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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And so the story goes…. funny, ha, ha…..yes a joke about doing everything except show up at my next place naked. Welllllllllll, nakedness here we come. We are taking nothing and hoping like hell these things do not attach to our skin or hair or some crazy shit like that. What a nightmare.
i went to brush my cat today and found one of these little larvae squirming around on the brush, im not sure if it got there after i started brushing the cat or if it was already on the brush( grosses me out to think they live on the cat) i also found two dead adults near the wall but thats all i have found i cant seem to find any more but im worried it could get worse since i have found one
I just lost 1 tuxedo, 3 suits, 1 blazer, 1 camel hair jacket and 4 pairs of wool pants (including the ones from my wedding) to these things. This infestation in my closet must have come on fast. Like a previous post, we also just had our carpet cleaned about a week ago. Don’t know if there is a correlation. My wife and I have a very clean house and have never noticed any of these bugs in the past 3 years we have lived here. The wool material items are ruined, but the button down cotton shirts they were on appear ok. Is that to be expected or should I worry that they are on the next days menu? I am taking everything that wasn’t thrown away to the dry cleaner tomorrow. We vacuumed the infected area and sprayed with Home Defense Max. Also calling our local exterminator first thing in the AM. Is there anything else to recommend? They had spread along the baseboard close to our bed so we are a little freaked out.
Thanks.
omg!! so what everyone is basically saying is that no matter what u will never be able to get rid of these beetles indefinetley?? i have only just started finding them 2 month ago since then i hoover twice a day and bleach floors once a day and there seems to be no budging them! i have 3 babies under the age of 4 and im starting to get really worried about their health, does anyone know if theses critters give of a scent? as the first room i starteed finding them in was my daughters which was strange as she don’t eat in her room and there is laminate flooring too, now there is a strange smell in ther room that i cannot describe, since then i have found them under the couches, beds and in clothing! im at the end of my tether there must be someway to get rid??? helllpppppp!!
http://www.essortment.com/home/dermestidscarpe_syds.htm
i found this link it talks about alternative ways to get rid of them?!
wow i cannot belive how many people have these things! well after looking these things up i know i have them, we first found them in the kitchen over a couple of days it started like 1 or 2 a day then one night there was a few so since i have a 2 year old son i was on the computer for hours trying 2 figure out what to do. the next day i shipped of my son to his grandmas and started cleaning and i mean cleaning, evey part of my home was ripped out all bedding cleaned, curtians the lot was cleaned. i found a couple of dead ones in cuboards and a couple of damaged teddys which i threw out. then i went in my sons room and all was well at first until i moved his wardrobe and there where 3 one was dead but that was it, i threw out all his toys that were near them and scrubbed his room and pulled it apart as i did with every other room and there is nothing else, and i cannot find any more anywere i have checked every corner of this place and threw all my junk out and still no eggs or adults. so i really dont know what 2 do now, we did seal up holes where we thought they could be coming from do u think we could have cut them off? and how come we have only found our’s on the floor and some dead, i know i should be thankful but not finding them makes me think i have missed something which would be hard since i have had OCD since finding these things. please help.
Thank goodness I found this website. I just discovered carpet beetle larvae in my house to weeks ago when changing sheets on our bed. I had never hear od these things before and I am embarrassed to ask people about it. I haven’t had a good night sleep since by discovery. My husband and I don’t know what to do. We are afraid to use pesticides because I am 7 month pregnant. We have cleaned all our clothes and are keeping them in plastic boxes. We threw out our bed and I am afraid to get a new one. I can’t live like this fovever. We have thrown out so many things!!! It breaks my heart. Has anyone heard of heating the house ( thermal remediation) for this problem?
“Has anyone heard of heating the house ( thermal remediation) for this problem?”
Well, now I have. Poking around a bit, it looks like thermal remediation is mainly used for bedbug control. I expect it would be fully effective on carpet beetles, too. It basically sounds like they go over the house with a heat gun. It would certainly have the advantage of leaving no pesticide residue, although some plastic items might get melted (and there is probably some small risk of setting the house on fire). There are some pros and cons given here:
Bed Bug Management (pdf)
Of course, I personally don’t think the carpet beetles are enough of a danger to warrant any treatment beyond vacuuming up hair and dirt under the bed, and storing wool or leather items in closed plastic boxes (or with mothballs). I can understand that the idea of little larvae in the bedding can be deeply creepy if you don’t like bugs, but they really aren’t going to do anything to you.
