Thinking about bugs crawling through the fibers of your living room carpet, winter sweaters, or stored bed sheets is a source of anxiety for many. Nobody wants unwanted bugs unexpectedly emerging from their linen closet.
Carpet beetles themselves aren’t dangerous like some pests. They aren’t known to carry disease, and they don’t bite humans. But make no mistake: you don’t want them in your Louisville home.
If you see adult beetles flying around lampshades and walls, chances are they’ve already laid their eggs, and a full-blown infestation is brewing. At this point, you will likely notice holes chewed into patches of your carpet, your heirloom rugs, your furniture, and even your curtains.
What do carpet beetles look like?
The culprit for the damage is actually the larvae of a carpet beetle. The pests look distinctly different, depending on their age, and educating yourself about the difference will aid in proper identification.
- Eggs: Tiny measuring between ?-½ mm and thus difficult to observe without a microscope. They are oval, white, and have spines sticking out from one end.
- Larvae: The offspring of adult carpet beetles, the larvae are the ones that actually do damage. They eat animal fibers and material often found in carpeting, but can also be attracted to curtains and clothing. They are covered in barb-like hairs that help to latch onto their food.
- Adults: A smaller species of beetle, they reach ? inch at their largest. They have wings and range in color from black to dark brown with zig-zag patterns on their backs. Adults can fly and are often attracted to light.
How do carpet beetles get inside my home?
You may be wondering what attracts carpet beetles to a home, and how did they even get in?
Because the adults can fly, they can get into the home through open doors or windows, even small cracks. They find places to lay their larvae near available food sources
The carpet beetle spends most of its life in the larvae stage feasting on fibers like hair, fur, silk and wool. As they grow, they become more mobile, and as they eat, they will carve discernible channels through whatever material they are feasting on.
They are only in the adult stage for a few weeks, and during that time, they lay up to 100 eggs near a potential food supply. To find a safe harborage for their offspring, they will fly around your home looking for protected places with ample food supply. Once the larvae have eaten their fill of the upholstery, they grow up into adults themselves.
Household Prevention Tips
So, the question remains: how can you carpet beetles from invading your Louisville home? There are a number of steps homeowners can take to reduce the likelihood of a carpet beetle infestation:
- Keep windows, doors and screens in good condition. Tears in screens, or windows and doors that don’t close properly, are openings for bugs of all kinds to make their way indoors.
- Clean animal fur regularly. Being diligent with vacuuming up pet hair, and even the stuff that sheds from our own heads, can reduce the attractiveness of your material to carpet beetles.
- Wash or dry material that’s been stored for awhile. Drapes and coats or clothes stored for weeks on end in a closet make good nesting places for carpet beetles. Regularly throwing these items in the wash, or drying them on high heat, can kill off any invaders
How do I solve my carpet beetle problem?
Though these prevention tips are useful, remember that by the time the signs of carpet beetles are noticeable, these household methods won’t be enough to fully get rid of a carpet beetle population. Our Louisville pest control professionals at Action Pest will work with you to eliminate your carpet beetle infestation - large or small. If you suspect a pest infestation, contact us today. We will work with you, your problem, and your schedule to come up with a solution that works!