Have you ever seen a carpet beetle in your house and wondered what is the best way to get rid of carpet beetles? Carpet beetles are beetles that are considered pests because of the level of damage they can inflict upon your carpets and fabrics inside your house. However, what is the best way to get rid of carpet beetles?
In this article, I will discuss the best way to get rid of carpet beetles and additional ways of getting these beetles out of your house and keeping them outside for good!
Table of Contents
What are carpet beetles exactly?
As their name suggests, carpet beetles are actually a type of beetle which devours fabrics of all kinds. This could be your carpets, rugs, blankets, sofa coverings, clothes, and pretty much any other fabric that a carpet beetle can find itself on.
Carpet beetles are, by far, the most commonly found beetles in households. And they are not limited to just the United States of America but are found all over the world. Statistically speaking, finding a beetle in your house generally means you’ve found a carpet beetle.
One thing to remember is that if you do find carpet beetles in your house, it doesn’t have much to do with how clean your house is. However, you will have to take prompt action before these pests multiply and infest your entire house.
Where do carpet beetles typically live?
While carpet beetles are found all over the world, they typically live in locations that can offer enough food and warmth for them. The logical choice, then, is to go inside houses!
Even inside your house, carpet beetles will most likely make their home in your furniture, cupboards, mattress, bedrooms, bathrooms, and any cracks in your wall. The fact is that the more sheltered a spot is, the more attractive it is for a carpet beetle to inhabit.
What do carpet beetles typically eat?
The fact is that more than the adult carpet beetle, it is the carpet beetle larvae that inflict the most damage on your home. That said, these pests eat more or less any fabric that they come across in your house.
Carpet beetles typically depend on fabrics that are sourced from animals, such as wool, yarn, fur, and so on. However, they will also eat synthetically created fabrics. In fact, if they cannot source sufficient nutrition from the synthetic fabric, they will eat more of it in an attempt to source the required amount of nutrition.
Carpet beetles also feast on insects, dead and fallen hair, and other similar items. The sole thing to remember when it comes to carpet beetles is that they will chew through every fabric they can access for as long as they can access them.
How do carpet beetles reproduce?
Carpet beetles are fast reproducers. When carpet beetles first enter your home and find the comfort of warmth, shelter, and food, they will lay eggs almost immediately. Furthermore, carpet beetles will lay eggs about four times a year.
Before they lay eggs, the only requirements are the presence of food, shelter, and a hatching site that is similar to their natural habitat. If all these requirements are met, then carpet beetles will simply keep reproducing.
This is the main reason why you should take action against carpet beetles, even if you’ve only spotted them once. Since their population is bound to grow exponentially and fast, you only have a small window of time before the carpet beetle infestation gets out of your hands!
What is a carpet beetle’s life cycle?
Typically, carpet beetles will live for up to four weeks as adults. The adult stage of their life cycles is preceded by three main stages: the egg stage, the larval stage, and the pupae stage. Carpet beetle eggs, once laid, can hatch at any time between a week and four weeks.
Larvae emerge from these eggs and appear like worms with hair lining their bodies. These larvae will feed on fabrics and then go on to the pupae stage before ultimately turning into adults.
How to identify a carpet beetle infestation?
While it is difficult to accurately identify or even spot a carpet beetle in your house, it is fairly straightforward to identify a carpet beetle infestation.
Despite the fact that these beetles are fairly small in size and difficult to spot, the damage that they leave behind can be quite noticeable, and that is your primary indication of a carpet beetle infestation in your house. Watch out for the following signs –
- Holes in your carpets, blankets, or any other fabric items that are made primarily of animal-based material.
- Shed skin left behind by carpet beetle larvae. You will generally find shed skin around your carpets and other fabrics.
- Bald spots in your genuine fur items.
- Finding carpet beetle excreta that appears to be black and brown pellets. Once again, you will most likely find this excreta around your fabrics and your furniture.
- Adult carpet beetles flying around your house and sitting on your windows are a definite sign that you have a full-blown carpet beetle infestation in your house.
What is the best way to get rid of carpet beetles?
When it comes to the question, “what is the best way to get rid of carpet beetles,” you must keep in mind that the objective is to eliminate not only adult carpet beetles but also their eggs and larvae that are nesting in your house!
