Bugs That Eat Your Carpet

Carpet beetles are persistent pests that can eat away at your carpets clothing and other fabrics.

Bugs that eat your carpet.

The female beetles lay soft white eggs in concealed places on clothing furniture cracks in flooring and carpet. Others such as fleas can lay 2 000 eggs weekly. 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. These beetles have black white red and orange scales.

There are three types of carpet beetles the varied carpet beetles the black carpet beetles and the furniture carpet beetle. 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 are sometimes described as tiny bugs in your closet as they re very small by nature and move very slowly. If you ever see a very small black or tan bug on your clothing or closet walls it s probably a carpet beetle.

While getting rid of carpet beetles can be a challenge it s definitely doable on your own. 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. When you see signs of an infestation. A thorough cleaning of the carpet can leave you with a bug free home.

Woollen clothes insulation rugs and other items may be attacked and damaged. They often eat along the edges or. As the carpet beetle grows its diet changes it starts consuming pollen and nectar from plants. Some female bugs such as bed bugs lay up to five eggs daily.

Their larvae are reddish brown and covered in fine hairs. So it may not be just your carpet that is damaged by these fibre eating pests. The eggs hatch in eight to 15 days and hatch more quickly in warmer weather. The carpet beetles never bite or destroy anything it is their young ones you should blame.

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. Carpet beetle larvae eat fur feathers mohair wool and other soft natural fibers. Bugs living in carpets cause skin irritations such as itching and breakouts. 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.