Thanks for your comments re Carpet Beetles Tim. I have had a phobia of these bugs since I first discovered them 5 years ago! This soon developed in to severe OCD. i was totally paranoid about these things and would search for them constantly, examining lint behind baseboards, emptying out cupboards weekly, hoovering on a daily basis, etc…. I even moved in the end but of course found a larvae in my new house the minute I got there (on inspecting the carpet around the baseboard!) this was before I had moved any of my things in to the new house. I’ve also seen them at work and in other people’s houses. I guess ignorance is bliss and most people are totally unaware of their presence. Once you find these things that’s it! The most I ever found was about 5 on an old leather bag. Other’s I’ve just seen ramdomly from time to time and can’t ever figure out what they’re eating. I saw one the other day crawling up a wall, no evident food source near by. Do they live under baseboards and in wall cavities etc.? I think many websites made my OCD worse making it sound as though finding one larvae in a house means you have a “hidden infestation”. Your words on this critters have given me some hope that it’s not just me that’s plagued by this things but that every house has at least some of them even if the occupents are blissfully unaware of their presence!
Angel: I’m glad you’re finding this helpful. I think they are generally present in the walls, particularly if there are mice or other insects about.
And as for “ignorance is bliss”, I think that’s a good point: most people are probably happier just pretending they aren’t there. There are a lot of things that most people are probably happier not knowing about, or at least not dwelling on. For example, I probably shouldn’t mention eyelash mites. But, I see I just did . . .
Oh I’m not even going to read up about eyelash mites!
If one was to put insecticide down around the baseboards (as some websites suggest) that may not get rid of the carpet beetles as wouldn’t it also kill other insects which would be under the baseboard and this would provide further food for the carpet beetles? I don’t think I have any mice but I guess there are insects and debris under the baseboards and other inaccessible places in all houses, does this mean that the beetles are inevitable and it’s just a case of preventing them from attacking personal goods? Thank you so much!
Oh man, i don’t know how long it takes these little bugs to do major damage, but they love wool like crazy. i think it puts their larva into a crazed eating frenzy. about 3 months ago i had done minor remodeling in my room… new laminate floor, new false celling, painted the walls, installed new switches and lights and a bunch of other stuff. naturally i moved all my stuff out and when it was all done i moved it all back. I looked at my $300 suit then and actually tried it on. no wholes, no bugs, nothing. I have a business trip in a day or so, so in preparation of my trip i started packing my bags. i pulled out my suit, and though there was little done to my suit’s pants, the jacket was devoured. It’s totally ruined. there are holes all over the place and some of them are larger than an inch in diameter. i found a few other things that have been munched on too. Oh i am so pissed off.
there are lots of bugs that devour dead things that don’t destroy hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of clothing and furniture. These little bugs are the work of the Devil!!!
i was changing some bedding today and noticed one of these carpet beetle larva (i didnt know what it was until i looked on the internet)i wouldnt say there were loads, i collected about 7 or 8, but thats just what i can see. they seem to be munching on my flooring underlay where i ran out of flooring and as my bed was covering the area i just left it with the underlay only
one question, ive been itching lately, could it be these, the majority of the ones i found were near my bed.
also i noticed little white things on the underlay, only just visible with the eye, are these just really young ones.
A few months ago I noticed a few “lady bugs” in my house. (that would mean it was during the summer time). My 4 yr old loved to play with them and then I would just put it outside. On hind site, I believe I must have had 10 or so of them during the span of a couple of weeks. I even thought to myself “this is weird!” But then they seemed to go away and I stoped seeing the live ones fly around. Then a few days ago, I notice rice looking things next to my bed. I am a pretty neat person and rarely eat in my room so I got very suspicious. Sure enough, they started to move. I was freakin’ out!!! I was up all night trying to find out what they were. I finally determined that they were carpet beetle larvae. So then I went straight away to work tearing everything out of all the closets and my girls room. I found them in every closet and room. Granted there weren’t that many in each room (except under my bed and under my girls bed there were about 15 or so). I have been so obsessed with this! I am relieved to know that I am not the only psycho path out there. But I do feel for everyone who is affected by this. It is a misserable thing. My husband is so at his last straw with me, as he doesn’t think it is a big deal. I am just different… I prefer bugs to be outside where they belong.
