomb the place? I would use vet kem siphrotrol spray which I know is safe after for my turtles.
What residual did they use??
thanks for all you time in advance to all on the list
Hi Annie –
I burst into tears too on the weekends when I had to be home with them at not at work. It’s ok to cry! Too bad I can’t be there to give you a hug. I didn’t see the bugs until I signed the lease too and it was a few days after.
At this point, I feel like they will eat anything. Online it says they stay away from synthetic, but like Barbara pointed out, her memory foam got attacked and I assume that is ALL synthetic. If there’s any food source for them, they’re gonna eat it. So keep vacuuming. I mostly have them on my hardwood floors but only a few at a time so I just squash them instead of vacuuming coz I’m afraid they won’t die in the vacuum and try to repopulate. The black spots might be their poops, I started to see this on the carpet too. Or it could be their eggs – though I heard the eggs are white and cream colored. So I’m not sure. Whatever it is, you should vacuum it up or sweep it up. Try using boric acid…I found them at home depot and it seems to actually kill the adults, or make them look dead at least.
I’m not sure about the greenish looking ones. Mine looked bluish after I put teh boric acid down and that’s only because it’s a light blue color. Mine are mostly gray. I wonder if you have another type of breed since I don’t think they are generally green. But they can look like ladybugs. Have you seen any larave? They do not look like ladybugs but prickly things. I’m not sure what moth larvae look like but I think they are like worms. And if you see their casings (like a bunch of fabric or wool wrapped up like a cocoon you might have moths).
I can’t remember at the top of my head, but the chemical they used to regulate the larvae from growing to adults is hydroprene. I think they used cytherflurin (Not sure if that’s the exact spelling) and something else that started with a dith…I don’t have the receipt with me since I’m at work. These are the typical chemicals they’ll use to get rid of it. In your case ask them for the most aggressive amount because for mine, they used a lower dosage.
My landlords also told me they were coming to spray today (but didn’t warn me), but they are doing I guess a more “thorough” job this time. The exterminator keeps changing his tune, as he told me to wait 8 days to call him back and when my landlords called him, he’s lke “why didn’t you call me earlier? i thought someone would have sprayed again.” We were like what the hell? I am also moving, and they asked if I would take these bugs with me and he said he’s “confident” I won’t. I don’t trust him so I will still take precautions. He also said he doesn’t think they’ll hide in my couch. Ha! I don’t believe that one bit. If I recall Barbara you said they were in your couch and memory foam. What a crock. But anyways, I’m trying to find places with hardwood floors so I can spot them easier.
Annie, it seems like your landlords knew about the bug problem and I really think you should be able to move without penalty (if you can) because I think it is their responsibilty to give you a clean home and they did not. They should also repair any damages such as the burn and carpet. They should have replaced all that before you moved in. Have your landlords called an exterminator? Should not wait any longer and nip this in the bud. Should ask the exterminator if you can bomb the place…but depending on where you live in (apt, condo, etc) it might be hard to do this…again I’m no expert so ask the exterminator.
Annie,
If you have trails of ants carrying eggs and the woodwork is damaged and falling apart and you see something looking like sawdust that is termite damage and the ants are probably farming the termites. The eggs they are carrying could be their own or they may be termite eggs that they are moving to other locations. Either that or you could have carpenter ants that are damaging the wood themselves. Finding the entry and exit points of the ant trails and placing a few drops of mint oil on those locations can often eliminate the ant trails, but if there is a termite or carpenter ant infestation you need some serious exterminator work.
In all of my research on carpet beetles I never saw any green ones. I also doubt they would eat linoleum or leave black spots large enough to look like cigarette burns. The poop from carpet beetles is tiny – like grains of pepper. They don’t eat synthetics – just the tiny dead carcasses of other animals and the skin and sweat shed from humans. If they are buried in foam it is the sweat and skin flakes they are after.
Have you tried researching on BugGuide.net to find a beetle or weevil that looks like the ones you have? There are so many hundreds (thousands?) of beetles and weevils that you need to be sure which ones you have to understand why they are there. If you catch one or more in a jar you can examine it more closely to identify it and show to the exterminator.
Hopefully, you can find a university in your area that has an entomology department (bug specialists). You can do an internet search for a university extension in your state that will have information on bugs in your area.
I agree with Cynthia that your landlords have the responsibility to provide you with a clean and bug-free dwelling. You should be able to break the lease without repercussions. I don’t know where you could look up the rental laws in your state, but if you have time to search on the internet you should be able to locate that information, or you can call your local government offices to find out. Take lots of pictures of the problems and make sure all of your pictures are dated and all of your other documentation is dated, and perhaps you can get a friend to be an eyewitness in case anything has to be resolved in small claims court. At the very least, if this problem is a pre-existing issue from before you moved in, your landlords should pay for any extermination work that needs to be done. They should also be checking to see if the bugs are coming from any adjoining apartment.
Does anyone have memory foam and had CBs eat it? The exterminators came out for a second spray but did nto do my bed coz my sheets were still on. I’m washing my sheets and everything for the 30th time and I’m noticing the memory foam is fuzzing or shedding. I’m also seeing a lot more tiny holes than I remember. I have two together, instead of a mattres and I lifted it up today and saw a bunch of shedding between the two. Do you think they’re eating the memory foam? I don’t remember this the first time they came out to spray, but now I am noticing tons of shedding. I don’t know if it’s the deterioration of the memory form or if it’s the CB> I haven’t seen any larvae/adults in them, but I never know. I guess I could use the vacuum technique Barbara used. Just wondering if I should just get a new memory foam since they weren’t too expensive on Overstock for peace of mind?
