Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe
Carpet beetles???
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buggedout16
newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 18
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 13:18:43
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OK... I'm not sure what is going on. The guy from pest control came by just now, took the things I caught and is going to put them under a microscope, but said "looking at them, they look like the larvae stage of carpet beetles". I told him I first found them in my bedroom and on the bedskirt, and may have some bites but not sure, and he said he was pretty sure they weren't, but would call the landlord's office back after he looked at them. I'm going to *try* to post a picture of what I've found so you all can tell me what you think, here in a second when I figure out how...
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buggedout16
newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 18
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 13:34:25
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OK here's some photos, sorry they're dark... what do you think, do they look like what you've seen?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3229/2989900030_b73e82ce78_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2989900238_4a7bbf88a9_b.jpg
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parakeets
oldtimer
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 866
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 13:37:13
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I have both carpet beetles and bedbugs. I see the carpet beetles but don't see the bedbugs. So you might have caught carpet beetles, but are being bitten by bedbugs.
Since I'm a lay person and I've seen both carpet beetles and bedbugs, yet I can tell them apart even in their larvae or nymph states--chances are what you captured was carpet beetle larvae if the technician thinks it is, but you could still be being bitten by bedbugs, if that makes sense.
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looks like beetles to me. bedbugs aren't fuzzy. :)
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spideyjg
oldtimer
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 1,403
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 13:46:36
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Not BBs, very likely carpet beetle larve. Do a search on carpet beetles because they can cause "bite like" reactions.
Jim
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buggedout16
newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 18
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 13:49:51
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Well that's kind of a relief, if you all think that is what they are. It just bugs me (sorry haha) that I found them first on the wall right behind my bed, and on the bedskirt; and other than that, underneath my couch cushions. And a few in miscellaneous places while cleaning up, like inside an old laptop case and in my top dresser drawer. I'm not really sure if I've ever been bit. I have a tendency to "break out" easily, and have never had the huge welts like you all describe; anything that could have been bites has all been on my back where (sorry TMI) I tend to occasionally get breakouts anyhow. I didn't flip up the boxspring yet, it's too heavy; and it sounds like that is one of the commonest places for BBs to be so I'm not sure. I didn't think of asking the pest control guy to help me with that while he was here. Well I hope he calls back today... I'd really like to know for sure before the weekend!!
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buggedout16
newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 18
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 13:53:00
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Well they do kind of look like the larvae of carpet beetles, now that I do a search, but I've never seen anything in my apt. that looks like the adults. Well I guess I will just sit here and wait for them to call me or stop by; if they don't I'll call them by like 4:30. I may have thrown away a bunch of my possessions unnecessarily but I still don't have a good feeling, just because of where they were first found.
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bedbugs78
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Joined: Sep '08
Posts: 15
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 14:19:58
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I've got carpet beetles as well as bed bugs. Hope they aren't as big a deal as the BB's.
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Hi,
They are the larval stage of carpet beetles, 100% sure no doubt about that.
Having carpet beetles does not mean that you have bed bugs again. That is simply like saying you have carpet beetles therefore you are going to die in a sky diving accident, the two are unrelated pest problems that happen to cause some similar reactions.
And therein lies the key to the problem.
Carpet beetles do not bite, they can however cause an allergic reaction on the skin which from recent conversation I have had with medical entomologists appears to be due to the micro fine hairs on the larvae which are also prevalent on the shed skins. This skin reaction can be very much "bite like" it is however not cause by the insect itself so is not technically a bite.
As I have observed this phenomenon on a number of occasions (200+ in the last 3 years) I have documented some information on it at the following site:
www.bed-bugs.co.uk/carpetbeetles
The biggest problem is however that this is not a widely recognised phenomenon and most pest controllers will simply tell you that carpet beetles do not bite and therefore you must have
invisiblebed bugs.As the process of spraying appears to damped down the static which appears to be part of the issue although there is not peer reviewed scientific data to support this people can tend to think that they have bed bugs.
The simplest answer to the problem is cleaning, deep cleaning with soap and water and elbow grease and not just in the places you can see. Turn the bed upside down and give it a good old go. If it takes you less than 6 hours to do the room them you have not done it well enough.
Trust me once you have done it, you will feel so much better about how the clean the room is and often the problem is resolved as the allergens are removed.
Certainly none of your possessions need to be destroyed and if you have already lost things then learn the lesson that a little more thinking and a little less panic might be the best solution in the future.
Regards,
David
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bugged - maybe one of the pros here can look at your original post. I know NOTHING about carpet beetles, except that I have been finding them everywhere since I started looking at all my stuff for the bed bugs.
I'm assuming (but you know what happens when ppl assume - lol) that these furry wormy guys have been living w/ me always, w/out my knowlege. For this reason I don't think they should have been en masse on the sheet or running up the walls as you describe in your initital post. But I don't really know much about them.
