What Carpet Beetles Eat

The varied carpet beetle anthrenus verbasci is a 3 mm long beetle belonging to the family dermestidae they are a common species often considered a pest of domestic houses and particularly natural history museums where the larvae may damage natural fibers and can damage carpets furniture clothing and insect collections.

What carpet beetles eat.

Obviously carpet beetles will also eat through the fabrics in your home. They love to eat away the material that carpets are made out of i e. Common carpet beetles that eat clothes are the variegated black and common carpet beetles. Additionally carpet beetle larvae leave cast skins while molting which may cause allergic reactions and dermatitis in some highly sensitive individuals.

You ll be able see damage on bed sheets linens clothing drapes and of course carpet. These are solid or splotchy black with specks of white tan and yellow. Clothing furniture wool sisal jute carpets leather blankets pet food pet hair crumbs dead insects. You may occasionally find carpet beetles in your pantry feeding on grains.

Carpet beetles can also thrive on lint hair and debris accumulating under baseboards and inside floor vents and ducts. Carpet beetles have a wide variety of things that they eat and interestingly enough sometimes they won t even eat carpet. Unlike moths carpet beetles typically feed on one portion of fabric at a time. The pests can also proliferate on bird nests animal carcasses and dead insects cluster flies lady beetles stink bugs wasps etc which tend to be associated with attics chimneys basements and light fixtures.

And almost anything else they might encounter. Their feeding creates large isolated holes in the fabric. For example fur feathers wool silk leather and bed. These beetles may also eat synthetic fabrics if they are soiled with food or oils.

Carpet beetles are the most dangerous type of beetle to most homeowners. 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. Unlike other species like wood beetles that only eat wood carpet beetles will eat almost anything. Verbasci was also the first insect to be shown to have an.

However carpet beetles tend to eat a single large area of a fabric whereas moths create tiny holes all over garments. Today s carpet is made from synthetic materials that carpet beetles won t eat. Typically they like to feed off of animal based products. Carpet beetles like to gather in dark low traffic places in your home like closets storage areas your attic in air ducts and of course underneath your carpet.