Handling a Carpet Beetle Infestation And Having Carpet Mites
Carpet mites and carpet beetles are becoming more and more common in many homes nowadays. Obviously the last thing you want to see is a beetle or a carpet mites in your home, but these things happen especially if you offer them great living conditions and you don’t clean your home very well. Most of the time the carpet beetles and mites are not living in your carpet. They will live within your entire home and come to the carpet as a way to hide and feed. After all, you can drop food from time to time on the carpet, and these mites or carpet beetles will be there to grab it.
Carpet mites
Carpet mites are small, they are ¼ of a millimeter, so really small actually. That being said, they are very distinctive creatures, you can notice they will live anywhere and they will end up in your carpets, stuffed animals, furniture and so on. They will feed on human skin and they are not biting humans, even if it’s said they would do that. However, they are known to cause a skin irritation similar to biting, which is definitely something to keep in mind.
Even if your home is very clean, carpet mites will thrive and that’s because they will have all sorts of things to feed upon. They bring in lots of symptoms like itchy or stuffy nose, sneezing, and so on. In case you suffer from asthma these issues can become very problematic. They can even lead to chest tightness and wheezing too.
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What leads to having carpet beetles in your home?
A thing to remember here is that carpet beetles are not having a negative impact on your health. What they are doing is they are damaging your items more often than not. As the name suggests, they are known for the fact that the infested items are breaking upholstery, household items, clothing, carpets and bedding. The main issue is that an infestation will take a very long time and it’s very hard for you to handle it the right way until you notice it. Which in many cases it might be way too late. There’s not something that attracts them right away, but carpet beetles are notorious for moving around and changing their place. So the infestation can still remain in your home, without bringing in any specific things or situations.
What we noticed with carpet beetles is that they have different colors and sizes. Some of them are around 1/10 of an inch, but others can go up to 3/16 of an inch. Regarding their color, white, brown and black tend to be the most widely encountered variants. But solid black will also be a normal option. All carpet beetles are grub-like basically and they actually have hair on them. They will be shedding skin just like shells. And that’s the thing you need to focus on as you try to figure out if there’s any type of infestation or not. Obviously that’s very hard to figure out at first, but you will notice it rather easily once you start checking for it.
Find where the carpet beetles live
While not carpet beetles will come to your home right away, there are some places in your house where you can find them. Normally, they will be wherever they can consume animal fibers. Fur, silk, leather, felt and wool are the things that these pests consume, and it’s important to understand the nature of this situation and the process itself. There are times when you can also find them feeding on grains too. Most of the carpet beetles will be in the dark, they also like homes without a lot of traffic. As their name clearly suggests, most of them will be under the carpet. But they will also go in the attic, storage areas, air ducts and so on. As long as there’s a source of food for them you will end up having an infestation.
Avoiding the carpet beetle infestations
What you want to do is to vacuum the floors and mop them as often as you can. Changing the air filters in the cooling/heating systems is also important. Clean your clothes too and make sure that you store any clothes or bedding you don’t use in sealed plastic bags if you can. Storing items in trunks or wooden boxes that are sealed will also come in handy.
Carpet beetle life cycle includes eggs & larvae, pupae and adults. Eggs hatch in about seven to 35 days, and they can develop into adult beetles within 9 months to two years.
As you can see, with the right focus on cleaning you will find it easier to deal with carpet beetles and carpet mites. If the infestation continues, hiring a professional to get rid of these unwanted pests is extremely important. It won’t be an easy thing to do, but if you tackle it correctly it can pay off very well.