Anyway I have been doing hours of research and I have yet to find a description of what the eggs look like. I would like to know so that I can keep my eye out for them. Also, do the eggs all hatch at one time or do some hatch and then others hatch at a later time. I read somewhere that it can take up to 35 days for them to hatch. Does this mean if I do not see any live beetles around that they have all laid their eggs. And that since I am seeing larvae that in 35 days I should assume that all the eggs have hatched.
I have been vacuuming tirelessly for days and doing tons of laundry. And I have not seen any larvae for a day or so. Is this good news?
Hi Melissa,
I understand what your’e going through. I have been “obsessed” with these bugs since I first discovered them 5 years ago! I am now on prozac as my obsession with them began to take over my life. Please don’t let this happen to you too! I have come to the conclusion that they are unavoidable. No matter how hard you try they will always be there to some extent; it’s just a matter of keeping them under control. They can live off dead insects, dust, hair etc.. so it’s really almost impossible to eradicate them – they can live in wall voids and under floor boards. I think that as long as you don’t leave wool products around for ages and regularly clean they shouldn’t get out of control. I still freak out every time I see either a larvae or a beetle but I try and remind myself they are everywhere, just most people don’t notice them! Good luck
Hi Angel,
I feel like I am going to be one of those people who lets this bug thing control their lives. Of all the things to really get to me, bugs will do it. Especially in my bedroom and in my bed! I have been making my husband lift the bed and move it everynight so that I can vacuum the bed and change the sheets. He thinks I am totally crazy. And I guess I spoke too soon! I said in my last blog that I had not seen any live larvae in a day or so, but last night when I was doing my 3 hour routine, I notced more in my room. One was on the wall above my bed!!!!
Do you know what the eggs look like?
Does anyone know what the eggs look like?
I’ve never seen the eggs, but based on the size of the larvae, I expect that they are practically microscopic and very hard to spot. Most insect eggs are white, for what that’s worth.
Hi Melissa
I can totally empathise with you. It’s a horrible situation to be in. I am still trying to control my obsession with carpet beetles, it’s been 5 years so far! I’ve never seen the eggs so can’t really help there. I moved from my old flat to try and get rid of these bugs but the day I moved in to my new house I found them before I’d even moved any of my belongings in so I really do think they are in every house; mostly in small numbers I’d imagine. I got so bad that I was using a torch and implement to “dig” out the dust and debris from behind skirting boards etc. etc. searching for evidence of larvae. I made my husband deep clean the loft! had all new carpets/flooring fitted. I hoover every day, empty out cuboards regularly, but still I ocassionally find a larvae. I’ve only seen 2/3 over the last couple of years but still I freak out whenever I do. I really hope you don’t let these bugs take over your life as I have done.
Thanks Tim,
It seems to me that you are very knowledgeable in this area, so maybe you can help me understand. Is it true that the eggs will hatch within 35 days? (I read that is the longest it should take). And there has been no evidence of live beetles in my house for at least a couple of months. So I am not concerned with new eggs being deposited. If I continue the process of keeping everything out of my closets and detail vacuuming/ steam cleaning carpets for 35 days, then why won’t I get rid of them completely? Has anyone ever had complete sucess getting rid of them?
Angel,
So it sounds like I am never going to have complete relief from this mess!!! Have you ever heard of anyone having success with getting rid of them completly?
So yesterday my husband and I continued with the cleaning process. I am due to deliver a baby in one month and this routine I have found myself in is starting to take a toll on me. I can’t move the big furniture by myself, so I have to wait until my husband feels like helping me. Anyway, yesterday I made him move the washer and dryer so I can clean under it. He is so at his last straw with this whole thing, so I am sure he was not really wanting to do it. But lo and behold, we found almost 20 larva underneath them…. just feasting away on lint. I think he realized at that point that moving of furniture has to be done. Tomorrow the last pieces of furniture that we have to move is the refrigerator and the stove in the kitchen. But we recently cleaned under them a couple of months ago. Hopefully we wont find anything under there.