Cynthia, I don’t know of any bug that eats synthetic material like memory foam. They do go after the dead skin cells from you, and if you have kids and if they wet the bed or something CB’s will feed on any materials SOILED with blood, urine, beer or food stains. They will also go after mites that normally are there. You don’t need to wash your sheets so much. If vacuuming doesn’t do the job as good as you like, and the fumigating hasn’t helped then maybe consider getting a vinyl mattress cover. (Google: vinyl mattress cover) I do not have one, but know of it because the building a friend of mine was living in got bed bugs. They are pretty cheap, keep all sorts of bugs out, help with allergies, keep water and other dirt out too. You could buy at a department store, or online. The ones with a zipper are better I think, because after some time it would smother anything living in the mattress already. This would be an idea for whoever has the feather mattress.
Annie, Is it possible that your place has Larder beetles? With Larder beetles when the larvae are fully grown, they wander about searching for a place to pupate. For protection while pupating, it is common for them to bore a short distance, about half an inch, into solid materials such as wood, mortar or soft metal, to pupate. Fortunately damage is slight. Larvae may also bore into other soft materials, such as books. Do you have a picture? Annie, you can send Tim a photo by replying to the emails that come when you check the box that says: Notify me of followup comments via e-mail.
Cynthia in regard to your earlier questions, all of my containers have covers that came with it when I bought them. Yes, for the closet it has a zipper. Google: vinyl wardrobe storage.
Try not to stress too much, it’ll be OK.
I just remembered another possible solution to the mattress problem: air beds! Air beds inflate to the size of standard mattresses, and can be adjusted to be as hard or soft as you like depending on how much air you fill them with. They can be quite comfortable – and cheap! They are sold as camping gear or as extra beds for guests. You fill them with your vacuum cleaner or get the better ones that have onboard motors that fill them for you. If you don’t get a flocked one, the bugs won’t be very interested in it. A thin pad on top would make it even more comfortable and would be easier to clean or replace.
Air bed advice! I have asthma and sleep on Coleman air beds only. I have pet cats and pet rats Yes Rats they are very smart and I do rescue work anyway.
Get a coleman at Target . cover both the bottom and top with at minimum a flannel sheet
I do the bottom with flannel since I have a wood platform chest bed. The top has flannel covered by a cotton mattress pad. They cost me ( the beds for a double 25 and they last a year or more before a hole may occur. Remember I have cats w/ nails and rats that will chew if
left alone too long free roaming. . The bed I have now is a year old not a leak filled it once and that is it. they are way better the any other of the air beds. I have not tried the double thick ones I just get the regular camping ones.
good luck
Ok, I don’t tink they’re in my memory foam, because I looked at someone I know who bought the same one and theirs has the same holes. but I am buying new ones for when I move. Do you think if I have not seen them (adults or larvae) on my couch they probably aren’t in there? I’m hoping to move this week and really do not want to bring them along. I’m moving in with a friend and I really do not want to have to worry them.
I will definitely look up the vinyl stuff. Thanks.
Annie,
You’re right! They’re also a good idea for allergy sufferers. The vinyl patches are cheap also. If you didn’t get some in the package with the bed, or you’ve run out, you can get more from ebay.
Cynthia,
I’m glad the air bed suggestion might help! As for the couch, you need to inspect every inch, every crevice, and turn it upside down. If there is a fabric sheet covering the bottom, you’ll need to pull that down and look inside of the bottom. I had to do this with my sofa. Luckily, all of the fabrics and stuffing of my sofa are synthetic, and I had only just started to find a few adults in that room, so my sofa was not yet infested. If you don’t see any sign of beetles, shed skins, or damaged fabric, and you’ve never seen the beetles in the area near your sofa, it might be free of them. It also depends on how heavy the infestation was in your home. The adults can fly anywhere, and the dark crevices of a sofa are a perfect place to lay eggs. If your infestation was localized in another room, your sofa might be safe. If they were in the same room, you should be more concerned.
The irony is that the day I found a place and signed a lease, I didn’t see any CB that day. I haven’t found any this morning either. It’s like they were taunting me to move out. I still don’t think I’m in the clear, but yes I will definitely vacuum and look underneath the sofa because I haven’t seen under there yet. The CB were mostly in my kitchen but my kitchen, dining rooom, and living room are all one open room. I only saw CB near the sliding door which the couch was next to, but there was a blanket and a stuffed animal on the couch and I still didn’t see any on them. I was really surprised. They also sprayed the couch twice and under it. When I moved the couch around, I didn’t see anything but dust bunnies underneath the couch and no sign of CBs. I’ve checked all the crevices but I will make sure again before I move. None of the fabric of the sofa has been damaged but there are scuffed marks around the edges, but I think that’s when people helped me move in werent’ very careful and it got scuffed on the walls. I’mr eally hoping because it’s only on the edges.
So far I have seen the odd larvae and no adult CB as of yet. Has anyone tried steaming? I’m considering buying a steam vacuum cleaner and just gona steam everything in sight…surely this would kill any beetle or larvae…even eggs? Just wondering has anyone tried this?
Thanks guys, loving this support group for CBs.
