The carpet beetle is an inconspicuous and dangerous pest for humans.

The carpet beetle is an inconspicuous and almost invisible bug, which, despite its small size, can cause big problems for humans. Beetles live in nature in bird nests and tree hollows, and in the summer they can get into human housing through open windows or with things brought into the house; there are often cases when they get into a house with a recently purchased flower pot. Few people know or have heard about this type of insect, which is strange, because they are found in houses and apartments quite often.

Warning! A carpet beetle living in a house or apartment poses a serious danger to people and even pets, as these parasites feed on various types of waste and animal remains. The body of such beetles contains many dangerous bacteria and microscopic debris, therefore, they are carriers of dangerous diseases. In addition, the skin beetle painfully bites people and pets, causing discomfort. Therefore, having discovered such residents in your home, you must urgently take measures to destroy them.

Description of carpet beetle

The carpet beetle is an insect ranging in size from two to five millimeters, its color can be from light brown to black. This insect can survive in conditions of sudden temperature changes and unfavorable conditions.

Once in a person’s home, the skin beetle chooses dark and soft places for its habitat and reproduction - closets with clothes, upholstered furniture, carpets, fur products. These insects are afraid of light and are predominantly nocturnal. If a bug accidentally finds itself in an unusual habitat during daylight hours, you will notice that its behavior is extremely slow, and when you touch it, you will see how it skillfully pretends to be dead, falling on its back.

Despite the fact that these parasites are called skin beetles, they feed not only on skin. The list of their food is very extensive; for them there are practically no inedible things: glue, cardboard, synthetics, plastic, gypsum structures, cable, rubber, wool, silk, fluff, fur products, felt, dried and smoked fish, meat, cheese, cereals , dairy products and much more.

In addition to the fact that these bugs significantly harm household things, they are also dangerous to human health, as mentioned above. Such “neighbors” significantly worsen people’s living conditions.

General information

The carpet beetle (also known as the carpet beetle) is not a parasite that lives exclusively in human homes. In nature, their habitat is bird nests in tree hollows. Beetles and their larvae feed on various wastes and remains of animal origin.

He can get into a human home with books, carpets, clothes brought there, or by accidentally flying through a window. And here wool, fur and silk products become its food, but this insect will not refuse human food.

If you find this insect in your home, you should get rid of it as quickly as possible.

How do skin beetles reproduce?

Carpet beetles reproduce quite actively. During her life, the female lays from one dozen to several hundred eggs. The place for future offspring is fleecy and woolen surfaces, upholstered furniture, and the remains of small insects. After laying eggs, the bug dies. The eggs take 2-55 days to develop, depending on conditions and temperature, then they hatch into larvae that cause enormous damage to human property. They can be in the process of maturing into adults for up to two years. The more favorable the conditions, the faster and more rapidly it happens. Unfavorable conditions for insects are dampness and cold.

Skin beetle larvae resemble moth larvae, but if you look closely, despite the similarities, you can find many differences. The carpet beetle larva looks like a furry brown worm with stripes all over its body and long, hair-like tails.

Preventive measures for dust mites

In order to disturb the house mite as little as possible, how to get rid of it is of interest as little as possible, you should follow measures to prevent the appearance of dust mites. These include:

• replacing simple vacuum cleaners with washing ones or with water filters;
• wet cleaning, sometimes carried out using a 20% solution of table salt;
• storing bed linen in rooms with low humidity levels;
• washing clothes at high temperatures (minimum 65°C);
• the use of anti-allergenic additives when washing clothes;
• timely cleaning or replacement of mattresses, pillows, blankets and all bed linen;
• regular ventilation of premises;
• use of steam cleaners and air purifiers (by cleaning the indoor air, they will help reduce the number of dust mites);
• maintaining an optimal level of humidity in the room (up to 60%);
• periodic use of special cleaning products against dust mites when washing and cleaning.

Another good way of prevention is to treat objects against ticks using frost or ultraviolet light. To do this, it is enough to take out the household items that are most often susceptible to infection or in which the greatest accumulation of dust (stuffed toys, blankets, mattresses, pillows, outerwear, bed linen, etc.). In sunny or frosty weather, ticks will die on such things, because... these conditions are detrimental to the life of parasites.