Does your obsession with these beetles ever get less or do you still think about them everyday. I have only been dealing with this situation for about a week, I can’t imagine having to go through this for 5 yrs. I would think moving would do it. The next house I buy I want it to be new. But we just bought our house 2 yrs ago. So we are not going anywhere for a while. But believe me the thought of moving has crossed my mind. I really hope you find peace through all this. I have been praying that God takes these bugs out of my house. I will pray for you too!
Melissa:
You can almost certainly reduce them to negligible levels by working hard at it as you have been doing. You’ll probably even eliminate them for long periods. You could still get the occasional adult beetles coming in from outdoors, because they do fly around outside (I understand the adults like to eat nectar and pollen). Since they are very small, they can easily get in through cracks in the walls, poorly-fitting window screens, or even fly in the door with people coming and going. But, as long as there is nothing tempting for their larvae to eat in your house, they probably won’t get re-established.
Okay…. so I thought I was doing good and was getting a handle on these pests. Well I saw several larva yesterday… one of which was hanging out on the bottom of my matteras… even though I pull it every night and have been vacuuming every day for the past 12 days! And to make matters worse… I just found a live black carpet beetle hanging out by the window in my downstairs bathroom. I think what happened is we had an exterminator to come and inspect our attic, which is where I suspected we had a birds nest back in Spring. And my husband went up with him. But my husband didnt know to walk on the wooden beams and put his foot through the ceiling! All this insulation came crashing down onto our bathroom floor all over my clean laundry. When we were cleaning up the insulation I found a dead black beetle that looked just like a carpet beetle. Incidently, we do have an old birds nest in the attic. I believe this is where our problems have stemmed from and now we have to get rid of it and put microban in there to kill stuff up there. UGH!!!!! This is never going to end. And I have all my stuff still pulled out of all the closets and have been vacuuming like mad every day!
Melissa,
I found some larvaes before our hols in our bathroom and it took me quite long time to identify what it is. Let´s be happy that at least we have no fleas or so at home…
You can try this page which I found today: ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/black-carpet-beetle
It is very detailed. I am also very obsessive about any such stuff in house. I keep checking all dark spots evry day but they are very well hidden and they unexpectedly appear wandering in various rooms of our appartment. I must admit that English pages are much more practical while Czech ones are only concentrated on science and photos.
We should start a self-help carpet beetle group. I’ve seen the occasional carpet beetle adult/larva since I can remember, for years. I never seen them in groups, just stragglers. If it makes you feel better, I found about 7 under my bed by the vent, and along the edge of the wall/floor, 1 under my mattress. Mind you, this is from someone who never thinks about dusting under his bed, and there was less than a dozen. I don’t think they have a good survival rate, unless there’s a good food source. I do eat in my room, but do not leave a mess, and I do not own any wool clothing. I have never seen them in my closet, and I don’t want to search for them in my closet, and I’m keeping it that way. The only other bugs I have ever seen in my house are centipedes, but that’s a story for another day.