The ones behaving that way, are they the same as the ones on the bedskirt? Does anyone here know enough about carpet beetles to know their behavior?
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buggedout16
newbite
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 18
Posted 1 year ago
Fri Oct 31 2008 15:11:11
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To BBcoukHome- thanks for your expert opinion and advice, I really appreciate it. And yes... next time, not to act so fast haha; tend to do that.
I have now given my boxspring a cursory look as much as I could on my own, holding it up and looking, and did not see any spots, did see another bug exactly like the ones I pictured above. I have vacuumed my mattress and boxspring already, and along the baseboards.
I am still doubting myself though... like that I COULD have found bites, or some other clue, and just not paid close enough attention. I have already thrown out my pillow in the case, and the sheet, so no way to look @ them again for clues- again, guess that was a stupid thing to do. I am still going to put the mattress & boxspring covers on though when they get here in the mail.
Do you think I should still isolate my clothing and stuff, or no?
EDIT: To Bugbattler- When I did see them on my sheets, it was when I had picked up a bunch of stuff off the floor and set it on the bed, doing some straightening up, then noticed these guys. They were the same kind as the pictures above. About the crawling up the walls, I can only figure they live in the space behind the baseboards? I don't know... I'm still paranoid for sure right now...
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bendib
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 3
Posted 3 months ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 19:56:02
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Just fuzzy carpet beetle larvae. They do not bite, but you may be allergic, fortunately I am not. We keep calling pest control, and they keep coming back, so we give up.They are funny little critters, burrowing themselves in carpet when they are scared, as well as the adults. It sound weird, because it is, but I became fond of them, and now when I catch one, I just drop it in my peanut butter jar with dried cat food, which they like for some odd reason. Kinda like an ant farm. Just move and leave it to management.
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bendib
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 3
Posted 3 months ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 20:09:13
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Don't know why they crawl up the walls, they never really get anywhere. The larvae crawls up my walls most often. Go to take a dump and then notice a carpet beetle crawling up the wall next to the TP.
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bendib
newbite
Joined: Aug '09
Posts: 3
Posted 3 months ago
Mon Aug 10 2009 20:16:04
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No, they are not as big of a deal. Unless you have fine carpet and animal hides laying around, they are harmless. Keep books away from the larvae though.bedbugs78 - 9 months ago »
I've got carpet beetles as well as bed bugs. Hope they aren't as big a deal as the BB's. -
curlynicole
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Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 3
Posted 1 week ago
Sat Nov 7 2009 9:32:10
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Hello. I went on holiday 2 weeks ago and the second hotel we stayed in was FULL of carpets!!! (we were in Turkey near Aphrodisias in Western Turkey and it was the only hotel in the area ...) Carpets on the floors, hung on the walls, over tables and sofas.. one of which we sat on when we arrived as we were exhausted... The hotel itself didn’t look that clean, being run by one bloke and his lakkie and infact he didn’t seem that keen for us to sit on the sofa but offered us some uncomfortable looking chairs (they had small carpets on them too!) Anyway we did sit on the sofa about 30 mins before eating and going to bed… During this time I was wearing a wool cardigan too… : ((
Two days later, (about 60 hours) in the morning at a different hotel … (we only stayed one night at the Carpet Hotel!) we were both suffering from small bites, hardly visible but really quite itchy mainly on our hands.. I also noticed a kind of rash like thing going on down one site of my torso, quite itchy but more rash-like than anything else, although there were some raised pimpley type thing going on there too. Since returning from holiday the “bites” seem to have got a lot more extensive, now especially on hands, wrists in the area of the veins, and up the arms… I can also feel some bite-like symptoms on my feet occasionally or maybe I’m being paranoid?? I also feel that when I wear the cardigan I was wearing at the time, I seem to get more bits… they are like pimples in size and elevation but really quite itchy at first but this soon goes… after about a day the bit has subsided…
The strangest thing is I haven’t seen ANYTHING bug-like on my skin at all????
Has anyone any suggestions what might be causing such things and possible treatment? I live in Turkey so any treatment would have to be generic or from a natural source as we don’t have the range of products available elsewhere (despite being quite a “buggy” country!!!) Worried the culprits will be migrating into my collection of Turkish wool kilims!!! Help!!!!
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In the midst of my bed bug ordeal I also discovered carpet beetles and I will attribute some of the itchy/bitey sensation to them. I've seen them at the larval stage and adult. I always wonder if they are responsible for all those little holes in the front of every t-shirt I own.
The image is exactly a carpet beetle larvae. They look like real beetles when they are adult, but still pretty small. A 30x magnifier can help you see what's not a bed bug.
Portland, OR
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