Today, even tests have been developed for the presence of dust mites (for example, Acarex). They will show the presence of the parasite in the dust and the extent of its accumulation in certain places.

Complete removal of dust mites can be a very expensive and troublesome process. Therefore, if there is no allergy, then it is enough to simply periodically carry out wet cleaning using special products. You can read the article “Which tick repellent for dogs should I choose?”

Getting rid of carpet beetles

If a carpet beetle has infested your apartment or house, it is important to know how to get rid of it and what measures to take to quickly and effectively combat uninvited guests. The destruction of these insects requires persistence and patience from homeowners, but it is quite possible. To do this, a number of mandatory work and activities must be completed.

Identification of pests and source of infestation

First, you need to make sure that it is the carpet beetle that is operating in the house. Symptoms of its activity include damage to things, fecal pellets and shed skin; the insects themselves can be found on carpets, furniture, and fur products.

A necessary and important stage in the fight against parasites is identifying sources of infection and reproduction. If stuffed birds and animals are collected at home, there are products made from down and feathers, fur coats and furs, not necessarily natural ones, carpets and rugs, upholstered furniture, fresh flowers, brushes, then these places must first be inspected for the presence of beetles and their larvae and products of their vital activity.

You also need to carefully check all darkened and hard-to-reach places where it is difficult to remove dust and debris, baseboards, crevices and corners behind furniture. Look through clothing closets, food closets, attics, ventilation ducts, closets, bags of old things.

Once the presence of carpet beetles is confirmed and localization sites are identified, measures must be taken immediately to eliminate them.

Important! If a pet lives in the house, fighting bugs and finding a source becomes much more difficult, since cats and dogs leave their fur everywhere, which is an excellent food for skin beetles, the animal moves throughout the apartment, so there can be many areas for pests to spread.

Measures taken to control carpet beetles

The main methods of struggle include:

Thorough cleaning of the premises and areas of infection:

• vacuum carpets and rugs, if possible, take them outside and thoroughly beat and clean them;
• thoroughly wash the floors, paying special attention to hard-to-reach places, spaces under beds, behind furniture;
• steam upholstered furniture once a day until pests are completely eliminated;
• take out and burn heavily damaged items;
• wash clothes, bed linen and furniture covers in hot water with detergents and dry in the sun or in the cold;
• Fur items should be dry cleaned or disposed of if they are too damaged and are not suitable for further use.

You can try using an unconventional method - freezing. Carpets and other damaged items should be taken out into frosty temperatures of minus fifteen degrees. In winter, open the windows and doors of the house and leave for several hours. The beetles and their larvae cannot tolerate temperatures below minus ten degrees. To be sure, the procedure should be performed at least twice. If this method does not help, move on to the fight using chemicals.

Treatment of the premises with special means and aerosols such as:

Chlorpyrifos, Allethrin, Bendiocarb, Diflofos, Raptor, Reid, Chlorophos and other drugs usually used against insects.

Recommendation! Remember that these substances have toxic effects on the human body. Before you start treating the room, you will need to take precautions. It is imperative to use personal protective equipment: gown, mask, gloves to protect the body and respiratory organs from contact with the drug.

The entire space of the apartment, carpeting and affected items, baseboards, cracks, corners behind furniture and all hard-to-reach places where pests can hide are subject to treatment. To completely get rid of parasites, a single use of aerosols is often not enough.

For disinfection, you can use products in the form of solutions, for example, “Supromit”, “Aero-antimol”; to increase their effectiveness, it is better to add PRN to them - an insect regulator that prevents their further reproduction. Solutions are best used to treat hard surfaces.

Using a solution of boric acid, which is not toxic to people and animals, but has a detrimental effect on the carpet beetle and its larvae. This is the safest method, but not as fast as using toxic aerosols. To kill beetles, baseboards, floors, cabinets and intended insect routes should be treated with a boric acid solution. Particles of the solution fall on the skin beetle’s paws, from the paws onto the food, and from there into the body, as a result the beetle dies from poisoning. You can also use boric acid in powder form. It should be scattered in places where insects are localized, on baseboards, under carpets and furniture. But remember that this product has a bleaching effect and may leave stains, especially on dark items and fabrics.