I have discovered this website tonight and have found it helpful that I am not alone with this terrible carpet beetle situation. I had the problem diagnosed in April and was told by several exterminators that I had to bomb my home. I have three small children and this was a huge task. I had to clean out all of the closets, throw out stuffed animals, clothes and toys. I spend hundreds of dollars on dry cleaning bills also. I found the carpet beetles throughout my home, in closets, the attic, and my finished basement. The exterminators we hired said that the home had to be bombed twice, ten days after the first bombing in order to kill the larve. My family and I left the home for two weeks while this went on. After we returned, I continued to see larve and adult beeltes. I called the exterminators back in and they treated my home with sprays. I kept seeing the bugs and I kept calling back the exterminators because they claimed that they would get rid of the bugs. All in all, my house was bombed twice and treated seven times (three times the whole house and four times parts of the home) where I kept seeing the bugs. I feel terrible that I exposed my children to all of these cheminals and my youngest was a baby crawling around at the time. The exterminator was getting annoyed because he felt that he lost money on this job because he sprayed my home so many times. The exterminator said in his 50 years as a professional that he has never seen a case of carpet beetles like this. He thinks they are in my floor boards or walls. He came for the last time to my home in September to spray and I won’t call him back again. However, I am still seeing larve and adult carpet beeles. The residual effects of the chemicals are still working so the bugs are dead or dying when they have crossed the barrier of the chemicals on the floor. I know the residual effects will wear off soon and I am concerned that they will grow in large numbers again. I have contacted several exterminators and told them of my situation. No one wants to help me because they can see that I have a serious bug problem. They, along with my exterminator, tell me to find the source of the problem. I thought that I found the sources and threw away so many items from my home. I am on the verge of losing my mind. Our house remained packed up for months while the exterminator kept coming back and spraying our closets. I have become obsessed with this problem and check all around my house everyday. We are probably moving next year (not because of this problem) and I feel badly that I am leaving a house to someone with this bug problem. I am also concerned that I will bring these bugs to my new home. I wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions for anything else I could do to help rid my home of these bugs. Thank you very much for taking the time to read about my situation.
Hi Eileen,
You have no idea how I totally feel for you. No one can understand the suffering we go through in order to eliminate these bugs unless you have been there done that. I too have had a major infestation just a month ago, so I am dealing with this whole thing too. I do not want to see my electric bill as I have probably done about 40 loads of laundry. I too have 3 small children and I am due to deliver another baby in 1 week!!! I have not seen any live beetles in my house for a while now and I have seen a couple of larva in the past couple of days. But this is nothing compared to what I have been dealing with. I had them in every room. I do not have a basement as I live in Oregon, but we do have crawl spaces and an attic. Not sure if they are in the crawl space or not but I know they are in the attic as we found a birds nest up there which my husband still has to get rid of. But what I have done is probably the extreme, but I feel like it is working to get rid of the bugs. Oh by the way, since it is cold and rainy here right now, I have been keeping my windows closed. But I did see a live carpet beetle between my screen and the window. It was not going to be able to get in as our windows are double paned and securly shut… but it was trying to get in from outside. I think next summer I am going to tape up the edges of the screens.
Anyway, here is what I have done, which to most people is probably extreme:
(1) cleaned out every closet completely… nothing in them at all.
(2) washed every single piece of clothing in hot water and ran dryer on high heat for 40 minutes. As soon as I washed them they went into plastic storage bins and I sealed them with tape.
(3) threw out things that could not be washed.
(4) detail cleaned my entire house… baseboard, blinds, window seals
(5) moved every piece of furniture… book shelves, armours, dressers, desks, washer and dryers, refrig, stove, sofas etc. and cleaned underneath. I still have bookshelves and dressers and desks moved away from walls so that I can continue to vacuum.
(6) vacuumed every inch of my house making sure to use the suction tool to get the corners and baseboards everyday for 3 weeks straight. Including the stairs. You have no idea how much work that involves. Made my husband lift our Cal King bed every day for a couple of weeks as I found them in the corners of our box spring.
(7) steam cleaned the carpets including the closets.
I too had an exterminator came to our house who said I would need to treat the baseboards and carpet. But I had heard that spraying would not do any good as they keep coming back. He did admit that several treatments would be necessary. We just dont have the money for that type of treatment not to mention that I am getting ready to deliver a baby. So we opted to try to get rid of them on our own. I for the first time in couple have not seen any larva. And believe me I am obsesed with this and look each time I go into a room. I finally started to hang my clothes in the closets. I really wish you the best in getting rid of them. My understanding is they will never be completely gone but if you continue to clean and keep up with vacuuming you can keep them undercontrol and maybe only see one or two larva occasionally. Make sure to seal up all wool or silk or downed items so they cant eat. We are getting rid of our down comforters.
Tim,
Thanks for all your advise. So I have a quick question. If I only have one live beetle in my house that originated from my the inside of my house, then it can’t lay eggs assuming it is female right? It needs to mate in order to do that right?
