Carpet Beetles.

images.app.goo.gl/6oLAtsub1EWErMuq5

Thanks. I’ll try to upload a picture onto Reddit. They do look like black carpet beetles but are quite elongated whereas carpet beetles are rounded. I am having a massive clear out over the next few weeks. I don’t understand why they keep appearing in the hall.

No, the blighters eat any wool. I had them a few years ago, and I think they came in with some knitting yarn I bought in a charity shop - either that or through the plaster behind a loose bit of skirting in the upstairs loo. I realised what they were when they chewed through the yarn and I saw one making a beeline for it.

At first I thought they were bedbugs, which was awful. They are nothing like bedbugs, but I didn't know that, and bought a mattress hoover, a zipped cover and various sprays. I'm shuddering just remembering it. I read obsessively about them, and they do come in from outside, and even an open window is an invitation. They like bedrooms as people are less likely to move the furniture to vacuum than they are downstairs. Regular and thorough vacuuming is the way to go, I'm afraid.

I got something called Diatomaceous Earth Powder (available on Amazon) and sprinkled it around where the walls joined the floors. That stops them getting in from outside and is easy to apply. In the end, we decorated upstairs and replaced all the carpets anyway, but they'd gone by then. I recommend a hand-held vacuum if you don't have one already (cordless is easier) and if possible move furniture so that you can get behind it, then hoover as often as possible. The powder won't do any harm, either, but I think you need a vacuum with a HEPA filter to suck that up, as it would clog a regular one.

Well, I was going to post a couple of pictures but they won't post.

The Life Cycle of the Carpet Beetle.

They look brown rather than black but the larvae do eat natural fibres.

I’ve borrowed my partners Sebo vacuum. It’s old and far more powerful than anything I’ve got. Also a steam cleaner that came free with a vax that he coughs. Some spray that lasts for 3 months but I’m not going to use that while the dog is here even though it is supposed to be pet safe. He’s taking her on holiday for two weeks. Thankfully I hadn’t planned to go with them. I vacuumed the hall, right into the corners. Put diatomaceous earth along the edges. Vacuumed that up and used the steamer. Then I’m going to spray next week. This is just the hall, though. I need to go through the whole house. If only I could identify them 100%. My iPad won’t let me register with Reddit. I don’t know why it won’t let me access so many things.

Bought not coughs!

It isn’t carpet beetles. It’s furniture beetle. I’m so stupid. I keep all my vacuum bits in an old wicker hamper in the hall. I’ve noticed powder on the floor but thought it was from where they drilled when they installed a new burglar alarm, When I was first married we bought lots of beautiful old furniture and also an old wicker basket. It was all full of woodworm. The furniture was so nice it was worth treating but I resolved never to buy any old wicker again. And promptly forgot! When I first started work at the housing department I found a beetle in my home and took it to a friend who worked in another department. He told me it was furniture beetle. And my first thought the other week was that they looked like furniture beetle but their behavioural was more like carpet beetles ie coming out at night, attracted to light things.

I’m so stupid

I must be as well because I didn't know the furniture beetle is the adult of woodworm!
Duh!

Anyone want to buy two large bottles of carpet beetle killer...I've got old wicker in the loft, too. And an old fishing basket in the bathroom...

I think our wicker baskets and furniture were all new to us
But I will check tomorrow!

….make that 4 bottles of carpet beetle killer. My order seems to have been duplicated!

😁

Well, you never know if you might need it one say!

day

MayBee70, I can't help about the beetles but what message do you get on your iPad which stops you from joining things? It maybe something in your settings.

When I ask for a code to be sent to my email nothing appears. I’m going to a shop that may help me with my Facebook account. The whole thing needs going over as I’m a complete technophobe.

If you want to check what something is, there is a picture search in Google search bar.

I’ve done that. But they’re so small and carpet beetles and furniture beetles are very similar and behave in similar ways. But need treating in differently. The colour and antennae are more like black carpet beetles. Which is what I thought they were till I found the woodworm infested wicker basket. I’ve contacted a pest control company and said I can’t afford to pay them to come out ( I also don’t want the house pumped full of chemicals) but would pay them to identify them. When I found a ( thankfully) solitary larder beetle on the stairs one night someone on Facebook identified it for me straight away, but that was a bit bigger and easier to photograph. And I can’t download a picture of these now I’m locked out of my account.