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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What’s happened to the site – posts are backwards in time. Just what I need – inability to connect with my support group. 😉 Despite the snow and cold temps the beetles are alive and well in my home. This can be but one thing – they are hiding well in this house. Nothing more than I can do. Not paying for another “professional” anything. Don’t have $$s to just give away to these various companies. I’m so tired of this. And the thought of the new season coming (spring to fall outdoors, all year indoors) scares the hell out of me . Hope everyone is having a good Valentine’s Day and doesn’t see any today as I have. Talk about ruining a perfectly good holiday.
hello, something weird going on with this site … all i see is black, and the last comment by you Robin … when i highlight the page i can see a couple of buttons for previous post, and another for next post, i don’t like that … can’t access everything at the same time … preview button also not working nor is the spell check
… so what is going on Tim?
happy valentines to you too Robin, and everyone else here as well!
it’s still cold in Alberta Canada … but balmy, over the past 2 weeks only -10 C
i’ve not seen any adults, or larvae for that matter BUT i have been looking for what that other guy mentioned a while back, can’t see his post 🙁
… i left the housekeeping for a bit and have been noticing what i thought was dirt is NOT, have loads and loads of black ‘things’ for lack of a better word … it is organic reacts to H2O2 (peroxide), not round or regular shaped, not even edges either … does anyone else have that? i am thinking that it may possibly be pupae, the inbetween of larvae and adult
have also found translucent white kinda things, underneath my closet shelf very close to were i store the cat food … all bagged in ziplocs, and stored in rubbermaid, also in another closet underside shelf very close to were i have my clothes hanging, inside one of those garmet bags
… got to go, phone ringing need to answer will come back here later Barbara
I guess no one else has been since I last posted. … either you think I’m nuts-o or busy with the ‘holiday’.
Anyhow, I am thinking that the white ‘things’ may be some kind of dormant creature just waiting for me to mess up … I also found that on some very clean washed food containers the same thing … but I’ve washed again because it looked like it may have been some kind of residue from soap, so we’ll see if it shows up again … anyone else have this?
While I was having a closer look at my stuff, I noticed that some of my clothes are not all riddled with holes, like the typical carpet larvae do but some have what appears to be like snags … except they are not snags, there are too many of them
I thought I had read something here about that, but the page is still all black and I can’t find the info. Anyone know what that is?
Thank you, Barbara
Andy and I are experimenting with layouts for the site, sorry for the teething problems (I’ve already let him know about the background color issue). As the number of entries increases, some parts of the old layout were getting a bit unwieldy. For this page in particular, there are over 200 comments, which has lead to some problems with page loading. We are looking a breaking up the comments into sub-pages instead of displaying them all at once, although I see that clicking “older comments” actually takes you to the newer comments, which looks backwards. Hopefully everything will be back in shape soon, and I apologize for the inconvenience.
Barbara, do you have a magnifying glass to get a better look at your black and white “things”? Without further information, I’d expect the white things to be eggs or pupae, and the black irregular things to be droppings of some sort, but it would be nice to get a closer look at them before sticking my neck out further. Incidentally, are your clothes that show the snags-that-are-n0t-snags a particular type of fabric (cotton, or wool, or silk, or . . .), or is it happening to all of them regardless of the type of fabric?
Hello,
No more black background, thank you Tim and Andy!
I’ve been busy cleaning. Still no adults or larva showing but still other ‘things’.
I’m reading your questions Tim, and I sound nuts. sigh, oh well
Yes Tim, I do have a magnifying glass, but better yet though I found someone who will lend me their digital camera, I will try taking pictures uploading on their computer (they said they won’t look, … not sure what they think I’m taking pics of 😉 ) and emailing them to you. Gaud, that was awkward but I have not told too many people, and I was not about to add to the list. If for some reason that does not work, I will look again and try to be more descriptive.
While cleaning I looked much closer at what was in the old monitors, besides the black carpet beetles, I found something that suspiciously looks like it may be a larder beetle 🙁 , I can’t be sure, it’s old and dried up from the Fall.
All my wool items that I did not have to throw out (because they were too holey), I had dry cleaned and I have put into Ziploc bags, and into large Rubbermaid type bins. … I am hoping they are safe that way. The black carpet beetles ate ALL of my silk items, so that is all gone too. The balance of my clothes are wash and wear. Cotton and polyester mainly, but some nylon and acrylic too. My jeans are VERY worn, much more than what should be. Besides the clothing, towels are snagged up big time. The bedspread has a few snags too, besides the holes. Also some blankets, not to sure what that is made of, label is long gone, but feels like it is a cotton blend. Hard to say if everything has snags, but I will pay better attention, read lables and let you know. It may be that whatever it is, is liking the cotton and cotton blends.
I have an office chair, label attached only says polyurethane foam, the material covering it feels woollen though, that has a number of snags too.
I was thinking the white ‘things’ that are sticking to places could be eggs, white ‘things’ not sticking to anything could be tiny larvae, and the black ‘things’ whatever it is called when it goes from larvae to adulthood, pupae I think. I have the order correct?
So far nothing of the ‘things’ are in the basement (which is how it was before, the black carpet beetles didn’t show up there until last). I’ve noticed that the cats all of a sudden will be paying very close attention to the floor, whether it’s on the main floor (no carpet) or upstairs (carpet). Droppings? Well, I don’t know how I can vaccuum a whole level, with both vaccums, and in a matter of an hour or so white and black ‘things’ are back.
You don’t want to stick your neck out Tim? How come? 😉 Feel free to email me, I’d appreciate any thoughts you may have. Thank you,
Barbara
Hi Everyone,
I thought I had the wrong site because of the change of format. Everyone knows that we are all crazy due to these carpet beetles, so I thought I was loosing my mind.
Well it is definitly Spring time here in Portland OR and I have just seen 3 live carpet beetles in my house. I found 3 little almost microscopic larvae yesterday and I knew they had just hatched. Now I need to try to identify where those live carpet beetles have just laid their eggs. So Tim, just because I found the live beetles in one room upstairs doesn’t mean that they laid their eggs in that room right?
It is on! I am going to battle now…. I am going to beat these things early this time. Even though I have the live beetles in my house I can just keep cleaning and trying to avoid them getting reestablished. The good thing is that most of my clothes are still in plastic bins with tape sealed around the edge of the lid. I hope that is a safe way to store my clothes. I do still have my leather coats out from winter. Do the beetles actually lay their eggs on these items or on a hard surface near these items? Anyone know that?
And Barbara, I would be interested to see pics of those black and white things your are talking about. And I think it would be way cool if there was a way to have a controlled environment and wait to see what the carpet beetles eggs look like. I would trap one but I am sure they have already laid their eggs in my house because I found them on the windows trying to get out…. that means they have already taken care of business…. bummer!
