Imagine sitting down on to the carpet to play with the family pet. In between the fun and games, you notice something crawling near your leg. It looks kind of like a ladybug but not quite. It’s got a dark brown or black body with splotches of color here and there. And then you notice that there is actually more than one of the little bugs. There are several and as for the carpet, it’s looking a little worse for the wear. It could be that your home is infested with carpet beetles.
Considered members of the dermestids family, these little critters may look innocuous. However, they are anything but harmless. If left to their own devices, carpet beetles will make short work of an infected home’s soft goods. They’ll start by using the fabrics as nesting sites, where they’ll deposit their tiny eggs. The eggs themselves are harmless, but the larvae they contain are definitely not.
In about 14 days, the carpet beetles offspring will hatch, and then the feeding begins. They’ll generally only feed on organic products. So, pet dander, dead skin cells, cotton and wool fibers are all fair game for these tiny, eating machines. They won’t eat forever though. They’ll eventually stop, molt and being reproducing too.
As they reach maturity, carpet beetles’ appetites and dietary preferences change. They begin to forgo fibers and opt to dine on plant nectar and pollen spores instead. So infestations may spread to a home’s indoor plants as time goes on. And if it does spread to a home’s potted plants, the cycle will continue until one of two things happen. The first is a reduction in food sources and nesting areas. The second is professional intervention. To learn more about professional intervention and how it can stop carpet beetles in their tiny tracks, please contact us.
