Somebody’s Been Eating My Carpet…. And There They Are!

In South Carolina Carpet beetles are an occasional pest which means they don’t do harm when they stay where they are supposed to, but occasionally they come inside and become a pest. Outside the adult beetle feeds on pollen and nectar and the larvae eat organic material such as feathers, fur, horns, animal skin, dead insects and such. Bird and rodent nesting sites are popular areas for these beetles to infest.
The beetle’s eggs can be accidently brought in on used clothing or furniture or the adults can squeeze in from outdoors. Once entrenched inside your home the larvae feed on wool rugs, silk clothing, linens, feathers, fur coats, leather furniture and other organic material. It is important to find out where they are coming from when controlling Carpet beetles, but it’s not always obvious.
On more than one occasion I’ve received a call from a customer concerned that they had bed bugs only to find Carpet beetles in their bed. One of those cases involved someone who was getting itchy spots and thought he had bed bug bites. In actuality he was having an allergic reaction to carpet beetle larvae–small worms covered with hairs which can cause skin irritation.
The most recent call I received was a case where there were beetle larvae eating an antique rug. I thought for sure I would find a bird’s nest in the unused chimney near the rug and that would be the source. There was no nest in that old chimney. A further inspection uncovered an area under a cabinet near the rug that was packed full of dog hair from a former pet. There was a massive population in the hair—the obvious breeding ground for the beetles damaging the rug.
In both of these cases, removing the source by thorough cleaning, vacuuming using attachments to reach cracks and crevices followed by our treatment in the infested areas where active beetles were seen took care of the problem.
Proper identification of the pest is vital if you are to have any success in solving a pest problem. Spraying the bugs you see won’t necessarily stop more from being there tomorrow–you must find the source. Thorough cleaning and vacuuming is always a part of successfully removing carpet beetles from your home. As always, if you’re seeing bugs and you can’t find the source, call The Pest Force!