Tried to post yesterday, after about a paragraph I received an error message, all pages were then shut down
Barbara:
We’ll look into it. At the moment, I don’t know where the problem might be, please let me know if it happens again so we can narrow down the possibilities. Thanks!
Hello,
Tim the same error message in a big box that comes on when working on a web site popped up, before closing the page. Don’t recall the numbers.
Picked up the borrowed digital camera this past week, trying to figure out how it works but snapping away. I’m hoping to be able to upload to her computer before the weekend.
I will email you Tim with what I have. … I’m not sure how those pictures will turn out
One of the 3 people I have told about the situation suggested putting mothballs into the vacuum. Which I did do. Not going to recommend that to anyone, as that stinks like heck.
Murphy’s law is, since I have done all the extra cleaning, and I now have a camera to document things I have not found too much of all the black and white items. Not too sure why, as it was not dirty to begin with.
I did find something when I lifted an old bamboo serving tray, that was sitting on a cupboard. Not sure how the pictures will look of that.
Melissa, I’ve thought about doing the controlled environment business but don’t know how to set that up. … and on the other hand all of this takes up way too much of my time, energy and money already.
Hi Barbara,
I know what you mean when you say that this takes up way too much time. And since the birth of my baby, I have found such very little time to deal with all the extra stuff that is required in order to keep these pests to a minimum. The good thing for me is that at least I know what to expect as this spring time comes. Last year when I kept seeing live beetles and thinking that they were lady bugs, I had no clue they were laying eggs and causing larvae to eat all my clothes. But know I am wiser. As a matter of fact, I have found 4 live beetles in my house this past week. Knowing the cycle is starting all over has made me much keener in dealing with this. So my eyes are constantly scanning walls and floors and I tell you, I detail cleaned my laundry room which is where I have seen larvae and yet this morning I scanned the walls and ceiling in my laundry room and I found 8 larvae. And let me tell you, I would have never ever suspected that what I was looking at was larvae. They looked like pencil point dark spots on the walls. And when I got the ladder and took a good look at them, sure enough they were larvae. It was obvious the eggs had just hatched. I would have never even thought they were bugs. But I am wiser now and hopefully by being so diligent, they wont get out of control this year like last year.
I am glad to hear that your black and white things are disappearing. Last year when I had an exterminator come to my house to verify that I indeed did have carpet beetles, I tried to take pictures of them and I could not get any clear pictures. I do not have a great camera to take pictures of such small items. Hopefully you can get some good pictures.
I tried the controlled environment thing last year with the larvae. I put them in a glass jar with some food source… hair and lint and after months they were not turning into anything so I thought they needed water. so I put a few drops of water in there and it turned moldy after a month. And the larvae all died…. hmmmmm? We can just live in a moldy environment and that will kill them! LOL
I am finding the beetles and when I kill them, they are kinda crunchy. Not what I would have expected. I think I found the mother of all larvae next my fridge. Good heavens, when I squashed that thing it was like it exploded!!! So gross.
Brava4
Have you noticed more of the larvae in the same rooms that you have found the live beetles? I have not seen a live beetle in my downstairs laundry room yet I have found so many little itsie bitsie larvae. I can not find a source. I don’t know where they are coming from. I have found live beetles upstairs in my girls bathrooms which is where I found them last year. I have no idea why they chose that room to try to get out. Also I have found little black specks on the carpet in my walk in closet. It resembles black pepper. Do you know what that is from? Man I thought I was going to be able to get them under control this Spring and I feel like I am fighting a loosing battle. It is really starting to bug me. Literally!
To Melissa,
Hi! I’m new. I’ve been researching these bugs on the internet for 3 days now. I’ve had them in my house for 2 years but could not figure out why they were there. According to descriptions on a university website, the black pepper on your carpet is the bugs’ excrement. They even describe the poop as looking like a grain of pepper! One pest control company has some small pheromone traps that will attract and trap the bugs on a sticky surface. They’re expensive for what they are made of: $16 each. I’m going to try to find cheaper ones. The similar traps I used for my pantry moths years ago worked great, so I’m hoping these traps will work well for this bug, too, since I hate to use poisons in my house. I cannot find a single picture of the pupae version of the carpet bugs, but I think I see more of these things than anything else on my walls and floors. I’m guessing that it’s the coccoon for this bug, anyway. I would just like confirmation so that I don’t have to worry about it being another kind of bug to have to figure out. The object I’m talking about is about 1/4″ long. It’s greyish-brown, with tiny black spots scattered about. It’s 1/8″ wide or less, with pinched ends, when looking at it from the top, but it’s almost paper thin from the side. I kept thinking these things were just excrement from a larger bug, but the other day I finally saw a moving head on one of them. Perhaps the beetle was just about to emerge from the cocoon, who knows? I’ve finally discovered the remains of the larvae on two articles of pure wool clothing and have tossed them. I don’t usually buy wool because so many bugs like it. I usually find the adults on the tile floors and painted walls near my cat box. I suspect the odor attracts them. I don’t find them actually in the cat box, however, and it is cleaned 2 or 3 times a day.
Lightning struck our house so I have been out of the loop for a while. Still waiting on a new computer. Just want to say ya’ll are sooo funny.
Also want to say that I was sitting on the sofa in my front room which I am not in very often and I haven’t vacuumed in there in a couple of weeks I confess. My son left his baseball hat on the floor. I was admiring his new hat and what do I see? A live carpet beetle. So upon further investigation I search near the window and on the floor below which is hardwood floor. Wow I’m talking an adult carpet beetlepalooza love fest!!!! So I’m on my game now. But I have to say this…I am a very busy person and even though I am stay at home mom, I do not have time to constantly clean every nook and cranny. I have a four year old son and a 15 year old son who plays sports all year through high school and local. So even though I was quite disturbed, I just have to keep on going and do what I can when I can when I can.
Just hang in there ya’ll!!!!!
Hi Della3,
Thanks for all the info about the black specks. I think it is grose just thinking that I am walking around on carpet with bug poop! EWWWWWW. I am going to do a major cleaning job this weekend. I too have never seen the pupae stage, so I am not sure what you are seeing. It does sound interesting though. All I have ever seen in my house is the larvae… varying sizes… from pin point to about 1/8 inch and the live beetles which resembled lady bugs exactly. I am in battle right now…. I am squishing the larvae right after they are born… it is obvious from the size. I never immagined they would be so small and now I can see why they are such a problem to get rid of. They can easily get in any little crack in the wall or ceiling. What kind of carpet beetle do you have? Are they black or colorful?
