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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loraine I think borax and boric acid are two completely different things. borax is used to wash clothes as a boost to detergent and boric acid is a chemical insecticide not found in stores but have to get from an exterminator
I honestly believe the itching is from STRESS. Maybe some dirt and dust, but mainly STRESS. At the end of the day make sure everyone to relax and chill out and do something that makes you happy and relaxed!!
Katie, I haven’t had a glass of wine, or knit for so long, think I’ll go do that now 🙂
Michelle, I did misspeak, borax does need to be treated with mineral acid to become boric acid. They both are widely purported to be insecticides. My thinking was that borax, as a salt of boric acid is chemically related closely enough, and they both work as a dessicant, maybe the precursor is strong enough to work.
loraine I didn’t know that thanks I thought they were two totally different things. If it works I,d like to try it
I think I said the TERRO had borax but it actually is boric acid.
I give! I caught two carpet beetles and put them in a jar with some borax. I’m not sure how long it takes to work, but one is still kicking after 2 days. My husband bought some spray which claims to kill carpet beetles, along with many other creepy crawlies. I’ll have to wait until we leave for the weekend, so I’ll just keep up the spring cleaning until then. My vacuum and I are developing a love hate thing. It’s been getting a new bag every day, has had both filters changed, and a belt. I had close to a panic attack when the belt broke yesterday, my sweet husband went and got me another, along with the poison. I’m only cleaning half the day though, I have to have some play time!
It’s taken me 3 months to finally finish this project, but I have now uploaded my pictures of the pupa of the Furniture Carpet Beetle to the website BugGuide.net. I don’t have the best equipment to make good photos of something so small, but I’m hoping they will publish them anyway, because I believe you will still be able to identify the pupae from my photos. So far, the pictures exist at this address: http://bugguide.net/bgimage/user/37351. I don’t know if the site will allow you to view them in this spot before it decides whether or not to publish them, but give it a try and see. I am certain these are the pupae of the Furniture Carpet Beetle because they only appear in the rooms where I find the live beetles, and during the same season when I find the live beetles. (My live beetles, by the way are getting much, much smaller, meaning they aren’t getting much food anymore. Yeah!!) Also, I sometimes find shed skins attached to the pupa, and once I saw the head of a beetle emerging from a pupa on the floor. At that time I still didn’t know what the pupa was. I thought it was an egg sac of an unrelated bug, so I was researching both “bugs”. I squashed the thing before it finished emerging and therefore I do not have complete eyewitness proof of the carpet beetle coming out of the pupal sac. These sacs are kind of flat, measuring 1/16th inch thick at most. They can be found on tile floors and also on interior and exterior walls. They are usually attached closely to a wall on one end, dangling like an earring. The sac is granular in texture and colored in variegate shades of grey, silver and tan. As the discarded sac ages, it darkens to browner colors. I have never found the pupae near the actual larval feeding sites. This suggests that the larvae prefer to travel up to ten yards away from the feeding site before pupating in an area with more light. Also, they do not seem to pupate in clusters, but rather scatter themselves in random fashion. The emerging beetles seem to be attracted to light and water, and, of course, especially to nectar, so it’s best not to keep fresh flowers in the house, and hopefully you don’t have any blooming houseplants. If they get to the nectar they’ll have the energy to mate and lay eggs. My next project will be to make or buy some traps that use a sticky sweet bait to attract the emerging beetles before they start the next generation. The ant traps someone mentioned sound like a good place to start. I have previously purchased a small bottle of lady beetle attractant in the hopes they would come and eat the aphids on my plants. That might also work. Now that I know what these carpet beetles are, I have seen them in feeding clusters on my outdoor flowers and I have seen a few pupal sacs attached to my outside walls. Best wishes to everyone!
Tim, if BugGuide.net doesn’t post my pics, would you be willing to post them on your site for everyone?
Della3: Your pictures are visible on BugGuide, they will probably stay there for at least a month if my past experience is any judge.
I see you have a comment on them already. Charley Eiseman is pretty sure that it’s a household casebearer moth cocoon, and since he is something of a cocoon specialist, I think his opinion bears some weight. For what it’s worth, I’m inclined to agree with him, since it is clearly a cocoon of some sort and I’ve never heard of a beetle spinning a moth-style silk cocoon like this. All the beetle pupae I’ve seen have been “naked”, with no cocoon other than maybe a shell of compacted dirt.
As for your observation of a beetle coming out of one of these, one of the things that carpet beetles eat is the remains of other insects. It could easily have been eating the contents of a casebearer cocoon that had died of other causes.
Of course, the casebearer moths are a problem too – they are one of the classic “clothes moths” that eat wool.
EEEEWWWW, way too much detail, Della3. I think I’m going to be sick.