I moved in to my new flat nearly 3 years ago. i noticed what looked like little black maggots smallest 2mm biggest 1cm. i just picked them up and put them outside i forgot about them for a long time. then i noticed they where back when i was moving my furniture round ready for my daugther to come home after i given birth to her. i noticed they are everywhere ie: under my setee, in clothes kitchen and bathroom. i have seen 2 or 3 bettles but i just thought they where normal black bettles. ive recently had to pull my carpets up and now have wood flooring down. i still have them in my house. i would just like to ask you if you know if they would be harmful if my daughter ever came in to contact with 1 of them as shes just started crawling and iam very worried with not knowing much about the larvae???
Melissa: yes, in theory, if you can be sure that she never mated then she’s not going to be able to lay any eggs. But, it’s pretty much impossible to tell by looking at it whether a beetle has mated or not, and she could easily have mated outside before coming inside, so even if you just have one, it’s pretty good odds of being a mated female.
Rowanne: I doubt they will harm your daughter. Even if she eats a few of them, they are small enough that the hairs probably won’t irritate her mouth noticeably. As long as she doesn’t develop a taste for them, I wouldn’t expect there to be a problem
I would just like to say thank you to Tim for taking a load off my mind as ive worried about my problem for quite a few month now and not knowing much about lavrae so thank you Tim. x
I found some adults in my closet a couple of months ago. Sprinkled borax everywhere, didn’t see anymore. I’m sittin at the computer, look over and see the larvae in the corner of the room in the living room far away from my bedroom on the wall…needless to say I’m completely freaking out at this point. They are in a corner of the room that hardly gets used, and there is a very fuzzy blanket in there for the cats, that interestingly enough haven’t been laying on in a while, but there is alot of dust in the corner (yeah I know I’m bad…I have all hardwood floors, no carpet and sweeping can be a pain in the a$$. Anyway I’m totally freaking out at this point. I have wicker laundry baskets and some wicker baskets placed around the house. I decided to look under on of the wicker baskets in the kitchen area….O M G Larvae on the floor. I banged the wicker basket….MORE LARVAE on the floor. I’m freaking out. What do I do…throw the entire basket in the garbage along with everything that is in it???? Please help!! I’m already a worry wart as it is. I showed them to my husband and explained that they can destroy our home and he just looks at them makes an ugly face and continues with the football game….I’m sure he will never see one again or think about it ever again….I’m totally freaking out here.
Also do I need to get rid of all of the wicker baskets? I liked to use the baskets for my son to keep his toys in the living room (which I haven’t seen any there)because they look nicer than plastic ones. I know my husband was watching the game, but honestly he probably wouldn’t think much of it anyway. And now I’m itching all over from the stress…or is it from the beetles?? OMG PLEASE HELP
Katie: I think that wicker baskets make an ideal place for the larvae to hide, but they probably aren’t eating the wicker. They are probably eating dirt and pet hair/dander that is caught in the wicker. If the baskets ever come in contact with moisture, they could be starting to decompose a bit, and that will make them a really good beetle habitat, too.
I’d think that cleaning out the baskets and maybe dusting them with borax, and then making sure that they stay dry, will probably take care of the problem. You probably don’t need to throw out the baskets unless you can see significant deterioration due to moisture or fungus in addition to the beetles. I doubt that throwing away the contents is necessary, washing whatever was in the baskets should be sufficient.
Thank you so very much Tim for your response. I’m feeling better now. I will be cleaning the heck out of my house today and will maintain it better. I swear it’s harder to maintain almost 1900 square feet of all wood and ceramic tile floors. Sometimes I wish I had carpet-it seems easier to vacuum. And another thought is I might be spreading the little suckers from just sweeping my house instead of vacuuming it. I have a hoover wet-dry vac…I suppose I will be using that more often from now on. Thanks again.
Katie: glad to help. As far as cleaning goes, one problem I’ve noticed is that most upright vacuum cleaners are designed for cleaning carpets, and don’t work worth a darn for cleaning hardwood or tile floors. But, either an “electric broom” style vacuum or a canister vacuum work really well on hard, smooth floors. If you don’t have carpets, then one of those styles of vacuum cleaner will probably suit you better. Also, while it is easy to get a carpet superficially clean with a vacuum cleaner, the dirt embedded down inside it is practically impossible to get out without steam-cleaning. And that’s where the beetle larvae would live.