I moved to my new place which I thought was spotless and immaculate. The owner maintains her house very well and she’s anally clean. I had packed all my stuff, put all the cardboard boxes in plastic bags and zip tiied them so nothing could get in, inspected my couch all over and found nothing and packed them all into the truck. We get there and I give my boyfriend’s family a tour of the place…and the first thing I see on the very white bathroom is an unmistakable carpet beetle. The whole room/bathroom/closet has no dust, no dirt, completely spotless but we look around and I find a dead one on the entryway to the closet door. Everyone starts looking in corners, behind the dresser, the bed and find a bunch. I start freaking out because I did not see these when I checked out the place. The owner of the house said she lived in this room for 7 years and kept it immaculate and never saw bugs. She thinks its because the balcony door was open (it was when I went to get the keys) and she thinks they must have came in through the door. They must have aired out the room and left it unwatched. The scary thing is that when everyone collected the bugs, I found one larvae. I had never seen a larvae at my last place and maybe why my furniture, clothes, and other things were not holey. But the adult CBs we found in this new place were very active and moving…the ones at my old place were very sluggish and I rarely saw them move. I think I nearly had a panic attack I didn’t even want to move in my stuff. But the owner quickly came and vacuumed everything (the carpet was already super clean and vacuumed from before). She even washed the baseboards to be certain. She also told me she would have her personal cleaning lady come out and do another thorough cleaning of the whole room. The room is all clean, there’s nothing really left to be clean but I guess it does make me feel better that someone is coming out professionally to ensure there are no bugs. She also said if I saw any more she would have the exterminator come and spray (I guess she has a contract with them where they come out to spray every 2 months, regardless of whether or not there are bugs). My boyfriends family had to assure me that I would be fine because the owner seems very concerned about the condition of her house is (she literally just moved out 2 months ago) and will make sure she takes every measure to keep bugs out. I didn’t spend the night the night I moved in because i was too freaked out, but I came back the next day to check for bugs. My sister and boyfriend both looked at every corner, the doors, any opening and we didn’t find anything.
is this a false sense of security? I was reassured it was probably just a one time thing and that since the room had been vacant for 2 months, it came in through the door when it was open and that it wasnt’ an infestation yet. (though we found like 15 and the exterminator for my place said if I found more than 5, it was considered an infestation, especially when there was already a larvae). They also said the CB were super easy to spot in this carpet. Do I still need to keep vacuuming corners and the carpet everyday just to be certain? i really thought i would be feeling a lot better once I moved in but it was just a terrible shock to find one immediately.
Cynthia, first I want to say that I had to move from my last cottage as it was illegal. Found that out after 6 yrs. The owner was ordered to deal with the ants and refused to allow me non toxic exterminator. I have box turtles. He chose the most toxic of all chemicals and companys in the bay area according to the wildlife center.
That said. I moved to my new place after crying for 3 days feeling I had been pressured and moved to as bad a place I do not even have the owners number
I just dealt with the ant attack that led me to the bugs.
I am learning to deal with this much less stress on me.
So the fact that the owner is so willing to help you I offer my congradulation on the new place.
I believe if you find any bugs the owner will deal with them promptly.
good luck. Annie
Hi, I just found this website and I wanted to ask some questions. Last year we moved into a rental home while building our new house. While there we started seeing little black bugs in my car. I have 2 small kids and they’re always dropping food in the car. I had my husband take it to our local pest control, but of course, they didn’t see anything. There are small black spots and a few holes on the ceiling of the car also. From what I found online, I felt like I was dealing with carpet beetles.
When we moved into our new home, I wouldn’t even carry boxes in my car, not wanting to bring anything into our new home. After moving, we stopped seeing them, so I thought, YAY our problem is over. Well, I saw one in my car about a month ago. Then I looked in a bag of items I had removed from the car when I cleaned it out. There were larvae inside a pair of socks that had been left there. Then I found a larva inside a hat that my son had left on the floor of the car. I basically took the car apart and found an old hotdog that had fallen under my son’s seat (I’m actually a meticulously clean person – please don’t think I’m gross! I never knew the hotdog was there.) There were probably 20 – 40 larvae throughout my car, but most were near the hotdog. My husband took everything out, vacuumed the car, and sprayed under the seats with something the exterminator recommended. Now I won’t even drive my own car!
I am having panic attacks every day and I feel like they are taking control of my life. I have taken everything out of every drawer in our house and everything out of the closets. I have found a few larvae in things that had been in the car. I am so scared that I am missing something that might still be in my house. I vacuum almost daily now (thank God for my Rainbow vac – I am able to look at everything I vacuum and I am not seeing ANY bugs in what I’m vacuuming up.) Our local exterminator came and did a crack & crevice spray today inside and outside of our house. What else do you all recommend. I feel totally out of control with this. I have taken everything out of every drawer and closet in my house and am not finding anything except the few that were on items previously mentioned that had been in the car, but I am SO anxious that I don’t know what to do. I want to sell my car, but I don’t want anyone else to go through what I’m going through. The pest control people say that spraying the carpet in it and just vacuuming will do the trick. Do you think having it detailed will take care of it? I cannot sleep at night and I am having panic attacks throughout the day. I haven’t had panic attacks in years. This is literally driving me crazy, probably because I am such a clean freak and I can’t control this! Please offer any suggestions. I don’t know what to do. I am praying nonstop that it will be taken care of. Please HELP!
Lea,
You sound like me…I am always on the verge of being obsessed with these ugly critters, but then I force myself to take a step back. I noticed these bugs in my house last August (actually before then, but didn’t realize what they were) and I tore apart my house and vacummed every crack and crevice. I also had my pest control spray several times for them. I didn’t see them all winter, and then a few weeks ago I started seeing the actual beetle (prior to this I was only seeing larvae). Within the past few weeks I have seen about 50-75 beetles crawling in different areas of my house. I am trying not to get hysterical about it…I have been vacumming again, hoping that I will get any eggs that they may be laying. According to timing of their life cycle, I should start to see larvae any time now, if they have laid eggs. I did see one larvae, which didn’t even match up to the beetle that I have been seeing…it was a black carpet beetle larvae and I haven’t seen any of those…where the heck did he come from,I don’t know. He also seemed pretty large and grown, so I don’t know!!!!
I would have thought that a car would be easy to exterminate because it is so limited in size and contained???? Guess not…. I do think that it is easy to cross contaminate though, because now that I am more aware of them, before I pick something off the floor and put it on a shelf or wherever, I try to inspect and make sure it doesn’t have any CB crawling on it.