Here are some of the best DIY methods you can try before you decide that it is time for you to call in a professional pest control and management company to get rid of these pests from your house.
Pesticides and insecticides to kill carpet beetles in your house
Chemicals like bifenthrin and deltamethrin are designed to quickly kill pests like carpet beetles, among many others. These insecticides are also commonly available in most supermarkets.
However, before you resort to using these strong insecticides, you must take some precautionary measures to prevent these chemicals from harming you or any pets you may have.
For starters, make sure your pet doesn’t get a chance to ingest any chemicals that you spray in your house. Secondly, be careful about where you distribute these chemicals so that you don’t accidentally ingest or inhale the poison.
Once you’ve made sure of this, simply spray the insecticide in the corners of your house, in your infested cupboards, and on your carpets and rugs. Any location in your house that you think might be infested should be sprayed with insecticide. This will help ensure that the chemicals kill every carpet beetle in your house.
Diatomaceous earth
Because it is a naturally occurring compound, you can use diatomaceous earth to kill carpet beetles and larvae while keeping yourself and your pets safe. A fair word of warning: diatomaceous earth will be very effective in killing carpet beetle larvae but might come up short when dealing with adult carpet beetles.
The reason is that this compound acts by dehydrating the pest and ultimately causing its death. This is typically easy to do in carpet beetle larvae since they are worms with a soft exterior. However, adult carpet beetles have a hard and tough exoskeleton that is difficult to permeate.
Boric acid powder
Sprinkling boric acid in its powdered form on your carpets that are infested by carpet beetles will ensure that the bugs that are hiding inside the carpets die.
Having said that, boric acid can be poisonous if consumed by humans and animals alike. Therefore, you should ideally keep your pets away from the carpet when you’re treating it with boric acid.
Apple cider vinegar solution spray
Creating a spray by mixing apple cider vinegar and water is extremely helpful in repelling adult carpet beetles and killing their eggs and larvae. Simply spray this solution in every part of your house that is infested with carpet beetles and let the solution do its magic.
The one disadvantage of spraying a vinegar solution all around your house is its pungent odor. To combat that, you can follow up this spray by also spraying an essential oil solution. You can use oils like eucalyptus, neem, and peppermint, which in themselves have proven insecticidal properties.
Vacuuming your house and treating your fabrics and clothing with high-temperature steam
Regularly vacuuming your house can help you trap any lingering carpet beetles, eggs, and larvae. Make sure you vacuum all your cupboards, carpets, and around your bed frames to suck in these pests.
Once you’ve vacuumed your entire house, you should seal the garbage bag properly and dispose of it to prevent any trapped pests from escaping.
Furthermore, you can also steam-infested carpets and fabrics in your house to kill larvae and eggs and drive out adult carpet beetles from them.
One of the best ways to use steam to get rid of carpet beetles is to first subject all the fabrics to high-temperature steam and then vacuum it to suck out any dead eggs, larvae, or adults.
How can you prevent a carpet beetle infestation altogether?
The formula to prevent carpet beetle infestations in your house is quite straightforward. Since carpet beetles only infest places where they can find shelter and access to nutrition, you need to make sure that they don’t get access to either.
To do that, you should seal any cracks in your walls, windows, and doors where these pests might enter. Furthermore, you also need to store food in tightly sealed containers so that no carpet beetle can feed on it. If you can take care of these two principles, you can prevent a carpet beetle infestation altogether!
Do carpet beetles bite humans?
No, carpet beetles don’t generally bite humans. Their focus is simply to survive by deriving their nutrition from the fabrics that you have inside your house. With that said, it is possible to have allergic reactions to carpet beetles.
Some common symptoms of a carpet beetle allergy are a runny nose, a rash on your skin, itchiness in your eyes along with wateriness, and hives.
Can carpet beetles fly?
Yes, carpet beetles can fly. In fact, their ability to fly is what makes it easy for them to enter your house. Since these pests are attracted to light and warmth, they can enter your house through open doors and windows to try and get to the light and its warmth.
Conclusion
Carpet beetles are pests that will damage your carpets and other fabrics unless you take action against them. To help you do so, I have highlighted what is the best way to get rid of carpet beetles in this article.
You can either opt for natural modes of treatment like diatomaceous earth and vinegar solutions or even spray your house with insecticidal chemicals if the infestation is widespread.
