In this post we ll talk about carpet mites what causes carpet beetles where carpet beetles come from and how to avoid a carpet beetle infestation.
Does one carpet beetle mean infestation.
Carpet beetle larvae change their skin several times during their nine month lifecycle.
The brown hairy larvae do all of the feeding damage.
Below are the top 11 causes of carpet beetle infestations and how they enter your home.
Seeing beetles especially larvae or their skin can be a sign that you have a carpet beetle infestation.
As a result carpet beetles may infest carpets upholstered furniture blankets coats comforters wool pillows and clothing.
Carpet beetle infestations last longest when larvae have a consistent source of food.
This means no wool leather fur feathers or any other organic materials.
Carpet beetles feed on a wide range of animal based items including silk leather fur wool and animal hair.
But one carpet beetle is solid black.
It s possible that you just had one carpet beetle but extremely unlikely.
The adult beetles are very small less than 1 8 inch long and round oval in shape.
Most carpet beetles are marked with different colors of brown white black reddish orange or yellow in a calico pattern.
Keep your eye out for more.
Carpet beetles live in hidden locations.
Identifying carpet beetles correctly is important so that you can implement elimination techniques that work.
Just sprinkle baking soda on all your carpets and upholstered furniture.
If it turns out that you do have carpet beetles you can kill them with baking soda.
Left behind larvae skin.
One of the easiest ways to prevent carpet beetles from invading your home is to fill it with synthetic products.
This is the only way to stop the carpet beetles from damaging these items since they only eat natural fibers and not synthetic fibers.
Let that sit a few days and vacuum it up.
Usually this consistent source will be an old damaged or dirty rug or other piece of fabric.
If you do it s important to find where carpet beetles may be living or laying eggs.
The top 11 causes.
As carpet beetles exclusively eat organic products this is the best way to prevent carpet beetles.
So if one day you find your favourite shirt looking like swiss cheese you probably have a carpet beetle infestation happening right in your closet.
There are various species of carpet beetles but most adults are oval shaped black with white yellow and at times orange patterns and grow up to 1 4 mm in length.
Adult beetles feed outside on flowering plants.
Stored clothing old rugs and carpeting or dirty sheets are all particularly likely infestation sites.