Good luck , and take a deep breath!
lea – I thnk some people have had CB in their cars. Definitely get it detailed or if you want to go an extreme, have them replace all the car seat fabrics. But I would try detailing first. They are very thorough and make sure to always clean up after your kids drop things in the car. And no, no one thinks you’re gross. At this point it seems like the CB come regardless of cleanliness. I found them in my room where the past owner was anally clean. After we vacuumed the place up, I haven’t seen them for 3 days. I check everyday and I thnk you should check your car too with a flashlight. Ask the exterminator to spray your whole car, even if they don’t see it, just to be safe and just air it out after a few hours or whatever they recommend. I would throw away things that have had larvae on them if not wash them immediately on high heat. Most exterminators also have a guarantee so you can have them come and continue to spray until teh bugs are gone. I totally understand hwo you feel I’m the same way. I felt like I was itching everytime I went to sleep.
I have dreams (or nightmares rather) about carpet beetles because clearly they preoccupy my thoughts. I’m sure my BF thinks I’m completely crazy. He never even notices any CBs but I do. Apparently they are as common as the fly so I don’t think we can ever totally stop them coming in to our homes.
yeah, it seems like the majority of the posters here are female. I’m not sure if guys really care that CB can destroy your things. I’ve been told by my guy friend and bf that it’s just “stuff” and I can replace it with new stuff. Some things you just can’t part with or afford to replace, but they just don’t understand that.
By the way, it’s my 5th day at my new place and I still haven’t seen any more CB. I’m waiting two weeks to unpack my stuff because they said that’s about how long it takes for CB to hatch. I hope my roommates dont’ think i’m crazy/lazy for not unpacking but I just want to be safe.
Yeah it seems like you can’t stop them, just gotta remain watchful. But it makes me never want to leave a window or door open now.
Hey everyone,
I am a guy, and I thought I would post up on here since I just found this site.
Within the past few months I came to find out that we had a problem in our home, and that problem has become a true nuisance! At first I had noticed a couple sweaters of mine hanging in our closet, and they both were mainly wool, that had some major holes in them in a couple areas. The holes were not really big, but they were in “clumps”, and there was sort of a pattern to them in a way.
Anyhow, the first thought was that it was damage done by moths, but that wound up being far from what the damage was actually from. I had noticed at different times before I found the sweaters…some small shells/skins laying in the closet at different times, and I never knew what they were from. After finding the sweaters then I decided to look at my suits, and after pulling a couple of them out of the closet to inspect…my heart sunk! The first jacket I inspected was completely ruined, and the back and shoulder sections were completely destroyed! Eaten by something! The second suit I looked at had similar holes, and had completely been ruined too! In total I think there were 4 suits I pulled out that were just toast!
I can not remember at what point I thought there has to be something behind this other than moths! I looked some stuff up one night, and I ran across something I do not think I had heard of before then. Carpet Beetles? I saw the pictures and read up on them a bit, and after reading that they would eat away at natural fibers, I thought maybe this is what ate my suits? I then got a little worried, and I remember pulling out another suit jacket we had in our daughters closet. Low and behold it too had been massacred! I had a couple more jackets hanging on the back of the door to our bedroom, and I checked them as well. Wow! They are toasted too! What’s this? I see something crawling around on the lapel of this jacket…what in the world? That is just like what I saw online! A varied CB! Ugh!
Since I realized we had them dwelling within our home, I have to be honest, I have been stressed out in a major way! I have had them in my dreams (seriously), I have been finding the full grown things on a regular basis near doorways etc. I have killed countless carpet beetles in the past few months, and I have been going nuts!
In all, there were 6 of my suits that were totally eaten by these things! Now, I am not hugely materialistic or anything, but we do not have steady finances coming in like we did in years past. So, to have 6 suits that were about $2,500-$3,000 in all just completely ruined…it made me sick, and it also made me very concerned!
We have found some of the larvae recently, and are in the process of completely cleaning!
I feel like I am overly stressed out by these things, and I am very sure I am more worried over these than my Wife is.
I feel the pain of all those that have posted, and if you have these uninvited guests too…I know where you are coming from!
Lea, OMG I know how you feel. I was that way at my last home with the ant swarms. NOT scouts but swarms from day one in the bedroom. they were nesting in the wood railings etc.
I still need to post my photos. Last night I found a dead beetle in my closet. Probably because I sprayed for mites and fleas being under the attic in a duplex. My son had roommates that did not use flea protedtion on their NON -Neutered dogs. Needless to say they are out of the house and we are both still cleaning . He bombed his place and I sprayed mine. Fleas are good at hitchhiking plus he just adopted a yr old dog.
Anyway I will try to get my photos up I think I may be larder beetles.
As for knowing how the stress is. The ants were actually under the carpet in my room as the floor had wood rot. I had complained that they were stuck in the weave. Yes oh yes. stuck in the weave of the rug. They always were carrying eggs when it rained as well.
I am a super clean freak as I have pets- 2 Box turtles, cats and rats and shudder to think of bugs in their homes or mine.
All goes back to me finding my cats food bowl full of ants when I was little.
Waiting to hear from the owner of this home.
Off topic. to make everyone smile and laugh check out this link re: a dog
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/in-the-doghouse-guilty-dog-on-gma-24642455
Hope it takes some stress away.
Hi Everyone!!! Long time no talk! I have not been on this website I think since last Spring/Summer and here I am again… and for those of you who remember my initial “sighting” I was extremely frantic and just getting ready to have a baby… Oh my goodness you want to talk about a nightmare… I lived it!!! Well here I am… pregnant again and seeing the evidence of those nasty beetles and larva… I love winter… I don’t see evidence at all… and them BAM!!! Comes Spring… well actually I start seeing them around February. I am so “fortunate” to have 2 types of the beetles living in my house. I am sure I know where the source is… It is up in the attick/crawlspace where I had a birds nest. I am sure there is no source inside of my house as I have taken this house apart and cleaned it to extreme details.
