Why Do I Have Carpet Beetles in My House?

Have you noticed carpet beetles in your home? They are tiny black bugs with white, brown, and yellow scales on their wings. As they age, they may lose their scales, so they are solid black or brown. You may notice a carpet beetle flying around your home, especially around light sources, or their eggs.

If you have carpet beetles inside, you may wonder how they got there. Surprisingly enough, it is not because the adults came inside to eat carpet or other fabrics. On the contrary, adult carpet beetles actually eat flowers, plants, and seeds. Unlike other pests that come inside to find a food source, carpet beetles rarely come inside to eat.

Instead, many of them find their way inside by accident. They may fly inside from the garden outside. They can also travel inside on cut flowers, fruit, and vegetables from your garden. More likely, they are coming inside to breed. While adult female carpet beetles have no reason to want to eat your fabrics, they prefer to lay their eggs near food sources for their babies.

Carpet beetle larvae feed on fabrics and hair. Their food sources include felt, fur, wool, silk, leather, and animal hair. So, once a female carpet beetle gets in your house, it is an ideal place to lay eggs. Plus, they will even try to get inside to lay their eggs.

However, for carpet beetles to procreate, they need a food source for their babies. Carpet beetle larvae feed on fabrics and hair, including animal hair, felt, fur, silk, wool, and even leather. While female carpet beetles will lay eggs inside or outside, they prefer to lay them where there is an abundant food source. So, if they get inside your house, they will often stay there to lay their eggs. Before you know it, you have a carpet beetle infestation. Carpet beetles can even live inside walls and chimneys, where they can easily access places to lay eggs.

In terms of danger, carpet beetles are a fairly innocuous pest. They do not harm animals or people. However, they can damage your items. They do not cause structural damage like borers or carpenter ants. They can ruin your fabrics and cause extensive damage.

Ready to get rid of your carpet beetles? Contact us at Flick. We have a variety of safe pest control methods, which can eliminate carpet beetles without putting you in danger.