Whoah, Tim and everyone else! I really thought I had been very careful with my meticulous observations and my conclusion that the cocoons (or cases) I had found belonged to the Furniture Carpet Beetle in my home. I’ve checked the other postings on BugGuide.net and I see that the cocoon does look like what the segmented caterpillar-looking larva of the casebearer moth hides in and walks around with. What is odd is that I have never seen this moth in my home and I HAVE often seen the spiny shed skins of carpet beetle larvae attached to the top of the cocoon. I have also not seen any live bugs other than the carpet beetles. I have not seen live larvae, or the eggs, of either species. I have only seen the spiny shed skins of carpet beetle larvae on my wool items where the clothes were damaged. I checked inside my torchier lamps, since any flying insects in the house usually die in these lamps. As usual, I found a dozen or so beetles and only one insect that looks like it might be a very tiny moth. Nevertheless, both the beetles and the cocoons have always appeared during the same months and in roughly the same quantities in my home for the past 3 years. Also, there is one room that has never been affected, even though there were some woolen items in there as well. I would think that a wool-eating moth would find the wool in that room more quickly. I’m glad they didn’t. Also, the damage on my woolen items does not fit the description of moth damage, but perfectly fits the description and pictures I have seen of carpet beetle damage. So rather than solving the mystery I seem to have uncovered 2 or 3 other mysteries for myself. Regardless, I found some new cocoons when the weather first warmed up, but there have not been any new ones for at least 2 weeks and the beetles are getting fewer and down to almost the size of a pin head. Tim, I sent my photos with the above observations to Charley Eiseman, at his request. I sure wish my cameras or my scanner would do a better job. So far, I don’t have enough reasons to buy any macro photography equipment. I tried the lense reversal with my Nikon DSLR. It didn’t work, but I didn’t have an adaptor. Shouldn’t it still work, even if you have to just hold on to everything with your hands and whatever else? Maybe I just don’t have the right lenses. My 12 megapixel point-and-shoot camera in the macro mode also does not work. So I had to use the scanner on my multi-purpose printer. Maybe it was focusing on the tape measure instead of the bug. I’ll try one more time without the tape measure, just to see if it’s possible for me to get pictures of tiny bugs this way.
I too have never seen a live larva in the 3 years I’ve been dealing with these bugs just the cast skins in my funice filter which I’ve had my vents cleaned 3 times and only 4 live beetles.My son just saw the 4th this a.m. crawling only the floor I forgot how tiny they are I,m surprsed he saw it.I dodn,t think I’d mind so much having them and only seeing one every so often except they are fuining all of my shirts! the money I spend on shirts is insane I wish they would pick something else to ruin
Michelle, have you tried switching to synthetics. There are so many different types of material, you should be able to find something comfortable. Polyester comes in many forms that can look like silk or like cotton. Sometimes when cotton is blended with a synthetic it is unappealling to bugs. Rayon can often feel quite nice as well. Since the larvae tend to only like cotton when it is soiled with sweat or food products, I imagine that your laundry hamper would have to be a solid material with a well-sealed lid, and you wouldn’t be able to leave clothing that has been worn lying about.
they only eat my cottn long sleeve shirts and t-shirts.I don’t want to never be able to wear a t-shirt again.I read they only eat outer threads of garment leaving base threads alone or is it the other way around.I don’t know when the holes are occuring since most of the time when I inspect a shirt before wearing it I see no visible holes then as the day goes on a hole suddenly appears. Either I think they are in my furniture and are having a meal on my shirt while I’m sitting in the livingroom(thats where my son saw a beetle on the floor today)which makes feel crazy for thinking that or as I wear the shirst during the day bending ,carying kids around ect. it pops the remaining threads which were weaking by the larva and the hole becomes visible.If I knew exactly where they were eating my clothes whether the chute on funiture of in the basement I could target that area of the house .I’ve already dusted inside outer perimeter walls,light switch covers ,INSIDE LIGHT s where they meat the ceiling and the whole laundry room.I dodn’t know what else to do.I can’t believe we can’t find one story of anyone successfully getting rid of these things for good
Michelle, please keep in mind that the scientists do not believe that the adults eat cloth, just the larvae. Your idea that the threads are weakened by the larvae and then the holes open up as you work during the day sounds plausible. If the holes are always occurring in the same place (like the armpits) you can inspect the clothes carefully in that spot for eggs and larvae before you put the shirt on. If you’re determined to keep wearing cotton T-shirts, you’ll have the keep the shirts in sealed plastic containers whenever you are not wearing them. You’ll need a clean-shirt container and a dirty-shirt container. There are some places where you can get discount T-shirts that are leftovers from events (they have ads or sports team logos on them). I can’t remember the company I used to use for that. If I find their ads I’ll give you the info. later. Try an experiment: Take a shirt that you would throw out. Cut it in sections. Wash them thoroughly, or try some of the other treatments that have been suggested on this site. Use different treatments for each piece. Once a piece is treated, hang it somewhere where you think the beetles will find it and see if it gets eaten when it is perfectly clean and has been treated to kill any old larvae or eggs. That will give you some idea of what works, and whether or not the bugs really just like cotton or the sweat and organic debri left on clothes that have been worn.