So what has changed since then as far as anyone seeing one particular thing working? Just curious… Also does anyone live in harsh winter areas like Michigan/Minnesota etc and still have beetles? I live in Oregon and we do not have harsh winters at all… a short time we will have below freezing temps but not long enough to kill these buggers.
Oh here comes the frantic cleaning again and the stress… I know my situation will not change unless we get to the source of the problem and for us that is going to cost money that my husband will not be willing to invest in as we are looking to move within the year. But I am not kidding myself when I say I will probably take them with me…. unless I dump all my furniture, which we can not afford to do.
For those of you who are new… I just want to say, it will get better… I mean if you clean and clean and vacuum regularly the sightings will lessen… and what does get better is your obsession with them… at least it did for me. But it takes a long time. I have never in my life experienced such stress as I did with these things… NEVER.
PS A lady called me from some cable show about bugs was doing a story on the stress involved and how devistating infestations are to people… I guess she did not feel our CB situation was that stressful as I never heard from her again… WHO IS SHE KIDDING?… just read the testamonies on this site and she will see how devistating it truely is!
I pray we all have better luck this Spring… not me… I am off to a bad start with too many to count sightings in every room!
Melissa – I saw that infestation show that the lady contacted you about. That’s what spurned me onto research what those bugs I had in my house were and made me realize I did have a small infestation. I’ve since moved out of my place and recently met with my old landlord and we still saw a few in the kitchen. The numbers are down but she told me the exterminator was baffled as to why it kept coming back. They will be spraying for a 3rd time but i still have my doubts. My landlords are showing the place to a new person, which I totally am worried about for the new tenant, but I guess it’s out of my hands now since I don’t live there anymore. It’s been one week since I moved into my new place and I have not seen a single beetle – adult or larvae. I don’t know if it’s because it’s been rainy and cold instead of springtime weather, but I’m hoping it’s coz there isn’t an infestation like my last place (coz I saw a lot dead when it was rainy and cold). However, my l andlord told me the exterminator said they have been getting a lot of calls for CB and bedbugs but in most cases he said customers never call back after the first spray. Maybe because the sprays worked or they just never saw them again. That’s why it baffled him as to why they had to keep spraying.
I’m sorry to hear you’re pregnant and having to deal with them again. I know I definitely would be super stressed out even more and I don’t even have kids!
Also a funny thing, my landlord said she had a dream about the CB but she said she found them in the kitchen and they were HUGE. Like the size of a cup haha. I guess she’s been worrying about them too.
Uh-oh…..I think we have carpet beetles too……
I’ve been researching a bit and have NO idea if what to do. In the past 3 days, I’ve found probably 10 on random walls, so I went searching. I found a kleenex under our bed that probably had 10 on it, and am in the process of washing ALL our clothes and vacuuming EVERYTHING. Does the amount I’ve found sound bad? Good? I have no idea! Are we heavily infested or is this nothing to worry about.
Please…..I’d love some advice. (I’m lucky, because my husband is out of town on business this week, which is letting me be all-consumed with cleaning…… I have a feeling he’ll think I’m going overboard, which I probably am. Anyway, I’d LOVE advice (or even just understanding and to know there’s someone else going overboard along with me.)
Thanks!
Tracy
Hey guys,
I posted earlier but just thought I’d ask again, has anyone used a steam cleaner/steam vacuum to kill these things? I have them for the over a year, they are back again happily chowing down on my clothes and I am so over them! I have tried everything. So this is just another thought? Maybe steam cleaning the beds, carpets etc?
Can’t find any source as they appear everywhere. Also does anyone believe that doing laundry in hot water and using the dryer on high kills them? I am not convinced.
I captured a few and they lasted for a few months, surviving in airtight containers…gave them names in the end as they were like weird little pets.
I do think they may be indestructible!!!
All superhero answers welcome…could really do with some saving ; )
Tracy,
I’m sure you’re not heavily infested.
Did you check under the bed and clean up the general area? The larvae of the CB like to live under beds because of the dust (skin, hair etc..) Check your woolen clothes and vacuum around the skirting boards, this is another place they like to hang out in my exeperience. The adults often turn up in the Spring, most people probably find them in their houses. I’m obsessed with the critters and hate them but have never been able to locate a source as such.
Andrea, I steam cleaned my carpets and hired a rug doctor cleaner but I still see the annoying little critters. I don’t think they’re in the main bulk of my carpet – maybe just the skirting board area but hiding under the skirting board mainly. I don’t know, I’ve never found a source they just show up randomly every now and again. I wish I could learn to live with them!
I hadn’t seen them in over a week and I thought it would be safe to unpack my clothes (I was waiting 2 weeks to see if any hatched). I think because the past week was kinda gloomy and rainy, maybe they weren’t there, but once it got warm, I saw them again yesterday. I found 3 – 1 on the carpet which I happened to see randomly, and another two in the bathroom which was tile…there’s no food source at all in there. I had even vacuumed a couple days ago and sprayed all the baseboards with Ortho Max, but still saw them. My owner is having an exterminator come and spray. I don’t think there’s an infestation in my room but the fact that I see them just creeps me out.
Cynthia, do you think they are just everywhere? That’s the conclusion I’ve come to. I don’t even think the exterminators can get rid of them completely because of the beetles ability to hide and feed in hard to reach places, but I guess at least it will keep the numbers down. I’m sure I just see them more now because of my obsession with them so you become more aware of them. I still freak whenever I see one in my house. If I see one elsewhere then I’m glad as it makes me realise they’re not just haunting me!!!
I don’t know if they’re everywhere. We haven’t seen them in the rest of the house, just in my room. Before I moved in, we found out that the balcony door was left open for some time before the owner realized it and closed it. She thinks in that period, they could have come in and started laying eggs. Because when I first moved in we found about 15 adults and we saw 1 larvae to my knowledge. We thnk it’s concentrated only in my room because the room door was shut and think it didnt spread to the other rooms.