Katie,
I too am a stay at home mom and I still can’t find the time to do all the cleaning I need to do. None of my girls are in school and I plan on home schooling with is going to be a huge undertaking. My girls are 4 months old, 2 yrs, 3 yrs and 5 yrs. So as you can immagine I am super busy. I told my husband that I need him to help me move furniture and he was like “oh no not again… here we go again.” We discovered the problem last September at which point we had a major infestation throughout our entire house. Now I am just hoping to minimize the problem. I have killed 2 baby beetles which I am surprised I even discovered. I must say I have a very keen eye for these nasty bugs. I used to think lady bugs were cute and although these are not lady bugs, I have a hate toward them because they look just like carpet beetles. My girls think they are so cute….they are none the wiser when it comes to the problems these bugs have caused me. Well I need to go and vacuum up the bug poop! EWWWWWWW
I have read the new posts I’m still having problems with holes showwing up in my shirts even after dusting my whole first floor and upstairs cracks crevices outlets light swtch plates I havn’t completely finshed the basement where the laundry room is I will do that this weekend.I read people are seeing the beetles and larva.I’ve had this problem for two years,the larva eating my shirts and the only evidence of their presence besides the holes in my shirts are cast skins in my furnace filter and between basement ceiling and duct system.I’ve never seen a larva and only three beetles last summer.I would like to see a larva to reafirm that this is what I’m dealing with even though the exterminaters have confirmed the carpet beetle larva cast skins.I just want to know why I’m not seeing the larva and only three beetles in two years anyone else not seen the larva or maybe know why I have not?
Melissa,
You’re welcome!
I have what are called Furniture Carpet Beetles. They only resemble lady bugs in overall shape. They have kind of an uneven checkered pattern of brown, black, and ivory, and mine are tiny, about 3/32 inch long, fully grown. I doubt I would ever be able to see their eggs. And the larva on mine are only supposed to last for 2 or 3 months. I’ve been putting up with these bugs for 2 years because there seemed to be only a few and I didn’t know what they were. I could not find any good identifiers of the bug last year, but finally worked harder on the job this year. At first I thought maybe I had a new type of beetle because I was pretty certain that the larva was the object I mentioned in my previous post and none of the descriptions or pictures showed anything that looked like it. The photos of the beetle didn’t look right, either. Then I tried to take a photo of my bug so I could post it for identification. I don’t have a macro lense, so that didn’t work. Finally, I scanned it. It took 5 attempts, though, to get a barely recognizable one. Lo, and behold, my scan looked just like the internet photos I’ve seen of a furniture carpet beetle! I guess no one else is getting good detail on such a tiny bug either. Also, it didn’t occur to me that the little flat canoe-shaped things I was seeing could be the pupal stage, and no one has pictures of that. They just say most people don’t notice or see the pupae. Well, they are very obvious in my house.
So I just learned yesterday that I have carpet beetles. Funny, we all know about moths eating clothing. How come nobody told us about carpet beetles? They seem to be very common.
Michelle,
I have not seen the larva either. But the larva on the type I have don’t last long. On the Black Carpet Beetle, the larval stage lasts for 6 to 12 months, and for the Varied Carpet Beetle, the larval stage lasts 8 to 21 months! I found the cast off skins under the collars of a few clothes. They prefer to feed in the dark. The pupae are the only ones that eat the natural fibers, pet hair, leather, dead insects, and even pet food. The adults are attracted to light and try to find a window to fly outside and gather nectar and pollen. Outdoors they can lose their color variations and become a solid brown or black. We might not notice them on the cut flowers we bring in from the garden. Outdoor targets for their eggs are normally spider webs, and bee, wasp and bird nests, where the larvae can eat dead insects and other organic debri. Since you’re seeing cast off skins in your filter, you may have a lint or mold buildup in you home’s ductwork that is breeding larvae. Or maybe the eggs are just being laid directly on the filter.
They say to wash your natural fiber clothes in hot water on a very long cycle and even use a hot water pre-soak. Or take your clothes to the dry cleaner (I assume you need to tell the dry cleaner about the problem). Both dry cleaning and very hot water will kill all stages of the insect. Place your cleaned, stored clothes in sealed plastic to keep the bugs out if you won’t be wearing them for a while. Perspiration and food on clothes will attract the bugs also.
Della I’m completely aware of everything you stated I’ve been dealing with them for 2 years! I had my air ducts cleaned three times in 2 years not to mention vacum vacum vacum!exterminators throwing away EVERYTHING washing and drying etc. name it I’ve probably done it It just bugs me LOL I havn’t seem the larva and only 3 beetles in 2 years and all this damage keeps poping up on my clothes
Michelle,
Wow, how frustrating! Have you tried bait traps yet? I’d like to know if putting a bunch of those in the closet really works. I’m hoping they do, but if you’ve tried them and they haven’t………….. Then, there is the extreme of switching to all synthetic clothes. Also, do you find them eating your cotton clothes? So far, only my woolen clothes and throws have been affected. I don’t mind giving up wool – but cotton is in too many things.
Your beetles are probably finding a quick way to escape as soon as they come out of the pupal stage, or as soon as they lay their tiny eggs on your clothes. Since they are drawn to light, it occurred to me to look inside my torchier lamps last night. Sure enough, there were a handful of dead specimens in each one. I took some pictures of the pupal sacks last night and I am going to try to upload them to some of the bugfinder sights. I’ll let you know where to look for the pictures if I am successful. You might be able to find the pupal form more easily, because it is larger. In my home, the larvae seem to like wandering out of the closet they were feeding in and attaching themselves to walls in an adjoining room to pupate. I’m guessing the pupae that I find on the floor are the emptied version, after the beetle has left, though some of the empty ones remain on the wall.
very interesting.Thanks for responding.I did have bait traps in the begining. I dont remember how long I left them though nothing was found in them.Since I throughly dusted my upstairs I think they maybe living in the laundry room in the basement plenty of places to hide.so I think thyre eating my clothes dowwn there before I wash them so I’m going to shop vac and dust down there and see what happens. and yes theyre eating my cotton shirts!I dont think I would mind them so much if I wasnt at the store EVERY WEEK buying new shirts because they are ruining my clothes!I have no carpet so if anyone does not have carpet I have a suggestion on find out where theyre coming from .Suggestion comes from an entamologist I spoke with on the phone in detail about my situation. get a roll of wide blue painters tape and a roll of carpet tape from hardware store place blue tape down firstthen carpet tapeover top that on the floor right up against the floor boards that way if and when they crawl out thewll get stuck on the tape and meybe you can locate the source.make sure to put blue tape first or you will never get the carpet tape off
Michelle,
Thanks for sharing your experience with bait traps. I finally got a chance to read every single comment on this site about carpet beetles. I also read all of the info provided on other sites that some of the people recommended. Thanks, everyone! I have carpet that really needs replacing, but the beetles do not seem interested in it. It’s a very cheap synthetic carpet. I’ve been wanting to get a hardwood floor in that room for a long time, but I can’t afford it yet. Thanks to whoever it was that mentioned they were throwing out their down comforter. I forgot about that item having feathers in it.