Della3 thank you for your input I must be missing something what are the txs for clothes?
Has anyone ever heard of someone being able to say “I am bug free!” ? I have not heard anyone say that they have successfully gotten rid of their problem. Do you think it is because once they have become sucessful in getting rid of these pests, that they just don’t go back on this site to let everyone know? I have still been seeing the occassional live beetle (usually by the windows, so I am pretty sure they were trying to get out and have already laid their eggs). But I have yet to see larva. I have been seeing the live beetles for months now. I know this sounds crazy, but during the past 4 months I have probably killed about 40 live beetles. Why have I not seen larvae?
Michelle, I forgot to mention why I thought you might be correct in your theory about how the holes appear when you are wearing your shirts. The pictures I’ve seen of beetle damage versus moth damage show that the larvae of these beetles usually chew smaller holes than the moths. Also, they often just chew the top layer of the fibers, so you’ll just see a fuzzy looking area on the cloth where the fibers have been broken. When you check your clothes for damage, you must look for these fuzzy areas (inside and out – they prefer to feed in dark places). That is why the weakened area might become a hole later on as you wear the shirt during the day. Also, the eggs and larvae are supposed to be very small, so if your near vision is not good you may not see them. I, too, have never seen the eggs or the larvae. I’ve mostly seen adult beetles, and a small number of cast skins on the clothes themselves. Only my wool clothes were affected and there were very few holes and a number of fuzzy areas where they had chewed the top layers of clothes. The clothes affected were all in an isolated closet where the door is usually closed, so they could only crawl in underneath the door. Also, there was one wool throw in a common area that had damage. Perhaps that was the one the moths were feeding on. It had larger holes, so that makes sense about the moth cocoons that I mistook for carpet beetle cocoons. Maybe my beetles are getting so small because the larvae don’t have so many moth cocoons to feed on any more. It’s amazing to me how fast the turnaround on the cycle of eggs, larvae, pupae and adult of these two creatures must be. Since these beetles are so attracted to the dead bugs that live in these moth cocoons it might still be a good idea to look for the moth cocoons around you home. I have not eliminated the beetles but this past week I have only found 3 very tiny ones, and I still don’t have any moth cocoons. Since I love this blog and Tim’s take on the insect world, I’ll be checking in on the site even when by beetles are gone, if that happens. So I will pop in occassionally to keep everyone posted on how my beetle situation is going.
Della3,
I am impressed by your ability to investigate the situation. I was just thinking that we all need to start thinking outside the box so we can figure a way to really elimate these pests once and for all. I do hope you are able to become bug free and I hope you come back to tell us that you did it! I was just posting about that…. wondering if anyone ever does become free of these pests.
So I have been thinking. Maybe there is a way we can look into the whole light and dark think in elimating them. I know it doesnt sound reasonable to leave lights on in closets, but there must be some way to mess up their cycle or system. I was telling my husband it would be great if we lived in a place where it gets below freezing all winter or atleast for a portion of the winter. We could leave windows open and let our house freeze. We could stay in a hotel for a few days. But we do not live a place that freezes all day every day/ It gets below freezing at night, but stays above during the day.
Tim,
Can you tell me what the longest period is before eggs hatch? I am sure it varies based on the species of carpet beetle I have. I know for sure I have 2 types in my house. I have been seeing live beetles for about 4 months now and I have not seen larvae yet. And believe me when I tell you I would know if I have larvae as I am frequently pulling everything out of all my closets. I have probably killed about 40 or 50 live beetle so I still have a major infestation problem. But no larvae yet.
melissa,I have never seen a larva either! It is the weirdest thing! you’d think in the 3years i’ve dealt with this I’d have seen some and I’ve only seen three of four beetles but have seen cast skins and have wholes in my clothes! I really don’t understand it
Melissa:
Well, according to this factsheet from the Colorado State University Extension Service, the eggs hatch out up to 20 days after they are laid. The bigger issue seems to be that the larvae can live without food for several weeks, and can travel quite a long way looking for food, so they will persist for quite a long time even after you deprive them of a food source.
Thanks Tim for the info. That is exactly what I thought. I just do not know why I have not seen any larva yet.
Michelle,
Wow! you have only seen a few live beetles…in 3 years! You are so fortunate. I pray that some day I can say that. I worked my buns off last fall and was getting ready to deliver a baby. I don’t even want to relive those months… yes months… that I spent every day cleaning and vacuuming. But anyways, I kept telling myself during all that stress that I was doing good because I was going to beat these things and that come spring I would not have so many. YEAH RIGHT!! All my work in vain! I have seen about 50 live beetles just the past few months! I can see how you might not see the larva as your numbers are very small…. but me? I should be seeing larva by now. I mean 50 beetles times 100 eggs is 5000 larva! It is odd especially since last fall when I discovered I had this problem I probaby killed hundreds of larva in every room. I had a major infestation which was caused by a birds nest in my attic. I feel like they are playing hide and seek with me…. I have gone crazy I know.