I check in with this website because I continue to find this pesky creatures. Melissa, your story sounds similar to mine. I am also due to deliver this month and I have gone through a similar checklist of cleaning and laundering EVERYTHING! We did not use pesticides either. I am afraid to hang clothes in the closet. Our clothing remains in plastic storage bins. I have also gotten rid of all baskets since I did find them in baskets with cloth lining. I used to pride myself on the lovely decorations and baskets in my home. Now I feel like the queen of plastic.
I try to remember that these little bugs will not harm us, but it is so disturbing to find them in the home. I am never at rest because I am always looking for them. Just glad to know that I am not the only one out there. I hope that one day they will be gone!
Thank you again Tim for the useful information. Money is tight right now so I’ll have to wait on a canister vacuum..I actually have a dirt devil eletric broom in my garage that my husband brought over from his mother’s, but I guess it needs a charger or something…I will definately look into this broom…or maybe I can find a better one if look at reviews online. I just never used it because it never turned on, put it in the garage, and forgot about it. I swear sometimes I wish I lived in an apartment again!
(Julie Baker sent this to me by email, I think it was intended to be a comment. She has a lot of good pointers)
Wow Julie great info! Thanks!
I am so glad to have found this site. I too, am battling the dreaded carpet beetle but have come to believe I will have to live with them to a certain extent. I will keep cleaning, cleaning, cleaning… the rugs, my clothes and when I see one of the little sh!ts on my walls and baseboards I will squash them with all my might.
I used to worry about my pets being bothered by them but they aren’t. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and check my pillow and surrounding area but I stopped that too. I found them behind my bed but never in my bed. But I will keep doing a general scan of it.
When I did a big clean and moved furniture, it seemed to bring more of the larvae out and the next couple of days I was seeing them on the walls. It’s so gross.
I sit on the sofa now and literally scan the walls for the damn things.
I appreciate everyone’s comments and help.
Also, I found the larvae on my kitties fur toys. Bye Bye toys.
Does cedar really help?
Does cedar help? Probably not. According to this site,
That site does have a lot of good pointers – most of the measures for keeping out clothes moths also apply to carpet beetles.
Tim,
Thanks for the info about cedar. One other thing… This may have been answered already but… Is it the adult beetle that does the damage to fabric? The larvae? Both?
Thanks,
brava4
Ok, so from the article you (Tim) just sent, it appears that the larvae are what causes the damage, not the adult. That’s good to know.
Hello Tim,
You mention: “That site does have a lot of good pointers – most of the measures for keeping out clothes moths also apply to carpet beetles.”
Where can I find that information please?
Stuff to use other than cedar?
Thank you,
Barbara
Barbara:
The page is at:
http://wihort.uwex.edu/pests/CarpetBeetles.htm
I did have it linked in the earlier comment, but the default color choice for link text on these pages may not be the best – dark blue looks too much like black for the small text. I should probably do something about that.
My husband and I have been battling carpet beetles for the past several weeks. We thought they might be baby ladybugs when I spotted them in the spring. Like others, we’ve paid a professional exterminator ($1000/national name) to rid us of these pests, to no avail. After a couple of attempts and still seeing the beetle or larvae (1 or 2 daily), I’ve determined this has probably been less helpful than my own effort – constant vacuuming, throwing out almost all furniture, lots of clothing and absolutely anything that makes my vacuuming and inspections more challenging. I did find one site that said 50% of homes will respond to 2 treatments (I think 30 days apart) but the other 50% will require 4-6 treatments over that many months. Not willing to subject myself to that amount of poison.
I will continue to clean, clean, clean. At this point, though, I’m trying to get by with vacuuming only every other day. We live in a rural area so I think they’re just flying/crawling in as we come and go. We’re getting a powerwashing this week to rid the house of the spiderwebs and debris. Hoping that will help possible nesting on house.
We, too, worry about selling our home and passing on the problem to someone else but I’m starting to realize the beetles may always be a problem here. Whether they’re in the attic, walls, under carpeting or hanging off the house ready to sneak in with us, I can only do so much. We’ve learned far more than one would want to about beetles. How can someting be so tiny but such a fierce opponent? Just praying I see the numbers decrease after time. Seeing one just now and again would be doable.
Good luck, everyone!