I rechecked the clothes in my closet. It turns out that most of my clothes are synthetics. I have a few pure cotton and cotton blended things. I found a few more articles of clothing that are made of wool. Considering how much other people’s clothes are getting eaten, I’m surprised how little damage my clothes have sustained after 2 years of beetles. Only the woolen items have about 6 small holes each. One sweater with only 2% angora wool is undamaged, with no signs of any bugs on it. I’ve wrapped it in plastic, and hung it back up. I’ll check to see if it has holes in it when I try to wear it next time. It’s a special occassion sweater, so I only wear it once every 1 to 3 years. The few affected woolen articles were tightly sandwiched between other articles of clothing in a closet that stores seldom-used pieces. None of the neighboring clothing was touched. Not even the 100% cotton! I found one shed skin inside the folds of one pair of cotton pants, but there was absolutely no damage to any part of the pants. Other than the one sweater I mentioned, I’m placing all of my wool items in plastic disposal bags and throwing them out. I’m not freaked out by bugs. It will be interesting to see if they continue to hang out in my home, or if they start to eat the cotton. I’ve seen the skins of these creatures in other people’s homes all of my life. I’ve been in many hundreds of homes over the years. I never knew what the skins were. Since I often saw them on wool items, I assumed they had something to do with wool-eating moths. In most cases, I doubt the homowners knew they had been visited by carpet beetles. Bugs are in everyone’s homes. I’m shocked that anyone would believe they have never had any bugs in their home before. Surely they have had the occassional flies and mosquitoes and spiders. And it seems unreasonable to try to keep a completely bug-free home. The poisons people use are much more dangerous to them than the bugs. Also, those poisons will eventually leech from their homes (in the dust they sweep up and the water they use to clean) and contaminate everyone else’s environment as well. Of course, exterminators will recommend lots of spraying, that is how they make their money. Isn’t it better to keep a cool head, learn about the habits of the insect involved, do some detective work, and try to find natural solutions, if at all possible? Especially if you have small children, and doubly so if you are pregnant.
Much of this back and forth about carpet beetles reminds me of the problem I had with ants years ago. When I first moved into my current home, I used to get huge swarms of ants coming inside. I would be up all night sometimes, vacuuming thousands of them as they marched in. I even brought the vacuum cleaner hose outside to vacuum them up from their entry point outside. They weren’t going after my food. They were just using my house as a highway from one place to another. Of course, I cleaned with soap to try to erase the trail they’d follow, but they would often find the trail again, or just make a new one. I tried laying down a line of boric acid powder around the perimeter outside my home. I tried chinese chalk. I heard about them hating mint, so I took some of my mint plant’s leaves and placed them across their paths (the ants could have cared less). I can’t remember all of the other things I tried. Again, I am not willing to use poison, so I was resigned to the vacuuming method, when a friend of mine finally told me about mint oil. She said I should just find their entry and exit points and place a small amount of mint oil on those spots and they should not come in any more. So I did some detective work. I spent a day off just following one ant and all of the places it went. I followed another, and another to make sure I had all of the correct entry/exit points figured out. I didn’t have any mint oil, so I thought I would just try the mint flavoring I use for food. I wiped the mint across the appropriate holes and waited. Within hours, and definitely by the next day, every ant was gone. The ants only came in a few more times during the next 6 months. I used the same treatment each time, and they were gone. Eventually they gave up altogether.
So, I’m trying to use the same investigative approach with these bugs. Knowledge is power. If I understand the bug, I can protect myself and my home better. It’s also nice to know the bug isn’t actually eating my home or me, just some of the things in my home. I’m much more concerned about mosquitos, because I am their main target, and they can give me some very bad diseases.
Della3,
I completely agree with you! I was the one who recommended getting rid of downed items. I love my downed comforter, but it was pretty old and the feathers were coming out. That is just asking for trouble. I too will not use pesticides. Besides from all the info I have read, the chemical sprays do not work. I have 4 very small children and I was pregnant when I determined I had a problem. You have no idea how much energy has been spent on trying to minimize the problem. I say minimize, because we are really not ever going to be able to get rid of these bugs completely. Last fall I did about 40 or 50 loads of laundry. It was insane! Now most of our clothes are in plastic bins with tape around the seals. Right before I gave birth in November, I was vacuuming every inch of my 1600 sf house every single day. I had everything pulled out of every closet for over a month. I finally had to put everything back right before I gave birth knowing I would have no time to deal with this afterwards. I am finally able to spend a little bit of time to detail clean again. I was in my bathroom last night getting ready to go bed and my eyes are always scanning floors and walls. And what did I see? I found a baby beetle… it looked so small and I was surprised I found it. I have killed 3 very small beetles and 4 adults. And this morning I was vacuuming out my walk in closet and I took the suction to get around the ceiling cracks and corners and I was shocked to find what appeared to be 2 egg sacks tucked neatly inside the light. I would have never seen them had I not been so detailed. I tried to take pictures of another egg sack I found, but my camera does not have the abiltiy to pick up such small items./ I sucked them up in my vacuum and I need them to go in the trash. They will hide in the most unusual places.
I have the varied carpet beetles in my house and the larva will last forever it seems. And I see them all over my house…. one here and one there, but in almost every room. I am not too upset anymore with them being here, but I do not like them in my bedroom. And I have only had one pair of my husbands wool pants eaten on the bottom. Other than that I have not seen any damage. The funny thing is , I get hand me downs from some of my friends who also have girls and I have seen some clothes come to me with wholes that look like bugs have been eating them. I was talking to one of my friends and I showed her the larvae (I had some in a jar before I knew what they were) and she said she has seen them in her house too. I think people probably do have them in their house yet they just dont notice or care. I just recently read somewhere that the carpet beetles have been know to carry disease though. One site said they were known to carry anthrax! Is that true????
And thanks for the info on the ants. I too had a major ant problem last year. I tried so many things to get rid of them. I actually hate ants worse than carpet beetles. What finally worked for me what a line of cinnamin on the ground. But that stained my carpet…. just one more reason for me to get rid of this carpet that I do not like. I will try the mint oil next time. I love the smell too.
Well everyone… happy cleaning!!!!!