Yeah, I don’t think the exterminators can get rid of them either. At my last place I still saw them everyday even after two sprays. I feel like I’ll be forced to live with them and I just feel hopeless. I really don’t want to move again for fear they’ll be there too just as everyone said on this board.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot in my room, but I worry once I unpack and maybe once the eggs I haven’t seen yet hatch, it’ll get worse…I don’t know. How many do you see a day Juliette? I think the problem is that I have never seen it in any other homes and trust me I’ve looked. Even homes with dogs and dirt around – I still haven’t really seen it – except the ones I happen to move into. Sigh.
Cynthia, I’m sure it’s not just places you move to that have them. I was convinced it was just me too but I know now it’s not. I’ve seen them in other people’s houses, in shops and at work. I know it’s not me bringing them to the different places I move to as well as I see them there before I even move my stuff in (larval skins round the skirting boards etc etc) Surely it can’t just be places I happen to go to can it? Well I’ve seen about 22 adults in my house since the end of January..I can spot them a mile away! I bug bombed my bedroom at the weekend, haven’t found any more as a result of that, or any at all in there since then. I live in a 4 bedroom house so I guess 22 isn’t THAT many but I hate them and it just freaks me out totally. I really would love to live in a carpet beetle free world. I think I just have a fear of infestations and stuff (I’ve got OCD)
Were the adults you found in your room all dead? Were they all in the same place or different places? I just don’t get where they come from. In my old house I got to the stage where I’d hardly see any in the Spring cos I was vacuuming every day, but still there were some. Think they live in wall voids and under skirting boards etc.
The adults I saw in my room were very much alive and very active. The ones on the carpet were especially active I think and I was surprised at how quick they moved. The ones I saw in my bathroom (all tile) seemed diffferent…they were darker but i don’t think they were quite the black beetles and those seemed more sluggish. I think one was dead already – not sure.
The ones at my old house were already dead or very very sluggish. I think also coz i had boric acid sprinkled all aroudn where I kept seeing them. Here it hasn’t been exterminated and I don’t think the owner would be too happy with me sprinkling boric acid all over the carpet. But today my room got sprayed…and again the exterminator said he wouldn’t do the tile or wood coz it’s just on carpet? That makes me nervous because that’s sooo not true according to a lot of people here on this board.
What did you use for your bug bomb? If I keep seeing it, I can probably suggest it just for my room. Yeah I think after experiencing the bugs, I’ve been extremely clean and neat. I examine every piece of lint, dirt etc. How do you spot them from a mile away? I thought I was pretty good at spotting them too, but the carpet I always end up having is always the same colors as the CB. the only way I saw them on the carpet was because I saw them moving. Yeah I figured they were in the boards because when I first saw them they were hanging out near there. yeah 22 isn’t that bad for 2 months. I worry too about the infestation and it’s not even my house!
Have any of your clothes been affected?
The ones in the bathroom I actually saw in the same area. I really don’t understand the bathroom because there’s absolutely nothing in there that they could eat or want. But maybe taht’s why they were dead. The one i recently found on the carpet was in the middle of the carpet and when I first moved in we only found them on the edges where the carpet met the wall. They were all on the surface so it was easy to find. So yeah I think they’re just scattered. There’s no birds nest or any nest of any kind. the owner has a contract with the exterminator for 7 years already to come out every 2 months to get rid of any bugs so this is really surprising to her too.
Cynthia, I can easily spot the CBs now as I know exactly what they look like and they show up easily in my house as I have light coloured carpet and light coloured walls. Any dot on the wall or carpet and I’m there straight away. I used a bug bomb specifically for carpet beetles which I got from the Internet. I read that chemicals don’t always work that well though because of the CBs ability to feed in “hidden” places but it made me feel a little better anyway to know I was doing something.
No, I’ve never noticed any damage to my clothes. I check all my draws etc regularly for any CB activity.
What is the name of the bug bomb? I might get it if i see them again. I don’t think the chemicals really work too, or if they do it takes a long time, which I guess is why they’re called residual.
There aren’t really many “hidden” places in my room unless I guess you count all of the carpet. Unforttunately the color of the carpet is a light brown and it makes it semi hard to find, but i think if i look hard enough i would be able to find them. Luckily I do have white walls so I can kill those…but I haven’t seen any on the walls since that very first day. I’m pretty sure they’re coming from the outside because we looked outside the balcony door and saw one out there. I wish I could open my door because it’s been getting hot but I’ma fraid I’ll let them in.
My problem started last Sept…..took up my rugs, washed all clothes, put them in bags, had the exterminator for $1200, they came back 4 times, gassed my walls, attic, basement and garage. No CBs since February. Had my bedroom floors refinished, replacing my living room/dining room floors and will NEVER have another carpet in my house. Now that it is spring, I have to make sure none come in to lay their eggs. It is such a pleasure not to have them anymore. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. The exterminator also steamed my upholstered furniture and my cat stands. (They eat pet hair) So the answer about steaming is yes, you can steam. If you have a Shark steamer, they have a cover you can put on the end to absorb the moisture and you can steam between the floor and the molding. Don’t get it wet though, you could end up with mold. I extended my exterminator contract through the end of the year so they will stay on top of the problem. A very good spray is Raid Max Bug Barrier. It kills the beetles and the larvae. Just make sure it dries before you do back in the room. Hate these things!!!!