Another option is to place glue traps based on a hormone that attracts insects near affected items, in closets and other places where bugs have been noticed.

Treating wool and fur products with a weak solution of the pyrethroid permatrin can save you not only from skin beetles, but also from clothes moths for a whole year.

It is recommended to place fumigants or Antimol tablets in cabinets and other places attractive to pests; they will not kill an adult, but the larvae will happily eat them and become poisoned.

Exterior treatment of the house. Spray the insecticide around the perimeter of the room, along areas near the house and along the bottom of the foundation. If we are talking about a private home, procedures outside are extremely important, since infection often occurs from a ventilation hole or a place connected to the street. For the best result, 90 cm of the height of the house and 90 cm of the area around the perimeter of the house should be treated. Other potential entry points should also be treated: windows, doors, ventilation and utility pipes.

Remove nests of birds and bees around the house or in the yard, on the apartment balcony or on branches close to your window, as their presence increases the risk of pest infestation.

If the carpet beetle infestation has reached global proportions, hire a professional. Exterminators will use powerful and effective chemicals to perform a more thorough treatment and eliminate dangerous pests from your home.

Why are they dangerous?

The presence of black beetles in the house is a very unpleasant fact in itself, but it is important to know that these insects can not only cause discomfort, but also cause quite tangible harm with serious consequences. Black beetles, regardless of where they are found - in a house or apartment - can cause harm in the following way

Black beetles, regardless of where they are found - in a house or apartment - can cause harm in the following way.

• Some species of black beetles bite. Bites often cause an allergic reaction, accompanied by itching, redness and a rash, which may require medical consultation and subsequent medication for the person bitten.
• Since residential premises maintain temperature conditions that are comfortable for the existence and reproduction of beetles, one should be wary that they may lay larvae, which pose a more serious threat to health.
• Flour beetles, having settled in the kitchen, can spoil food stored in unsealed packages. These are mainly bulk cereals or flour. Through food, beetle larvae can enter the body and infect a person with any infectious diseases.
• Bark beetles can cause irreparable damage to your property, especially if we are talking about wooden objects or a country house. The fact is that insects feed on wood and are capable of destroying and turning into dust absolutely any objects or even the frame of a living space.

The appearance of beetles in the house may go unnoticed for some time and it is best if the annoying “neighbors” are detected before any serious consequences occur. To avoid this, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with how insects can enter your living space and take appropriate measures in advance.

• Open windows, doors, and large cracks can provide entry points for household pests. The problem is solved by reconstructing the cracks and equipping all open openings with fine mesh curtains.
• Bugs can enter your home through vents, which can also be protected with mesh.
• Insects and their larvae can get caught on a person’s clothing and shoes, so it is necessary to maintain the cleanliness and neatness of the appearance of personal belongings, including outerwear.
• Insects feed on bird droppings, therefore, if there is a dovecote on the roof of a house or a pen for chickens not far from it, the appearance of beetles becomes inevitable, and from preventing their appearance one should move on to more serious methods of control.

Preventive measures

Prevention is always cheaper and easier than exterminating existing pests, so in order to avoid problems associated with carpet beetles, the following measures must be observed:

• store clothes in tightly closed cases;
• place naphthalene tablets or lavender-scented tablets that repel insects in cabinets and hard-to-reach places;
• cover windows with mosquito nets;
• periodically inspect and sort through clothes and linen;
• keep the room clean, systematically do thorough general cleaning, clean carpets and furniture.

If you monitor the cleanliness of your home and the condition of your belongings, you can avoid such unpleasant neighbors as carpet beetles. Even if they accidentally entered the room, if you find them in time and know how to get rid of carpet beetles, you can remove these pests yourself.

How do insects enter your home and what damage do they cause?

Skin beetles (like many other insect pests) have their own ways of entering our home, of which there are quite a few. So, they can get to you from an infected room along with household items and things, in a pot with an indoor flower, and so on.

Also, bugs can simply fly into your open window or door during the warm season. The reasons for the appearance of skin beetles in the house can be different, but most often they are attracted by the dry indoor microclimate and the availability of food.