Sadly, the carpet bettles don’t leave a trail. Their habit is to hide when in the munching larva stage and seek light as adults. That they can live so long away from a food source makes for another challenge. There is no pattern, per se, other than their randomness in appearing. Every upholstered piece of furniture or mattress&boxspring makes for a perfect breeding ground once they tuck themselves away in them. Same is true of drawers, cannisters, boxes, cuboards, and light covers. Basements and attics are the real challenge.
Entomologists will offer advice on household cleaning and then will ultimately suggest “professional pest control”. All will meet with unfavorable results unless the source is found, hence the ongoing struggle and the reason museums and libraries struggle with the problem, too. Since “professionals” are usually of no more help than us in locating the source, “minimize” is a good goal. But it’s truly frustrating, time consuming and expensive. I have completely dismantled my home. It no longer has the “homey” feel it once did. We are now doing minimalism. Certainly makes housekeeping a cinch. It’s the silver lining, if you will. That said – this whole experience is the thing Hitchcock movies are made of – “She went crazy slowly, day by day, as she searched for the tiny pests. Moment by moment her sanity left her. She is now locked away. The beetles joined forces with neighboring roaches and lived happily ever after in their mansion.” THE END
This is the most depressing thread I’ve ever read in my life (mainly because I am now dealing with this issue).
Here’s the difference, I have hardwood floors, I have a couple of small rugs, a 1,000sqft apartment, and really, I can bleach my entire apartment in 1 weekend (as seen last weekend).
However, these effin’ beetles live!!! HOW?!?!?!!? HOOOOOWWW?!?!?!?
Basically, no one has found a way to kill these things? How is this remotely possible?
I don’t get it… How is it we cannot find a way to get rid of these beetles? We are not idiots. The beetles are not smarter than us. We must find a cure!!!
Mine are primarily in the kitchen. Rarely do I find a beetle outside the kitchen. I’ve really only seen the little black things, and maybe 1 or 2 spotted ones. I haven’t seen larvae, either.
I took out every kitchen appliance, and bleached the floors. I bleached the back of the appliances, then I sprayed some JT Eaton stuff along the baseboards. Not only did I vacuum the rugs, but I turned them over and vacuumed the other side. Last night, I sacrificed a goat to the god’s, and burned some candles.
This morning… I found 7 effin’ beetles.
I agree toph this does suck….and I too have only hardwood/ceramic tile floors with abot 5 small rugs. It is very frustrating. I don’t have alot of time on here since I don’t have my computer back but someone mentioned not understanding why it’s so shocking to people that we have bugs. I understand that people have bugs in their homes. That’s normal. But let’s be real here. These things are extremely hard to get rid of…no one truly knows exactly what to do unless we all go ballistic and burn our houses down lol….and THAT’S the problem…..
I think toph that you should get some type of vaccuum and completely empty your cabinets and vacuum all the nooks and crannys. That should help. It will make you feel better anyway. Maybe your vent has something to do with it….I don’t know.
Hang in there everybody!!!! Don’t let it get to ya’ll too bad!!! (I know ya’ll isn’t really a word, but I’m sorry that’s how I talk)!!
Tim,
Okay so here is the deal, I have found 4 live adult beetles that looked just like the red with black spots lady bugs that I saw last spring. And now I am seing itsie bitsie larvae in 2 rooms downstairs. No big deal… just the normal stuff we all expect here. But here is what I am baffled about. I have also seen very small beetles but are grey spotted black. Are these just baby versions of the lady bug looking beetles or are they a different type? I mean once the larvae stage pupates, is what emerges a full blown adult or does a baby beetle emerge and then it needs to grow a little before it can lay eggs? This is important to me because of the locations that I have found these “baby” beetles. I have always seen the red adults in the upstairs either in the hall way or on the window of a room upstairs obviously after having laid eggs and now they are trying to get out. But the baby ones I have found in varying places on carpet or in the bathroom with no window. They are quite small like 1/10 inch.
Thanks
Toph,
Okay so lets just lay it all out here…. These bugs are extremely hard to get rid of…. obviously you can tell that by just reading all the comments people are making here. And here is why…. these bugs are extremely resilient…. because the larvae stage can last for years depending upon the type of beetle you have. And they can live on very little… one piece of hair found in the crack of a baseboard or a dead ant or insect can provide food for these things. And the other problem is that the larvae are so small that they can get in the littles crack or crevice of your walls and floors and they go where you can not reach them. I found what I suspected was the pupae stage in the smallest crack of a light on my ceiling in my walk in closet. I would have never guessed they would be there! And from what I have read, there is no miracle pesticed that can kill them. I have read where people have bommbed their houses numerous times and these pests still live! I won’t go into detail, but last fall I spent hundreds of hours cleaning my house and for a few months during the winter, I did not see one larvae…. I honestly thought I beat them with my hard efforts. Then WHAM!!!! Here comes Spring early here in Portland OR and I find live beetles flying in my house… soon I see larvae in almost every room.
I hope you find a cure soon and share it with the rest of us totally insane people due to these bugs. No matter where I go on to live at, I will always be on the look out for these bugs now. And I hate them!
Melissa,
I agree with eveything you just wrote. I recently had the exterminator again to my home (the 6th time). He told me that all homes have black carpet beetles, usually one or two. He said that I would never be able to completely get rid of them and would have to learn to live with them. However, a worker from the exterminating company told me on the phone that it would take 6-8 months to fully get rid of them. In addition, the company first told me that I could get rid of them completely. So I first thought that I could rid my home of them, then thought I would see them once in a while for few months while the population died down. Now, this recent technician from the exterminating company told me what no exterminator would admit to me. (By the way, this is the 2nd exterminating company I have used. I wrote about this in postings in October and February. Melissa, you responded to my postings each time-thank you). He said now that I don’t have a severe infestion, I am like every other house. However, I don’t believe it. I know they are lurking in my walls and are still in my home. I saw three recently (one beetle and two larve). At the last spraying, the exterminator used a chemical that was not previously used in my home. It is used for crevices so he sprayed my closets and one area of the house that I kept seeing them in.
I am done with spraying. I feel so frustrated to have spent thousands of dollars with two companies and expose my family to so much spraying. Between this current company and the previous one, I have bombed twice, had all outlets and baseboards dusted, and sprayed a dozen times. My husband thinks I am crazy. We have three small kids. I started this spraying last May when I found out I had an infestation.
I payed for a one year maintence program with the exterminator after the 90 day warranty expired. They set up glue traps around my home and they will come every three months. The exterminator who was just at my house recommended that the outside of the home be sprayed by the bushes to help prevent the beetles from entering my home. He informed me that the carpet beetles fly. I was not aware of this because I never saw them fly inside my home. However, apparently they do and that is how they get into houses so easily. I won’t spray inside anymore even though the company said I need to do this every three months to prevent another infestation. I payed for the service and I will just have them treat the outside near my windows in the spring.
