What Eats Rugs

Carpet beetles can be an annoyance in your home.

What eats rugs.

Most rug owners only start to suspect that they may be a problem when they happen to see a moth flying around in the house. This means carpet rugs draperies and upholstery made from nylon acrylic polyester acetate and other synthetics can harbor these insects if they. Here s what you need to know. Moths are also drawn to the keratin in dog and cat fur.

How to discover moths in your home. Once the eggs hatch the larvae will eat almost anything from woollen socks to animal skins to dried plant products. Adult carpet beetles don t eat carpet or upholstery as they prefer pollen and nectar from outdoor flowers. Since the larvae need animal based material to eat wool or blended wool rugs are a favorite item in which the females will lay their eggs.

But should you bring them indoors they ll quickly lay their eggs on or near your wool rugs carpets or leather furniture. Frequent checks are the best way to prevent a large moth damage problem from taking over your home and checking for them is simple. Moths don t eat wool rugs but their larvae do and can cause serious permanent damage. Carpets that are in dark undisturbed areas under couches chairs tables etc are where we see most of the activity.

To eliminate moths that have taken up residence in a wool rug there are several steps you can take. By then a lot of damage is already done because the larvae are voracious feeders and eat just about anything that comes in their way including the fibers of the rug. As we enter moth season it is important to take some time to check your home for pests. But of course there was a litt.

This pictures shows damage of moth at the back of wool rug. Moths eat wool rugs because the fibers offer nutrition and a comfortable place to lay eggs. They may eat through your clothes rugs and furniture. We see this all the time and most people don t even know their rug is damamged until we examine the rug upon a pre cleaning inspection.

They can also sometimes cause an allergic reaction. Here is their page on carpet beetle management. Uc davis carpet beetles. Those bugs usually eat the rug from the back side so that is where to inspect uc davis published a study on the preventative care of rugs and wall to wall carpeting in order to keep the bugs away from your home.

It is important to remember that textile insects such as carpet beetles and clothes moths can digest protein fibers such as wool silk and specialty hair fibers but they can also be found on synthetic fibers if they contain protein substances.