Anyone know why I have not seen larva or having any ideas.
FYI… I am still vacuuming and pulling everything out of closets and I still have not encountered them.
Melissa,
Are you still getting fresh damage to your household goods? If not, then the eggs are being placed on food sources in your attic or walls or some other unsean place (maybe there’s a dead rat, or a lot of spiders and spider webs for them to eat). Once they finish pupating the adult beetles would find the first light source where they would hope to go out into the sunshine to find nectar. If that light source leads into your house, that is where they will end up. I worry about the vacuuming method. Are you certain they aren’t escaping from the vacuum bag and getting back into your home? Do you dispose of the bag immediately after each vacuuming and place it in a tightly sealed plastic bag before you dispose of it? Since they can eat things they find in the dust of the bag, and they may not die from just being swept up in the bag, and the larvae like to feed in dark places, you might just be providing a new breeding place for them in the bag. This is why I prefer to squash them immediately, and I try NOT to vacuum them up.
Della3,
I have only had a very small hole in one of my husbands wool pants which we got rid of. That was discovered last fall. Other than that I have not seen any damage to my clothes. I agree that I believe the source is in the attic. We had a birds nest up there which my husband got rid of. But I am sure there were probably some feathers still left up there. My husband doesn’t quite understand how you can not leave even one ounce of food source for these bugs or they will just multiply all over. I am thinking I will need to have someone get up there and replace the insulation. But that will come with some discusion from my husband who will not see the sense in spending money for that. Our house is only 5 years old. In the mean time I am just trying to elimate all food sources from within our house.
As for the vacuum, I have a dyson and it is a canister type and I empty it into bags and tie it up and in the trashcan it goes in the garage. I also store the vacuum in the garage.
This is just weird. I mean I had a major infestation last year. But maybe that will come again in fall?
Has anyone had their air ducts cleaned out? How much did it cost and what was involved?
Melissa,
I have not cleaned out my air ducts, but I had the exterminator back at my home yesterday. He used Dic Earth (DE) and placed it in the floor and crevices on my molding. It is not a chemical, but broken up sea shells that are a fine mist. When the larva comes in contact with the DE, their bodies are cut up and they die. I thought you might be interested in this product because I know that you don’t want to use chemicals.
Maybe the larva are in your floorboards or wall voids. This is what my exterminator thinks happened to me). I know that this whole thing is fruatrating because you are working so hard to get rid of these bugs. I also feel discouraged when I see a larva since I have worked very hard to eliminate these bugs. My extermninator said that vacuuming a lot is very important in geting rid of carpet beetles. You are doing this and I am sure that you are knocking down their numbers. Also, you will never have the infestation you had last year b/c you are more aware of what to look for and how to store your clothes. I hope this helps you to feel encouraged and to know that you are doing everything you can do to get rid of the carpet beetles in your home.
Eileen,
It took me several seconds for me to realize that what you call Dic Earth is Diatomaceous Earth. It’s worth a try, but I wonder if it will work since these larvae are quite hairy and the dust might not actually reach their bodies. Please keep us posted.
Melissa,
It sounds like you’re doing everything right regarding the vacuuming. As you say, you need to keep looking for possible food sources. These guys are are so tiny, I’m sure one feather could feed tens of larvae. As far as trying a light in your closet, why not? But I wonder if it is only torchier lights that work. The heat from my high-wattage halogen bulb lamps used to kill all of the insects on contact. Now, my flourescent-bulb torchiers still seem to work as a graveyard. I’m guessing that when the room is dark except for the lamp, they go in there and find it a nice place to rest and never leave – starving to death. I am surprised that they don’t feed on the old bodies of the other beetles. If they did, I’m sure I would have a lot more beetles. The only ones I find in the lamps are dead, and I have only found one new one about every 4 days now and they are 1/4 of normal size.
Eileen,
Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement!!! Even my best friends cannot beging to understand what we go through in trying to elimate these bugs. It is hard to know the stress and struggles of others unless you yourself experience the same thing. I do vacuum often but not enough . I do not have time to vacuum the whole house everyday. That is a huge task for anyone, let alone someone with 4 small kids one of which is a baby who still has bouts of colic…. (that requires another support group I would guess!!! LOL)
I have heard about DE and have considered using it. But I would have to keep reapplying it and I really need to get to where the source is coming from or all my work in the house is in vain. Besides, I hope you have luck with it, but I have heard that it does not work. That was based on some previous posts as I recall. O will be very interested to see if it works. Please keep us posted.
