Carpet Beetles are Welcome in my House
if it Means not Having Bed Bugs!
By Marcia Anderson
Several months ago I received an e-mail from a city resident who was getting bites at night that she thought were from a spider. Large, and itchy, but with a burning sensation that told her they weren’t mosquito bites. The problem escalated until she had over 40 red welts on her legs. “I was getting groups of about 5-20 ‘bites’ every night, and my husband had none, and he wore boxers! Also, after the first few nights, I was wearing heavy sweat pants to bed tucked into my socks, and still found marks! “
Carpet beetles are cariophites, which means they live on dead organic materials
She cleaned and vacuumed everything in the bedroom and changed the sheets, but the next morning she still had a few bites. She then went on the internet, and found that this was NOT the work of a spider, but possibly bed bugs. They quarantined the bedroom after thoroughly cleaning and spraying everything with over-the-counter pesticides, but no evidence of ANY bugs was found. She checked the sheets for blood spots, actual bugs – dead or alive, and shed skins, but found none.
One pest company had given her a quote of $1200 to come and treat for bed bugs, but a second pest company suspected carpet beetles instead of bed bugs due to the fact that the wife was getting the ‘bites’ and the husband was not. Some people are allergic to carpet beetles and some are not, however, almost everyone has some allergy to bed bugs. The pest company arrived, and upon inspection, no bed bugs were found, however, a few dead carpet beetles were discovered.
Just like bed bugs: 1.) carpet beetles are attracted to you when you are sleeping because of the CO2 gas you exhale, 2.) carpet beetles are very shy, so they are hard to find, and 3.) carpet beetles also usually come out in the wee hours of the morning. The difference is: bed bugs bite, but carpet beetles eat natural fibers, like wool blankets, natural fibers and feathers, and do not bite.
An adult bed bug next to a carpet beetle larvae.
She learned that they did not need to chemically treat for carpet beetles, as it isn’t the live insects that cause the allergy. Carpet beetle larvae have prickly little hairs that cause a reaction in some people that looks very much like bed bug bites. The solution is to make sure all the allergens (the hairs) are removed from the environment. People with sensitivity to the hairs may get some relief by not wearing shoes or socks in the house. A build-up of static electricity can cause the micro fine hairs on the larvae to impale themselves in human skin, thus creating a small pin-prick-like wound. The ‘bite reaction’ under clothes is symptomatic of carpet beetles, as the hairs can pass though all but the finest of weaves on clothes.
The treatment: she had her carpets steam cleaned.
The moral to this story is: if you search for bed bug signs and find no traces, carpet beetles could be the pest, especially if you are getting a number of bites every night. Check the area (with a magnifying glass) for the shed larval skins remembering that even a single carpet beetle skin could result in multiple “bite like” reactions due to the number of hairs they carry.
About the Author: Marcia is the bed bug and vector management specialist for the Pesticides Program in Edison. She has a BS in Biology from Monmouth, second degree in Environmental Design-Landscape Architecture from Rutgers, Masters in Instruction and Curriculum from Kean, and is a PhD in Environmental Management candidate from Montclair – specializing in Integrated Pest Management and Environmental Communications. Prior to EPA, and concurrently, she has been a professor of Earth and Environmental Studies, Geology and Oceanography at Kean University for 14 years.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Marcia,
great article.
We had the same experience only I was the “victim” and my wife was spared. Luckily a friend told us about carpet beetles and we did not have to get a pest company hunting for bed bugs and saving us quiet an amount!
Dear Ms. Anderson,
For about two months now I have been suffering from little stings all over my body. I do have bite marks and my dermatologist didn’t know what they were until I saw her again & she said that the bites were from bed bugs as there were 3 in a line. She called it “breakfast, lunch & dinner.”
I had my bedroom heat treated and still see these little black beetle bug in various Planes in my home. I get stings everywhere in my house but I can not see what is stinging me. My husband has a few bites but he’s not allergic & I’m very allergic.
To make matters worse, I can see brown raised dots on my face & when I clean my face with Witch Hazel or alcohol, they eventually come ff but more brown like freckles come off. Now it get’s very strange! I do see little hairs & little black dots appear on my face when i wash it Off. it with Alcohol.
My exterminator saw these black beetles & said it was a carpet beetle. Can you tell me if it sounds like this microscopic stage of this beetle is stinging me?
If so, how can i stop this? My laundry water is very hot.
I’ve used Borax and a Myriade of other commercisl & Homiopathic
Treatment and i don’t seem to be able to get rid of them.
Thank you.
Appreciatively,
Sandy Levine
Did anyone ever answer your question I am having similar issues and you question is the same question I have.