Just checking in again. The last week of March and first week of April I found six more beetles (I reported a general elimination of my carpet beetles last August and I promised to keep checking in to follow up). It must have been the peak of carpet beetle season here. It turns out that I still had one more wool garment in my closet, and it had two shed skins on it. I don’t know how I missed it the first time. Now I’m going to recheck all of my clothes for fiber content. I haven’t found any new beetles for 2 weeks. Maybe the season for them is coming to a close. Also, I have a few furniture pieces that contain small portions of wool. They are heirlooms, so I’m not getting rid of them. I placed fresh cedar-chip sachets in them to keep the moths out, so the beetles can’t feed on the moths. Now I hate the moths even more than the beetles. The tiny things are harder to catch and not only do they eat wool, but the carpet beetles are attracted to their pupae as a food source. In earlier postings I’ve detailed how the tiny wool moths have a pupa casing that looks like a tiny, flat, grey, canoe-shaped earing dangling from walls or laying on floors. The pupa will even walk around with this casing for a while. It just pokes the front of its body out and starts crawling. It retreats back into the casing to sleep, or to hide from enemies. I have found many carpet beetles next to and stuck onto these used moth casings. Also, the moths are much more numerous than the beetles, and they fly around day and night, getting into my home on a regular basis. Since, in my case, they are the primary attraction for the beetles and they are harder to keep out, I’m more concerned about them than the beetles.
it will be a month since our exterminator came out to spray. I have not seen any more in my room (thank goodness!) and I finally unpacked my boxes. I know I’m not supposed to keep cardboard boxes for a long time but when I packed, I had wrapped all the boxes in huge plastic trash bags and zipp tied them. I did not see anything int he boxes when I emptied them out either so here’s to hoping nothing came back with me.
We did however see around 5 carpet beetles on the carpeted stairs, luckily on the bottom half of the stairs. I don’t know if they were escaping from my room or just trying to escape because the majority of them were on the very bottom row and I even saw one on the wood floor. The exterminator did not spray the first floor of the house because he said it was all tile/wood. I don’t think exterminators realize that just because it’s called a carpet beetle, that it still is on tile/wood. So we’ll probably have to have them come out and spray the first floor which they should have just done the first time. I saw a lone CB on the tile a couple days ago. I’m glad that in a month all we’ve seen is 6. The weather here is really off an on, some days it’s really hot, some days it’s cold. I don’t know if that’s contributing to the lack of CB. Because itseems like I only see them on relatively hot days.
Della I hope it is the end of their season.
Is it strange that I feel somewhat (not enough but better than nothing) comforted to know I’m not alone in my carpet beetle paranoia? Ugh how I wish I could go back to my life where by comparison of where I am now I was blissful. Happily going about my life not knowing such a thing as a CB existed. Everyone thinks I’m nuts or dirty, and I find myself staying at work or going anywhere else to just not be at home.
This all started a year ago almost to the day, when I was forced to find an apartment in a fairly quick amount of time. I took the apartment and relished having a place that was finally all mine…until the time came when I saw some sort of black beetle on the carpet in the living room. “ewwww” I thought, and realized I would have to be the one to kill it. Living alone wasn’t so great any more. It got worse when I started seeing them in the bathroom. Black and very quick and always seeming to pop out of nowhere. After seeing too many (really for me 1 was plenty) I googled and quickly found carpet beetles.
I called my landlord and asked if the previous tenant had issues and he said no (and accused ME of bringing them). I lived at my old apartment for a year and a half and only cleaned when I absolutely HAD to because with my work schedule the little time I have at home I don’t want to be cleaning all the time. The place was all hardwood and on the second floor. We didn’t even see a fly in the time my roommate and I lived there. Naturally I was insulted when he said I had brought them. He called an exterminator, which he just happened to know (isn’t that convenient for a guy who’s apartment never had bugs before?). The exterminator proceeded to tell me black carpet beetles don’t live in this area (northern Ontario…it’s darn cold here minus 40 at times and we’re expecting 10 cms of snow tomorrow) and they were probably flour beetles. He sprayed and told me I may see dead ones for the next while. I saw live ones instead and somewhere in here decided to find another apartment (after the exterminator said he wouldn’t spray again until the landlord paid him…he eventually did spray again just before I left).
I lucked out and found one that came furnished so I took it but had to tell the new landlord what kind of situation I was in. She seemed reluctant to let me move into her place because she didn’t want me bringing the bugs with me. Paranoid of bringing them with me I threw out more stuff than I could afford to, but if it wasn’t essential or could be rebought it was gone. Since it was furnished I left my bed and couch behind. Like a crazy person I shredded old papers and wiped hard surfaces like DVDs and my computer off with Clorox wipes. I took all my clothes and stuffed animals to the laundromat. I threw out the clothes I wore while moving everything.
For months I only got dressed in the kitchen in case anything was going to fall out of my clothes. I’ve lived at the new place for 7 months (September until now) and have never lived a day where I didn’t feel on edge, just expecting that the second I got comfortable they’d be back. But even still I was still rocked out of the realm of sanity when I saw a strange bug in my bed about a month ago. I studied it enough to rationalize that it looked different from the other black beetles. It looked more round, more like those red ladybugs, only black with almost brown spots if you looked really hard. My mom and boyfriend calmed me down. Until last week when I saw a hairy wormy thing in my bathroom doorway. I was again trying to calm myself with “nope different bug” until I went “wait…I saw those in my google search last time.” Sure enough I determined after seeing a few more in that same spot they were carpet beetle larvae. I was freaked out at that point, and even more freaked when I saw one in the living room…which is closer to my bedroom than the bathroom. That means they were strewn about the apartment rather than localized.