Melissa, you asked about air ducts? We had ours cleaned a few months ago. We’re in B.C., Canada, and it cost about $400, I think. We kept putting it off, but now we are glad we did it.
Knock wood, I think it has made a difference — plus there is a lot less dust floating in the house. Our house is only 5 years old, but we discovered that the original construction crew had been dumping garbage into the ducts before the house was finished! Great food for the little critters…
Della3,
Sorry about the abbreviation and confusion for Diatomaceous Earth. It was late when I wrote the post and I didn’t feel like writing the whole thing out.
Melissa and Della3,
I too was unsure if DE would work, but my exterminator told me that it really does cut up the bodies of the larva. The exterminator placed it in places that had openings in my moldings along the baseboards and some places in the wood floors where there were large gaps. I guess it couldn’t hurt since it is not toxic.
Melissa,
You don’t have to reapply DE often because since it is not a chemincal, it does not have a residual effect. Most sprays last about 3 months. Also, maybe if you had an exterminator place dust (chemical dust in the walls) that might help. I know you don’t want to use chemicals, but this would be inside your walls. My exterminator did this several months ago. He drilled many small holes along the bottom of my walls and in the closets and inserted a dust. I have read that this is important for carpet beetles b/c theycan live inside wall voids. That is why the previous exterminator wasn’t able to get rid of the carpet beetles b/c he only sprayed but he should have dusted also. This might be a solution for you in addition to the DE. I just know from my experience that I didn’t want to use sprays either and I know we have posted about this topic before. I have three small kids. But I felt that with all of my cleaning and washing clothes and cleaning out closets, that I could not eliminate these bugs by myself. If you did the chemical dust in the walls and DE, it might make a difference. I do realize though that you are not sure of the food source. I had the same problem. After I cleaned out my entire house (closets, etc) I still kept seeing them. I was going crazy. Finally the new exterminators said they were in the walls and floors and that was why I continued to see them. Also, I wanted to let you know that the exterminators sprayed the outside of my house this week, by my windows. I will not spray anymore in the home b/c I have done it too many times. I am on a maintance program with the exterminator now (a one year program and they come every three months or whenever I need them. This does not have to be spraying. The owner of the company came on one visit at my request b/c I couldn’t figure out why I was still seeing the bugs. They also placed glue traps throughout my home and they check them to monitor where there are bugs in the home). They recommend this maintance program for carpet beetles b/c they are so hard to get rid of and it takes a long time to get rid of them. Since the beetles can fly into a house, they sprayed by the windows (outside) to deter them from coming in. Maybe you could spray the outside of your home since you have seen them by your windows (I think you wrote that in a previous post awhile ago). I think in the long run it is very hard to battle these pests by yourself. So maybe alternatives to spraying the inside of your home (dust walls, DE, and spray outside of home) might help your situation.
In terms of my current situation, it is getting better. I have only seen two tiny larva in the past two weeks. I think the reproductive cycle is breaking down, but it has taken a long time to get to this point. My exterminator assures me that you can completely rid your home of an infestation, but it takes 6-8 months (from the start of an exterminator working with you). This is not completely true b/c every home has 2-3 carpet beetles at any one time (on average). In all of our cases, they found the right conditions and a food source and multiplied.
In terms of the vacumming, it is impossioble to vacuum everyday. I can only get to it about once every two weeks. I have three small kids and just don’t have the time. I know I should do it more, but I can’t. Don’t be upset about the vacumming. You are doing the best that you can!
I know this was a long post, but I wanted to give you this info so maybe it can be of some help to you.
By the way, Happy Belated Mother’s Day!
Hi, all.
I’m intrigued by this post! I’m a researcher at a TV production company called Darlow Smithson, based in London UK. We’re currently working on a documentary for Animal Planet, to do with Infestations. It will explore the affect of infestations in the home on people’s lives, as well as the natural history of where the infestation came from.
Melissa – you seem to express that this problem has had a real impact on your life. I wondered if you would be open to getting in touch with me to chat a little more on what’s happening, and how successful the treatments have been. It would be great to hear from you.
We’re also looking out for other severe cases to have a look at, so please do let me know if anyone here has or knows of a similarly troublesome infestation.
You can reach me at nina.bailey@darlowsmithson.com
I hope to speak with you soon.
Many thanks, Nina
Hi! I thought I’d check back in and let Melissa and the rest of you know that it’s officially been two weeks since I’ve seen a beetle or a moth cocoon. I’ll let you know if this is still the case after a few more weeks.
Hi
In the last three months I have been finding tiny tiny little black beetles by my window sill. I have vacuumed up maybe ten. It seems to be a carpet beetle, but I don’t have carpet anywhere in my house. Asides from vacuuming, and cleaning away dust, what is the best way to prevent a full on infestation.
I am super paranoid as the building I work at has an infestation of carpet beetles. The thought of having beetles at work and home is really taking a toll on me. I cannot concentrate at work, and it is all I can think about….
