Carpet Beetle

CARPET BEETLE

The most common are the Variegated and the Black Carpet Beetles.  The adult beetle is small (5mm) and oval shaped.  Larvae have red-brown, elongated, oval shaped bodies covered with stiff bristles.  Carpet Beetles attack a wide range of materials including wool, fur, hair, silk, underfelts, dried insect specimens, animal carcasses and stored food.  Carpet beetles are quite widespread because of their ability to tolerate lower humidities.  Only the larval stage is destructive to household materials.  Both larvae and adults are often found around windows, skirting boards and under furniture which does not get moved very often.  Many carpet beetles live on flowers and are often transported inside on cut flowers.

TIPS FOR PREVENTION

• Regularly clean or vaccum carpets, rugs, soft furnishings and upholstered furniture
• Seal holes in house to prevent birds and rats from nesting
• Clean areas where pets rest on a regular basis
• Check cut flowers before they are bought inside
• Wrap clothes to be stored tightly in platsic  

Lavender oil or sachets can act as a repellant if placed with stored clothes. 

Since Carpet beetles mostly consume clothing materials, they can quickly multiply in your home if correct actions are not taken on time. It is very easy for the grown beetles to simply crawl or fly in through outlets and open spaces and try to convert it into a beetle habitat by laying eggs everywhere. They can also infest your homes by being parasitic to people coming in from outdoors. It is extremely important to thoroughly clean all the places to ensure that no unhatched egg remains hidden, which can again reproduce and give birth to a large number of beetles.

They are mostly infamous for foraging on fibers like leather, wool, etc, which results in the destruction of these clothing materials. Furthermore, they might cause allergic reactions or irritation of the skin due to presence minute sharp hairs on their bodies.

Seeming considerably harmless, carpet beetles may cause enormous damage to your products which contain a protein called keratin - found mostly in animal products like fur and leather along with human nails and hair. They usually create holes in the fabrics, which makes the infestation slightly more undetectable.

Vacuuming your house regularly will prevent carpet beetle infestation to a large extent, reason being that it draws away all the dead decayed insect or human skin  debris which carpet beetles usually thrive on.

Sometimes, these beetles can impact the respiratory systems of a certain group of people. Since carpet beetles can fly, it is important to ensure that not a single corner is left untouched while treating the,, lest they spread around and laying eggs.

Washing all clothes in extremely high temperatures will get rid of the carpet beetles, albeit that may cause some damaged to the washed fabrics.

In case your house has already been infested, there is nothing to panic about. R.I.P. Pest Management is here to take care of those nasty beetles.