It was the same nightmare again. Reading about them, looking at every piece of lint to determine if it’s moving or not. I had a bit of a breakdown yesterday. Sitting in the middle of the place feeling utterly helpless. If they followed me after moving how was I to get rid of them now? I felt terrible having to tell my nice landlord but felt like if I waited that would only make it worse. She had a different exterminator in and confirmed what I already knew and basically told me he’d spray if it got worse. How bad is worse?! These guys don’t sound like loners. Where there’s one there must be others hiding out. This exterminator gave me some peanut butter scented glue traps to try to catch them (which aren’t labelled for carpet beetles but mice…which I’d honestly trade for at this point cause at least they’re bigger, easier to spot and more known about how to get rid of)
I vacuumed my bedroom (the only room with wall to wall carpet) and am dreading cleaning the rest of the place. As it was I was worried that cleaning the bedroom would just move them in there, if they aren’t there already. That’s the only room I haven’t found any in…knock on wood, so I didn’t want to clean it after the rest of the place for that reason of worrying of bringing them in there from other areas.
I saw one on the wall in the bathroom last night. That sent me for a whole other loop. Great now I had to be looking around and above me rather than just on the floor? I then worried that they had laid eggs in the towel I used to dry my hair and that they’d crawl into my ears, or at least my bed…thus undoing all the vacuuming I just did.
I’m a nervous wreck. If I couldn’t get rid of them with moving, how can I hope to get rid of them staying in the same place? I feel like they’re crawling in the clothes I’m wearing. I can only basically allow myself not to worry that they’ve laid eggs on the silverware and plates because I’m functioning enough to eat and go to work but the rest of the day my mind runs rampant. I washed the laundry (I keep the basket in the bathroom) and couldn’t bring myself to put it away in my bedroom. I kept telling myself the dryer would kill anything, but couldn’t do it.
Is there any way to get rid of these or am I faced with having unwanted roommates for the rest of my life? My boyfriend thinks I’m nuts I’m sure of it. He tries to point out that they’re not a big deal because the exterminator said they won’t kill me, but obviously he doesn’t understand what it’s like to have these things crawling in his home.
Hi Amanda,
Your situation almost sounds pretty similar to mine. I had my own place and I was really content for about 5 months when I saw probably 20 dead in the kitchen on the hardwood floors. I had seen the beetles every now and then on the walls, but for the most part I didn’t see them that often. The only thing is my landlords were really sympathetic about it and did their best to get rid of them. I eventually mvoed out because I kept seeing at least 5 a day and that was too much for me to handle. The next place I went to was spotless and the day I moved I spotted around 15 in my room, including larvae. Luckily I hadn’t moved in anything yet, but my landlord came that day and I told her immediately. She immediately got an exterminator and sprayed. the new place isn’t as bad, but I think you need to get the exterminator ASAP, regardless of how “worse” it can get. Because we had our place sprayed and I have not seen them again my in my room, but now the first floor I spotted six. You may or may not have brought them, but they can pretty much come in through windows or doors you leave open – that’s how mine got in. They generally won’t touch silverware or plates, but if you worry, just wash everything before you use it. At my old place, I pretty much stopped eating coz I couldn’t bare to give them more food or crumbs. I would just vacuum everything, it’s better to have that peace of mind knowing you cleaned them up rather than letting them continue to breed.
Have you seen holes in your clothes? If you haven’t, I don’t think they’re in your clothes. I felt the same thing too, especially when I was in bed, i felt itchy constantly. But they never got in my bed or my clothes. I bagged all my clothes up just to make sure in ziplock bags. That’s the only way to go as most of the people here have said. In my new place, even though I know they’re still lurking, I have unpacked and I vacuum my room every week and check for them everyday. I haven’t seen them for 3 weeks so I started to feel better, but I think they only have one life cycle so right now might just be their season. The best thing is to get rid of all of them whther it be by extermination (and make them come out as many times as possible as most extermianator companies have a guarantee to come out as many times if you still see the bugs) and vacuum everything.
Has anyone ever gotten rid of these… My story is much last the rest, we have ripped walls out, two pest compinies, cleaned, washed, etc. They are all over the place. It has been months and we are still seeing them.. I would love to her from someone who has fought and won!
No beetles or larvae for almost 3 months…..keeping my fingers crossed!
Hello! Can anybody describe how a shed larvae skin would look on a varied carpet beetle? We had lived in a place for 4 years and our carpet beetle problem got progressively worse. We moved about a month ago and washed all our clothes, linens, etc and got rid of tons of furniture (like our bed, couch, old blankets and pillows) but still found one or two strays in the beginning after the move but nothing since. Anyway the other day I noticed a black little outline of what seems like a larvae (though I’ve never seen one before – just pictures online), except it was black and when I went to pick it up with a paper towel, it just crumbled into ‘dust’. Does this sound like it could be a shed skin of a carpet beetle, or am I being paranoid? We’ve been dusting with boric acid, and scouring all our walls (where we found the first two) and haven’t seen any sign of them but really don’t want to deal with the headache all over again.
I found another tiny beetle. Do you all walk around with a magnifying glass. I can not believe how tiny they are. I took it to the agriculture dept and left it for the bug specialist. He said it was definitly a carpet beetle and to vacuum , vacuum, vacuum and more vacuum. My problem is I am renting and no one has cleaned under the fridge , stove or dryer probably since the place was built. I am just about to sit an write a letter to the owner.
How do you spot them without a magnifyer?? I can tell they have been here but the other odd issue is that they are in my cabinets. I checked the rug and did not find any.
Has anyone else had them in the cabinets. I am guessing I must have another type of beetle as well. I spend every evening looking for beetles. its horrid.
The one I took in was smaller then the top of an eraser to a pencil. Maybe as big as the “o” swear. yet I know there is larvae everywhere and can’t see them except in the grain of the wood.
I did not want to spray until I had proof of what they are.
Are yours bigger ???
I am in northern california if that makes any difference.
thanks
ps my cats are scratching but do not go outside , have no flea dirt and no bites.
Annie I’ve read that they can get into food and stuff too…hence why all of my food is now in plastic snap-lid containers. Sigh living like this isn’t fun. I’m in an apartment too and also dreading what could be under the fridge and stove. It’s crazy how people have no clue about these little bugs.