Thanks,
Chris
I just thought I’d check in again to say that tonight will make the 3rd week without carpet beetles or moth cocoons! In my efforts I would say that finding and eliminating the food sources for the beetles is the primary factor for their dissappearance. I did not use any pesticides or vacuum them up. I squashed them as I found them, to make sure they were dead, as I do with almost all of the stray bugs that wander into my home.
Chris,
Don’t let the name distract you. The variety of carpet beetle I have is called furniture carpet beetle, but none of my beetles were in my furniture or carpet because my sofas and carpet are made of synthetic materials. They only eat organic items. My beetles preferred to eat wool and wool moth larvae above all else.
Thanks Dells for the tip on finding the source.
Update: I think I found the source. There is a space between the moulding on my floor and the brick wall that is right below the window sill where my cat sits. When I peeled it back a little I saw huge clumps of cat hair and dust, and other dead bugs. I have vacuumed up the space and sprayed residual insecticide. Hoping this will be the last of my beetle issues.
As well. I am going to start grooming my cat more often so she doesn’t leave so much hair behind when she sheds. She may not like it, but I rather put her through that than have bugs!
Checking in again: 4th week without any carpet beetles or moth cocoons!
I don’t think you would see anything now.
Hi everyone!
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to previous posts. I have been sooooo busy with all sorts of things. First I thought we were moving to Dallas (we are in Portland Oregon right now) and I was so excited to sell this house. But that fell through. So then I begged my husband to get rid of the carpet downstairs and we are in the process of putting in laminate flooring. We are half way done as we are doing it ourselves. FYI… unless you have a very simple floor plan layout, I would get the floor professionally installed. It is quite a task. Anyway so I figured that when we pulled up the carpet and the baseboards, I would see a bunch of carpet beetle larvae….. NOPE! Not one bug did we encounter and I was searching. Also I have not seen any bugs for almost a month now! I am not sure how this is possible as a few months ago I killed so many live beetles that I expected larvae by now. Maybe my hard work and praying to God to get them out of my house worked!
Tim… is it possible that even though I had so many live beetles that because there was no significant food source that they won’t lay eggs?
Eileen thank you so much for the extensive post a few weeks back! I actually was going to look into getting some DE to put in the cracks and along the baseboards of our house downstairs since we have all the baseboards pulled out. But I have not seen any beetles yet. Maybe I still will to prevent a possible future outbreak. How is the beetle situation in your home? Sorry I didnt’ post earlier, but happy belated Mother’s Day to you too!
Della3
I am so happy to hear you are bug free for so long. I am with you on the killing of the bugs first and foremost. I did a bunch of squishing too. I probably did suck some up though as I used the suction tool to get the baseboards and the corners and probably sucked some up that were hiding. My vacuum has a very good suction.
I will keep you all informed on my progress too… but it seems like several of us might be winning this battle! Praise God!
I’ve been reading everyone’s comments. I found 3 carpet beetles in my bedroom this week and one on my jeans in the wardrobe last week. Yesterday, I was emptying the washing basket and found live lavae (about 6) in the clothes particularly in my little one’s underwear, which I threw straight out in the bin. There were 2 beetles in there as well, which made me wonder if they had laid the eggs that had hatched.
However, I feel so paranoid and uncomfortable going upstairs now. I have started to empty out my wardrobes and am starting to wash/ dry all of my clothes at high temperatures hoping this will get rid of any eggs or lavae. I also have little children, so am not able to vacuum in every nook and cranny straight away, as I don’t have hours to spare for a thorough cleaning. But I will tackle this bit by bit. The wardrobe I cleaned out today had a live larvae on a piece of clothing at the bottom of the wardrobe. The lavae moves around quite fast, looks like a maggot and is yellow coloured. The beetles I have found were small, black, round and have had patterns on their back.
I’m not sure what the source could be, I did find a carpet beetle on my window sill last year, which makes me think that they might have flew in? or could be trying to get out? I have yet to send my husband up in the loft to look for any other possibilities. There are no gaps up there for any nests as our house is a newly built modern home in the UK with very little loft space. However, I have read that old carpets could harbour nests and I remember putting some clothes away up in the loft last year. So we will have to investigate this soon.
Also wanted to share that my sister in law had an infestation at her house last year. She had a lot more than me and found them under the carpet, in the corners and on the sides of the bed. She said her little girls had been taking food upstairs and felt that this was the main reason for the infestation. She said she vigorously vacuumed all the rooms with a small nozzle attachment, then sprayed with insecticide and cleaned out all the cupboards and washed all their clothes. She now claims to have not seen any since last year after a few weeks of cleaning.