Damage from carpet beetles

The greatest harm is caused to our everyday objects by the larvae of the carpet beetle, although in some subspecies even adult individuals do not lag behind the younger generation. The most common sufferers are:

• leather book covers and other leather goods;
• carpets and rugs, especially wool;
• natural fur coats;
• Food;
• botanical collections, stuffed animals and other exhibits.

However, these beetles are dangerous not only for your household items. Insects can also harm you personally. Carpet beetles and their larvae can bite a person, and this is fraught with infection by helminths and various infections. The bite looks like a small red dot anywhere, although if you are prone to allergic reactions, the spot can be quite large. If you find something similar on your body, then treat the damaged area with any disinfectant (alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, etc.) as soon as possible.

Pest danger to humans

The troubles associated with the proximity of a small brown bug for a person are associated with the manifestation of the following negative consequences:

• consequences of a painful bite especially for children and women;
• manifestation of an allergic reaction in people prone to this disease;
• transfer of pathogenic viruses, for example infection by helminths (due to larvae feeding on the remains of plant and animal food);
• deterioration of expensive and beloved things.

Despite its small size, the bite of a brown bug is quite painful. Each person has their own reaction to such bites. It can cause redness and subsequent inflammation at the bite site. During a bite, pathogenic bacteria can enter the wound and cause infection not only of the bite site, but of the entire body.

Therefore, doctors strongly recommend treating with a disinfectant after detection. This could be hydrogen peroxide, iodine or brilliant green.

Let's celebrate! Untimely treatment can cause an inflammatory process, which only a professional physician can help cope with and self-medication will not help.

Pest bites

In addition to contaminating food, the skin beetle can transmit the infection to humans directly. Despite its miniature size, this beetle or its larva can bite. Human blood is not its food - the insect climbs onto the human body by feeling microscopic dead skin particles. Considering that this insect is not adapted to parasitize humans and its modest size, it is unlikely that it will be able to bite through the skin and cause any damage. Nevertheless, this is possible. The wound can get infected, which the beetle carries on its legs. Therefore, in the event of a bite, it is necessary to disinfect the affected area, and if inflammation begins, do not delay a visit to the doctor.

in the photo there is a carpet beetle

Destruction of insects using chemicals

If general cleaning does not produce the desired effect, use radical control methods - insecticides and other toxic compounds. When using them, strictly follow the instructions and observe safety precautions.

Insecticides

Insecticides in the form of sprays, powders, gels or aerosols that contain substances that poison insects (bendiocar, allethrin, chlorpyrifos) will help get rid of pests. You can buy poison at a hardware store.

Procedure for using insecticides:

1. Read the instructions carefully and take the recommended safety measures.
2. Spray carpet, clothing, and other items where pests are present.
3. Pour powdered insecticide into all crevices and hidden corners.
4. Do a general cleaning of the apartment.

Boric acid

Boric acid is actively used for pest control, due to its availability, effectiveness, and safety for pets and humans. Sprinkle the powder in insect habitats. In pests that have eaten poison, the nervous system ceases to function, which leads to instant death.

When working with insecticides and other toxic compounds, wear gloves and a protective mask to avoid intoxication

Bug traps

Traps will help catch insects and assess the scale of the disaster. They have an adhesive base and a smell that is attractive to insects. Once purchased, place them in potential pest areas. Using traps, you can remove adult individuals, but it will not be possible to completely exterminate leather beetles, so this method is only effective in combination with others.

Anti-moth medications

Drugs designed to kill moths will help you cope with carpet beetles. Easy to use tablets and plates that are placed in the closet, near baseboards and in other potentially dangerous places. These drugs include: “Dezmol”, “Antimol-contact”, “Nimol”.

Moth control products and bags filled with mothballs will help you deal with skin beetles.

It will be effective to use drugs in the form of sprays - “Foxide”, “Chlorax”, “Diphos”, “Morimol”, etc. To destroy adults and larvae, carry out the following treatment:

1. Place the affected item in a tight bag.
2. Treat the product well with a spray or aerosol.
3. Close the bag hermetically and leave for 24 hours at a temperature not exceeding +14 ℃.
4. Wash the cleaned product or treat it with a steam generator.