This battle against the black carpet beetles is so hard for us. People who are not going this have no idea how stressful this is to experience. I don’t know anyone (except for the people on this website) who have had this problem. I still have clothes packed up in bins and we look as though we are packing up to move. It is a crazy way to live. I guess the bottom line is we will always have them, but we want to keep the numbers down so they can’t infest our homes again. Once you go through something like this, you are never quite the same. You look at every little speck you see in your home and inspect it to make sure it is not a black carpet beetle.
Melissa: You have two different kinds of beetles. Once a beetle comes out of its pupa, it is done growing, so the little ones aren’t going to get any bigger. If the larger red-with-black-spots beetles look anything like these, then they are most likely lady beetles coming into the house for the winter – they are nothing to worry about, their larvae live outdoors and eat aphids. They just think that houses are a nice place to get out of the cold, they aren’t laying eggs in your house.
If the little grey ones with black spots resemble any of these, then those are your basic carpet beetles. These are the ones that will lay eggs in your house and cause trouble.
Alright guys, I’m back. I’ve basically become the Orkin man… only, without the uniform (cause beetles ate it…)
After I bleached everything (including taking a bleach bath, with sexy candles), spraying my apartment so much that we walk around the apartment looking like a scene from Outbreak, hiring 2 maids to come in and clean for 2 hours, caulking anything in my walls and baseboards that remotely looked like cracks (oh, and I did remove everything from my cabinets and, of course, bleached it) … I’ve had some luck.
Some. Not much
Sorry I forgot to mention, I live in San Francisco, so I don’t have vents, either. Pretty much there’s no reason I should have these suckas at this point. I even took apart my fridge and oven and bleached the insides. If you see a story about how a dude in SF died because of bleach poison, or because his wife went crazy and killed him because of beetles… it’s me.
Yesterday morning we found 3 dead… and we didn’t see any till this morning when we found 2 (1 alive, 1 dead) in our sink.
I know what you’re thinking, “Pshaw… you’re not even close to getting rid of them.” But I am… I just know it!
Here’s what we’re doing next/tonight…
– Bleaching the kitchen floors and walls again (Oh, no, I don’t know why I keep bleaching. I just keep doing it for some reason.)
– Sweeping and mopping the floors
– Vacuuming both sides of the rugs
– Shaking out all of our clothes again to see if there are beetles there (we’ve found no holes, or beetles in our clothes/closets)
– Getting fitted for Straitjackets
Guess I’ll keep updating here… I feel like we all share the worst bond in the world.
Hey to all my carpet beetle friends!
So here is the deal that I have recently discovered (aside the fact that I am officially going crazy). I have at least 2 if not 3 types of carpet beetles in my home. The pretty red ones do resemble lady bugs a lot, but I captured one yesterday and upon further investigation, it is indeed a carpet beetle. It does not have many black spots… just a few very tiny ones. And the mouth of it is black. Not to mention the fact that it is smaller than a typical lady bug. I have also seen small beige/grey with black spots. And last year when I was doing my thorough cleaning I found some that were yellow color with black spots. But I guess it doesnt matter what type you have or how many different varities you have… the end result is the damaging larva stage.
Okay so here is a very funny story I thought you all would get a kick out of…. You know how we all scan the walls and floors constantly for these things… well I saw what appeared to be a large larvae or perhaps a pupae stage (not sure what that is since I have never seen it) but in any event…. so I grab a shoe and WACK! I hit the wall… I look at the shoe and start busting up laughing… I had just gone crazy on a piece of chocolate cake that my girls had just eaten minutes before and had just touched the wall with their hands… My husband just looked at me and said it was official I AM LOONY!
Toph,
Don’t forget to clean the windows… not just the glass, but the metal part that the window slides on. I am doing that with all my windows because I found a live beetle hiding in a groove of one of my windows. I took Qtips and got in all areas \I found dead spiders in there which is just food for the larva.
Eileen,
I know exactly how you feel when you say we are never quite the same. This is true. I scan walls, ceilings and baseboards constantly. I know where every dark mark is on my walls and I won’t even investigate them anymore. I have seen so many baby larva in my laundry room and downstairs bathroom. I can’t figure out where they are coming from except from the vents. I am wanting to go into the vents and have them cleaned out, but I can’t afford that and my husband will not go for that. I know we have to power wash the outside of our house. That is for sure. And I think we will have the crawlspace under our house sprayed and the perimeter of our house sprayed. This will at least take care of the ant problem I had last year.
I can understand what you are going through. These bugs have taken a lot of time and energy out of me. Especially last fall right before I delivered my baby. I spent at least 5 or 6 hours a day cleaning nonstop and doing laundry and organizing things. Not to mention hundred dollars on storage items and dry cleaning. But in all honesty, this year I am going to clean my buns off, but I am not going to let these bugs take my joy away like it did last fall. When I should have been putting my feet up and relaxing before I delivered my last baby and enjoy my last pregnancy, I was working tirelessly. So I am not happy with myself letting it get so out of control. And I did not see one larva all winter until just a couple weeks ago. So I thought my efforts were worth it…. but now I see no matter how hard you work, you are always going to have these bugs in the house. Maybe if I had the time and the ability to do so, Toph has a good point… CALK….CALK…CALK . But I have carpet, so that won’t work for me. And I have 4 kids with all their stuff…. Very difficult to maintain and keep up the efforts. Anyone with kids knows that is true.
Melissa,
Thanks for your understanding. My exterminator said I should caulk and fill in any crevices on the outside of my home. In the spring, I am going to have someone fill in crevices outside around the windows of my home. Maybe this will help. I understand what you mean with young children. I have three small kids and I can’t really clean the way I know I need to with the carpet beetles. I just try to do the best that I can.
About the larva you are seeing, could they be under the washing machine or dryer? I know you probably vacuumed under there already, but maybe they are hiding under there. Also, are they under your sink in your bathroom cabinets? Maybe that’s is the reason they are in the bathroom. I hope you can find the food source.
Well today has been a very depressing day for me. I found a live beetle last night and today I have found 6. I am doing the math and I can’t imagine how I am going to handle all those larva. So far this spring I have found at least a dozen live beetles in my house. I have been cleaning like crazy again and I feel like I am never going to get a handle on this. Well I hope you all are doing better than me.
Hello all!
Had some computer problems, but they are all fixed now. Just sent some pictures to Tim.
I hope he has some answers for me. There sure has been lots of posts here.