I just wanted to share my experiences (sorry for it being so long!). I hope that things get better for you Melissa and anyone else with these problems. I can imagine what a disruption it can be to a person’s life, it’s certainly disrupting mine and I really want this cloud lifted off my shoulders. I will let everyone know if I find any more beetles or if I manage to reduce their numbers once I try and thoroughly clean everywhere.
Nikki,
It sounds like you are on top of the problem and working vey hard to rid your home of the beetles. You might have varied carpet beetles because you mentioned that you saw patterns on them. Black carpet beetles are all black and varied carpet betles have little spots on them. I mainly had black carpet beetles in my house, but I found varied carpet beetles in one room under a rug. I threw out the rug and cleaned the room. Keep us posted about your progress and good luck!
Melissa,
It was good to hear from you! I am glad that you have not seen any bugs. This is great news! I wil keep my fingers crossed for you!
Thank you for asking about my house. Things have been better. I hadn’t seen one in a few weeks and then recently I saw a larvae and a dead beetle in my basement. The beetle must have come in contact with the residual chemicals from the exterminator because earlier in the day, the bug wasn’t there. The basement is the one area that DE was not placed in because it doesn’t have wood floors, just carpeting. But overall, I have seen improvement in my home (knock on wood!).
Good luck with putting in your new floors. It sounds like a tedious job, but maybe it will help to prevent an infestation again.
Oh NO I definitely have these beetles too and am going crazy from them! They are effecting my life! Basically I have found the larvae, seen a ton of beetles at my windows and around the house. I vacuum, get rid of the bag each time, vacuum the walls and every possible area. I have ALL my clothes in sealed bags, and STILL I see them. I can’t figure out where they are coming from. I wash all my clothes in hot water for at least one hour and put them in the dryer for over an hour and then straight into bags, yet I am still finding holes.
Can anyone answer some questions for me?
What exactly do the eggs look like? I can’t find any pictures? I see the holes, the larvae, the same sweater getting additional holes but never see the eggs.??
Can I infest other peoples homes? If they come to stay with me or I stay with them…this is truly worrying me ?
How fast do these larvae move? I have only ever seen them moving exceptionally slowly, or motionless yet how can they get around unnoticed?
I have recently called in the exterminator, had not seen anymore bugs for a week and found a larvae today.
Thanks for your help guys.
Nikki,
I too have small children and I am all too familiar with the stress these bugs can have on your life! I feel that finding the source is of extreme importance. We too live in a new (5 yrs old) home and we did get a birds nest up in our attic. So it is true that no matter how old your house is, the source could be coming from your loft. I would investigate that fairly quickly. Also just to let you know, vacuuming often and keeping things tidy will lessen the numbers significantly. I have not seen live beetles or larva for a while now (a month or more now) which is progress in my house as I had a major infestation. And the other advice I can offer you is to investigate all areas of your home, not just the ones that you suspect will have them. I know this is an impossible task to tackle quickly but over time you should attempt to do this.
Eileen, I didn’t know you can’t use DE when you have carpeting. Couldn’t you pull the carpet back at the baseboards and put some down? I have never used DE, but I would be curious to see if you can use it with carpet. And you are absolutely right! If you are only seeing one or two occasionally that is progress. And I can just think that a year or two down the line you might not see any more at all. I am still waiting for someone to say…. “YES I have done it! I beat these bugs!” And I guess we can look on the bright side. They do not bite us… just our clothes LOL! I remember when I was trying to find out what they were, I was imagining they were bed bugs and I was totally freekin out! I could not handle bed bugs!
Andrea,
Believe me, I know how you are feeling with this bug this causing a major headache in your life. I was so obsessed over these things that it began to affect the relationship I had with my other family members. My kids thought the TV was their mommy for a while, and my husband just wanted me to be “normal” again.
No I have never seen any eggs, nor could I find a picture of them on line anywhere. That was a big question I had too! What do the eggs look like?
I am not sure if I should be the one to give you advise as I tend to be a little fanatical when it comes to getting rid of these bugs. But what I find is vitally important is examining all areas of your home…. under washer dryer, refrige, stove, armours, dressers, desks, beds, bookshelves etc. And in every cabinet in your home. Okay so I went a bit overboard, but when I was pulling everything out of my linen closet, I was checking all the boardgames and I found one in there. Not sure what kind of food source they were looking at in there, but that is just an example of checking everywhere, even when you least expect it. Also, not sure what kind of plastic bags your are refering to, but what I did is put them in plastic bins and seal around the lid and the holes in the handles. Don’t worry, over time you will see your numbers decrease significantly if you just keep up with the cleaning. I have decreased my number significantly and if it can happen to me (I had them in every room) it can happen to you too!
Hello everyone,
I still have them too, but it is nothing like it was last year (1000’s of visible larvae and adults over a 9 month period in every room on 3 levels). So far in 2010 I’ve seen half a dozen adults … much smaller than before, and NO larvae. The small amount of clothes that I leave out are getting eaten a little bit, so there still are larvae, I’m just not seeing them.