Thank you so much for posting your experience. I had begun to suspect the same thing and your post has convinced me now 100%. I started staying with an old friend & during the course of my stay discovered that he had fabric pest infestations. I also was experiencing random exquisitely painful sharp stings that could cause spontaneous crying after a particular bad sting. He did not own a vacuum cleaner and had not vacuumed in 5 months and I began to wonder if a heavy “burden” of carpet larvae (dead and/or alive) could be the cause of the stings. I had observed live varied carpet beetles in the bathroom on the countertops, as well as skin casts, cloth moth webbing/eggs, and casemaking moth eggs/cases. I washed my clothes in warm water with a combination of detergent,vinegar, and Borax laundry powder soak 20-30 min soak followed by addition of boiling water and used dryer on highest setting for 60 minutes and I would still get the sharp jabs. Now I am convinced that carpet beetle larvae combined with static electricity is the problem and have gotten a vacuum cleaner and will soon find out, by process of elimination. Again, thank you so much.
rose
That bed bug is about 5 times the size or a beetle larva. The picture is frightening.
Our neighbor across the hall in our apartment building just went thru the bed bug nightmare. I woke up with a bite that we thought was a bed bug(3 bites in a straight row) and had 4 to 5 bites that week. A exterminater came and did not find bed bugs but sprayed the base boards for orevention. Since then we have found carpet beetles both adult and larvae. The exterminater returned stillooking for bed bugs and found none but did see the beetles and said no problem just vacuum. He did one more baseboard spray.
We have sent our carpets out and are starting to send clothes to the dry cleaner and doing lots of machine washing and drying of all our clothes and any thing made of fabric. Do we have tobagpapers,books, and continue to bag all our clothes. Ive been reading many sites advice and most sat the beetles are harder to get rid off then bed bugs and that I have to do the same regiman. Is this true??? We are vacuming a lot. We (my husband and I) feel we are allergic to the bugs. We still get some red spots and a rash I feel a constriction in my throat at times. I also sense an odor at times that I feel is related. Anyone else have that?
Thank you so much for any advice for going forward.
I hate to be the one to rain on the parade, but I find the carpet beetle connection to be highly doubtful. There are several pieces of misinformation that should be corrected. Carpet beetles are not attracted to CO2, to my knowledge. There is no biological reason for them to be attracted to CO2 since they are feeders on keratin-containing, dead foods like wool, hair, feathers, cheese products, etc. While they may, on occasion, be found in a bed (see my blog post )–they are relatively common in homes–they are not commonly found there unless there is a nearby food source. Perhaps the biggest thing overlooked here is the most obvious explanation for why one person might receive bed bug bites and another seemingly be unaffected: not all people react to bed bug bites. One estimate (Orkin Pest Control) is that only one in 20 people react strongly to bed bug bites. In another (Rutgers University) survey only half the people in infested apartments were even aware that they had a bed bug problem. I don’t know if your correspondent had bed bugs or not, but invoking carpet beetles as a source of “bites” received in bed is a stretch, entomologically speaking.
I have carpet and powder post beetles in m home.They can get in your hair and lay eggs.Perfect place to be.They get in your mattress,chairs,dressers,everything you own.Dont let anyone tell you different.I called 3 pest control companies and was told we dont see anything.Now I took what I found to a bug person.If someone would have listened it would not be so bad now.They have gotten in my new car as well.The eggs get on your clothes and go with you.I have what would be reaction from bugs everyday.Went to doctor was told to use lice shampoo to get out of hair.I paid 750.00 to a pest company and he said maybe bed bugs.He could not find anything.I was so upset with bugs,I said I dont know what is here just get rid of it.He gave me a 90 day warranty.I called and ask for him to come back with no luck.He said he would come but never did.So beware they will take your money and run
Does anyone know of any cases where they have infested a human’s hair and or small dogs? I have a very good friend that has been battling a feeling of things crawling on her hair but cannot see anything and she now has discovered these exact carpet beetles in her home along with empty shells and under a 60x microscope discovered the larve that was falling from her hair. No bugs just what looks like pieces of cardboard very small and when under a microscope it can be seen. She has had a hot feeling on her head with a liquid that has a yellow color ending up on her neck and is sticky. I have ran my fingers thru her hair and it is very oily after this hot liquids drip from her hair.. I call it episodes it use to happen 2 x a month now it is almost every day they also have been on the outside of her ears stinging. She has used lindane, lice treatments, lemon juice, ect.. nothing is working. She goes to 3 or 4 doctors and they think she is delusional I would agree however I have personally seen things fall from her head. Her dog has the same oily feeling and has changed in personality. He cries all the time and scratches all the time. Can anyone help? There is much more to tell however before I go on I wanted to see if anyone could say for sure this can happen or are aware of any cases. I have been on the internet trying to help with no success. I would be glad to send her photos or provide samples if so…