Melissa, don’t feel bad, I think I have 2 kinds as well. With everything that everyone is doing we’ve got to be waaaay ahead of last year. I have been doing a bit of research, and it seems to be common with these bugs that if you have one, there’s bound to be more hiding and it won’t be long before they show up. And I guess from what I’m reading here I should be expecting Ants. 🙁 I guess I will go buy some mint oil next week. Thanks for the tip Della3.
Comments about it being normal to have bugs in the house. Ahhh no, I don’t live outside. Bugs and animals live outside. Didn’t we evolve somewhere along the way? Symbiosis is unacceptable!
re: spraying, yes I don’t believe that is the answer to everything, keeping things clean is a better idea. I actually am against pesticide use, but when these bugs showed up where I am living, in the visible 100’s and crawling all over everything and me I got the place sprayed.
Hey Toph, keep posting you are a funny guy … I don’t know about anyone else but a giggle here and there is a good idea 🙂
Robin, you are funny too, we all truly are now doing minimalism now. Who new we could do with so little?
Toph and Katie, why are you keeping your throw rugs? I hucked mine … it was too much blasted work to vacuum &/or wash those everyday.
Eileen, I can relate it’s really stressful, all my stuff is packed away too and that is pretty much what I say when anyone asks or looks oddly at my packed up stuff, I’m planning on moving. I check on the packed up stuff to make sure it’s still free of bugs, and it is. A note for anyone using the Ziploc bags to store clothing … it has to be dried again, when I opened mine they were damp, and they had all been in the drier for over an hour on high heat.
I’m just reading the post from Della3, and the followups re: bug poop. OK, I agree EWWW and many other four letter words!
Della3 what university web page? Thanks
OK, enough typing for tonight
OK, one more thing
Somewhere on the older posts I recall someone saying that Boric Acid does not work.
Why will it not work? I’ve found this information over and over again: boric acid sticks to the legs of the insect when coming in contact with it, then the insect ingests it when grooming. It also acts as an abrasive on their exoskeleton. … Boric acid works slowly, it takes three to ten days to kill an insect using boric acid. This can be a good thing because boric acid is often combined with a food attractant in baits. The insect will eat a little of the bait, the boric acid sticks to them, and they carry it back to their nest where it spreads to the other insects living there.
Anyone have any ides? Thanks
Melissa,
I feel very sorry for you. I feel your frustration and disappointment. Maybe though the beetles you found did not lay eggs yet. I always think that when I get one, I have just prevented 100 new ones from growing.
I know that you don’t want to spray and I haven’t been convinced it completely solved my situation. It did however, bring my numbers way down and I don’t see them much anymore-for now that is. Anyway, my exterminator used a chemical called Gentrol. It is a growth inhibitor. That means it makes the bugs sterile so they can not reproduce. It won’t kill them, but it will help to prevent future bugs. Maybe you would want to just spray that chemical where you are seeing them, like the laundry room. Maybe that would be a place the children are not around a lot.
Barbara,
Good to hear from you again. Glad your computer is up and running. Thanks for your response and understanding. I think I should buy a plastic bin company since I have spent so much money on bins!
Regarding the boric acid, I put it under all of my area rugs about a year ago. It is still there and I don’t think it made a difference. I used to see larva and beetles near my rugs even after I placed it under the rugs. I have heard that that it works beter in pantries like for roaches and ants. You can try it because it is harmnles, but I don’t know how much it will help you. If you are like me and your beetles are in the wall voids, then the boric acid really won’t get to many of the bugs. Let me know what you decide to do. Good luck!
OMG I must admit I have not cleaned in a while…in fact my house is a total mess right now. I just finished fertilizing the front yard and decided to take a look at my front window. OMG There were live adult variegated carpet beetles EVERYWHERE. I went inside and they are just having a party on my blinds and window and along the baseboards. This SUCKS.
Barbara my throw rugs are so very easy to handle. They are small and thin and I shake them every day or every other day and the carpet beetles have no interest in them whatsoever. I also wash them frequently…it doesn’t bother me. Two of those rugs I refer to are also bathroom rugs and I can’t not have bathroom rugs.
Back to the carpet beetle thing in my window, I have never seen the larvae. I’m guessing they are hiding between the baseboards and the hardwood floor, and I’m paying the price for not vacuuming enough in there. THIS IS SO MUCH WORK! MORE THAN AVERAGE!
So I have a question, if I vacuum these up with the shop vac do you think it’s safe to say they will pretty much stay in the bag? I can put the vac in my garage. I can’t afford to change the bag every single time I vacuum…I vacuum way too frequently to do that.
Hello Katie,
OK, you have a different kind of carpet beetle than I had … I had the black kind, and they luved all my rugs (most were made from wool). I tossed the one in the bathroom even, and yes it is really hard to get out of the shower/tub with nothing on the floor, so now I just throw a towel down.
I don’t use a bag in the shop vac, I just dump it after I use it. Are we supposed to use a bag in there?
The other vacuum I have I just take the bag out of the vacuum now, and stick it into a Ziploc bag 🙂 and put the bag outside, instead of putting the whole thig outside. I would not put in any other building in case the bugs got out and then infested that too.
I’d be interested in what Tim and anyone else thinks.
Hello Eileen,
I’d like to buy shares if you open a plastic bin company, as I’ve spent a fortune on them too … along with those Ziploc bags.
Yes I tried the borax last year. Borax is supposed to have boric acid in it, but hard to tell because there is no list of ingredients on the box. When I had it put down the only thing I noticed is that the area that I spirinkled it over did not have as much larvae rooming around. From what I have read the bugs pick it up and bring it to the nest, which gets the other bugs too. It is supposed to be a slow killing. I just figure if it works on those cockroaches it should work on these bugs too.
Tim or anyone else have you found out anymore on this?
I put borax down on my closet floor (wood floor) in the corner section along the baseboards where I had seen a few beetles (variegated). This may or may not mean anything, but I have not seen any beetles there since I did that… and I don’t have holes in my clothes anymore…but who really knows…
Barbara: Borax is the sodium salt of boric acid, so it essentially is boric acid (neutralized with an alkali so that it is not acidic any more). You can also buy boric acid, it sounds like it is a bit more effective as an insecticide than borax. Borax and boric acid are mildly toxic to insects if they eat it, and mechanically harmful to them because it wears holes in their exoskeletons. If the carpet beetle larvae don’t eat it, then there has to be enough of it around to coat their bodies as they crawl through it in order to kill them. It’s better suited for mixing with fats or sugars to make baits that are attractive to ants and roaches.
If you are spreading enough borax or boric acid around to coat the larvae and kill them mechanically, then diatomaceous earth would work similarly. The downside is that if you use either of these, you’ll have to put down enough to leave a noticeable layer of white dust. Otherwise, it won’t coat them and it won’t work. This might be OK in a closet, under the bed, or other protected space where the dust won’t get tracked all over the place.