The latest freak out was finding an adult IN the flipping drier!!! 🙁
It seems some of my snags developed into holes, after a fuzzy stage that someone else described here. It is weird ‘living’ out of Ziploc bags, and all else is in other kinds of containers. I would suspect that if anyone came to stay here, they would be going home with ‘gifts’. I have gotten into a habit of keeping my purse in a bag and continue to do that. I hardly visit anyone anymore and actually do not enter their home unless I know they already have carpet beetles if I do. I am considering spraying the whole place again, so far this year I’ve just spot sprayed like the couch.
I found a pic on the net that says it’s eggs … but it is an odd picture, using a black light or something.
What do you think Tim?
http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/index.cfm?event=site.image.detail&id=1793
Barbara
Oh God, this is so depressing. I already live out of ziplocks!! I use airtight sealed vacuum bags for all my clothes and have gone so far as to put everything I own into these vac bags. I literally live out of these bags. Recently I began to notice holes again in certain sweaters and shirts…even though they have been washed thoroughly and put through the dryer for almost an hour…I’m not convinced this is even killing the eggs.?
I am careful when staying with friends but I also think if they are that transportable wouldn’t they be in every home? Also I cannot ask people if they have them. I have read they are in most homes, but generally speaking people don’t tend to notice them. Any insights on this?
Thanks for all the replies, I guess it’s good to know I’m not alone in Ziploc world.
I often wish I lived in oblivion and never knew these were here!!!!!
I think they are in 99% of homes, Andrea … I just don’t know why they have made them selves sooo noticeable all of a sudden. I even have gone to storing clothes that need laundering in a Rubbermaid to see if that would stop new holes.
As for the storage, I have not seen any new holes in clothes since I have stored my items in plastic bins with clear packaging tape around the entire lid to seal it really well. I didn’t even think about the hole that is in the handle until someone else posted on this. So now I have tape over those holes. This really seems to work. Plus it is easy to pull them out of the closets to vacuum the closets.
I too wish I had never encountered these things. I was living perfectly fine before I determined I had these things in my house and I am sure they had been here atleast the year prior. I could not have had the major infestation (like Barbara… in every room on both levels) just instantly appear. They must have been multiply happily for a while.
ALSO! I encounterd a small larvae in my bathroom last night. I had been bug free for a month or so. But in all honesty I can handle one here or there. I mean before, if I had found a larva, I would have been up all night detail cleaning that room. But NOPE! Last night I squished the little bugger with toilet paper, in the potty it went, and into bed I went. Those days are behind me. Alleluliah.
I’ve been working through this carpet beetle drama for the past 4 months… Endless vacuuming, inspecting, de-cluttering, crying, praying… What a mess. I’ve never been a bug-phobic or clean freak, but I sure am now.
Wanted to also mention that curtains can also be a source. I found some obvious symptoms (1/2 eaten bugs and cast skins) in the folds of one of my curtains, which I took down immediately, but left a second set up because it showed no obvious signs of infestation. Later, when I finally got the second set down, I found that they had been nesting high up in the curtains, inside the lining, and way up where the curtains bunch together at the top. I’ve also found them in accumulations of pet fur in couches, (Both under the cushions as well as in the fabric flaps that lie along the floor) & under my dishwasher. I have found very few larva, and mostly in a wool rug in a seldom-vacuumed guest room. (Wool rug has been cleaned, packaged up, and won’t be back for the foreseeable future!) I have been taking the house apart room by room, trying to find any other hot spots of activity. It is incredibly time-consuming, especially when coupled with all of the vacuuming. Not to mention – trying to get everything else in your life done!
I’m so glad I found this website. It really can feel maddening battling these bugs, and it feels better to know that I’m not the only one with this problem. Good luck to everyone!
Sam
Melissa,
I am not sure if DE can’t be used underneath carpeting. I just don’t think the exterminator used it in my basement that has carpeting. He mainly focused on the floor boards because he thought they were in there. You could check with an exterminator over the phone if they put DE under carpet. Good luck!
Does anyone happen to know if adults emerge continuously throughout the summer months? I recently threw away some infested curtains and a possibly infested upholstered chair and haven’t seen any adults since. Don’t know if I finally eliminated “the source” or if all of my adults emerged and now I’m just left with larva and eggs?
Any feedback from people on how prevalent adults were throughout the season and year would be very much appreciated. Wondering if I have to wait until next Spring to really see if I’ve got a handle on the problem or not!
Sam
Sam,
My adults emerged all within about a month span beginning end of February through March. I have not seen any more since then. I know they are on a cycle and it may vary based on where you are located. I am in the Northwest in USA and our Spring time came early this year as we did not have much of a winter. And I have 2 types of carpet beetles in my house, so I do not believe it is based on species. Both types emerged about the same time. I would say if you have not seen any for a few months, then I would think they are done emerging for this year.