Bugs That Eat Your Carpet

When you see signs of an infestation.

Bugs that eat your carpet.

Carpet beetles have a recognisable oval body with a shiny dark brown black colouring though their wings tend to vary with irregular patterns of white brown and dark yellow. The carpet beetles never bite or destroy anything it is their young ones you should blame. Some female bugs such as bed bugs lay up to five eggs daily. Bugs living in carpets cause skin irritations such as itching and breakouts.

Their larvae are reddish brown and covered in fine hairs. Carpet beetles are sometimes described as tiny bugs in your closet as they re very small by nature and move very slowly. When a bug takes shelter inside a carpet it causes an infestation. Carpet beetle larvae eat fur feathers mohair wool and other soft natural fibers.

Carpet beetle the most common carpet beetles in new zealand are the varied carpet beetle anthrenus verbasci and the black carpet beetle attagenus unicolor. Carpet beetles don t usually eat cotton linen or other plant based or synthetic fabrics but they may eat fabric blends or fabrics stained with animal products. These beetles have black white red and orange scales. Carpet beetles are persistent pests that can eat away at your carpets clothing and other fabrics.

Others such as fleas can lay 2 000 eggs weekly. They tend to live inside fabric furniture or deep inside carpets so look for damage to area rugs around the edges and to carpets along base boards. Why they like carpet adult carpet beetles don t eat carpet or upholstery as they prefer pollen and nectar from outdoor flowers. So it may not be just your carpet that is damaged by these fibre eating pests.

While getting rid of carpet beetles can be a challenge it s definitely doable on your own. Woollen clothes insulation rugs and other items may be attacked and damaged. There are three types of carpet beetles the varied carpet beetles the black carpet beetles and the furniture carpet beetle. They range in size from 0 3 cm to 0 4 cm.

A thorough cleaning of the carpet can leave you with a bug free home. The female beetles lay soft white eggs in concealed places on clothing furniture cracks in flooring and carpet. If you ever see a very small black or tan bug on your clothing or closet walls it s probably a carpet beetle. Carpet beetles like to live out of sight and feed on the natural fibers in fabrics even living off carpet fibers that are 90 percent synthetic.