Some vacuum cleaners have a little flap just before the bag, that closes when the vacuum is turned off. This would help keep insects that you suck up from crawling back out. For canister-type vacuums, you could probably just put a plastic bag over the end of the hose and hold it on with a rubber band to make sure nothing crawls back up the hose.
Thanks for the info Tim. Great idea on the vacuum. Just for experimenting purposes I gently picked up two of the adult beetles and placed them in the toilet. They have been swimming for about 10 minutes. I’ll keep you updated…..
I think my crazy is coming out again…
Katie,
My preferred method for killing small bugs is to squish them very quickly in a tissue – less suffering for the bug and my peace of mind that they are dead and gone. However, another method would be to keep a small jar of bleach or rubbing alcohol with a lid. Place the bugs in there to kill them. Make sure the lid fits securely, and make sure you place a permanent label on the jar so you and other members of your household will not mistake it for a jar of water.
I’ve done some scans of the pupa for my furniture carpet beetles. I’m 99% sure that it is the pupa of this bug. I’ll explain my reasons when I upload the pictures. I haven’t uploaded them to the bugfinder site yet because I kind of got burned out on the whole project. I don’t have a macro lense, and I had to try lots of things before I finally got something that was recognizable. I’m half way thru cropping the pictures. This will be another item that you can look for to know whether you still have the bugs or not.
These bugs must have a very good sense of smell. If you eliminate one source of food they find another. I finally found one on a bag of flour in my pantry. (Threw that out, cleaned that up) I now keep all of my grain products in the refridgerator and freezer. Luckily, I have room in there for that.
Hello, support group! I hear the pain and share it as it seems we’re all seeing the signs of spring, even with small piles of snow slow melting as we speak. Of course in our homes it’s alway spring or summer for the dermestids. The memo to head farther south obviously didn’t make it to my little friends.
I’m only seeing adult beetles which tells me my larvae are somewhere in the walls, attic, basement, or vents. Nothing I can do about that. I’ve already paid Orkin for nothing; not paying anybody else another dime.
Melissa, don’t worry too much about not finding time to caulk. Let us not forget the size of these pests. If mice can get into the average home, then what hope have we?
WE’ve all done MONTHS of research and most of us have talked to and paid “professionals” yet nobody has come up with anything new and improved. I, too, stil live with out of season items stored in the large ziplocs and placed within plastic bins. For anyone worried about the “moving” look – just make them pretty colors in your closets. WE bought the rolling shelves (like what can be found in restaurants) to house them. Pulling them out to vacuum is much easier now. I keep all my closets, cabinets and the pantry free of any unnecessary items and check them routinely for those little specks Eileen mentioned. I continue to only see mine on the floors, or the occasinal windowsill. I pray that will be the extent of it. And I have 3 spare rooms (doors always closed) where I never see any signs so that makes me feel good.
I have not found anyone outside my support group that has these pests but, to be honest, I’m not making a public announcement . I’m too embarassed to tell anyone. Only 3 friends know of this problem but I try not to talk it about it too much, lest I give them the heebie-jeebies, too. I’m hoping one day I will leave this house and these special creatures here. O.k. it could happen! 😀
Anyhow, Toph, welcome to our little group. The good news is we charge nothing to meet you here. And there is no risk of us sharing your secret. 😉 WE all come here for ONE reason and one reason only – praying for an answer (and staying sane while we wait).
Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Hi to all my Carpet Beetle Support Group,
So here comes another spring and I normally love this time of year but because of these bugs I dread it. It is ironic, because a few posts back I said that I was not going to let these bugs bug me, but I have to admit I am bugged. I wish I could move, but like some other have said, most houses have these pests. I actually talk to my friends about this problem. I know what you mean though Robin… It is embarrasing because people automatically assume that we are incredibly dirty people to have bugs in our houses, but my friends know me and have been to my house and can see how clean I truely am. I think we all thought we were so clean before, but in order to keep these bugs to a minimim we have to be insanely clean. I mean when I tell my friend exactly what I have to go through to keep these things to a minimum, they say things like “I can’t remember the last time I moved my washer and dryer or refrigerator to clean under it” or “I couldn’t tell you all what I have in my storage closet” … things like that. But Robin, you mention that you have not found anyone outside the support group that has encountered these pests… well ironically I was talking to a friend of mine at church and when I described what the larva looked like, she said that she has seen them on her walls too. And another one of my friends too said that she believes she has them too when she saw the ones that I had captured in my jar last fall. So I think most people do have them… they just don’t know what they are or really care… I wish I didn’t care, but I do. And I have not had much damage to my clothes at all. Not sure what they are eating. I think they are in my heating ducts. I might get my heating ducts cleaned out… but that is expensive. We’ll see.
So until then, happy bug killing everyone…. and watch out for that bug poop…. EEEEWWWW
Melissa, you’re right about the fridge, washer/dryer/furniture and don’t forget underneath the dishwasher. Those all get vacuumed once a month here now. And I damp mop in those spaces as well at the same time. Oh yeah, you’re right! I know the clean freak I am and this just adds on a whole ‘nother level. We used to live nextdoor to a woman whom we could hear vacuuming every single day, often in the evenings. Thinking back, I’ve told my husband, “She probably had an encouter with these stupid things the reason she did that.” Connect the dots!
The ONLY good thing to come of this is that we are living so much more frugally now and that’s not a bad thing. I like having less stuff. I have very good reason to NOT keep up with trends in appliances, dishes, cutesie/expensive containers and such. Of course, trashing all the old stuff was no fun in terms of lost dollars.
Melissa, I’m just like you in that I vacillate between “not going to let this get to me” to “Jiminy Cricket, back again? Are you kidding me?” It’s normal. We can only do so much in controlling our emotions. I think it’s healthy/positive to have the latter occur, though, lest we become lax in our control measures. Again, my goal is to not be “infested” as I once was. Like the person you mentioned, when I saw mine I just didn’t know and so they thrived in my environment. Sorry, but I’m southern so somewhere in my mind was probably the automatic response, “Well, aren’t you just precious! Come on in and sit a spell!” Short lived once I learned what I was dealing with. Unless you pay rent, you are not going to be here but so long.
Like everyone else, I have a keen eye for these (talent so wasted here at home. I should be paid for this.) I’m like the wicked witch of the west, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog , too.” They can’t ALL live. Eventaully, one of these little idiots is going to witness the frenzied flushing of a friend and report back to the others, “Get the heck out of here! She’s wise to our ways!” 😀
Tim, any way this site can be adjusted so NEWER posts appear first? Or delete a page or two each month so there are fewer to go back through to get to newer comments?