Pests We Treat - Are These Bed Bugs or Carpet Beetles in Highland Park, NJ

Carpet beetles? As if we don’t have enough pests to worry about! What are these tiny bugs anyway? 

Carpet beetles are one of the more common pests that can infest your home. Cowleys receives plenty of calls from homeowners that turn out to be carpet beetle infestations. Carpet beetles occur naturally outdoors, and some of them make their way into buildings. It doesn’t take much for adult carpet beetles to find their way inside a home, often entering through improperly sealed or improperly screened doors and windows or through other cracks or crevices. Once inside, the females start laying eggs, and they will lay lots of them. The females can lay 100 eggs at a time! 

In a week or so, the eggs hatch into larvae. And that’s when the real trouble starts. While the adults may be a nuisance, it’s the larvae that does the damage. They feed on a wide variety of natural fibers including upholstered furniture, comforters, blankets, and, of course what they are named after, carpets. The larvae will also eat food products as well, especially milled products like bread and cereals.   

It’s easy to confuse a carpet beetle infestation with a bed bug infestation. Carpet beetle larvae have little prickly hairs that can cause an allergic reaction in some people that look very much like bed bug bites. Both are similar in size and tend to congregate in the same areas. Both are attracted to people when are sleeping because of our exhaled carbon dioxide. And both tend to stay hidden, coming out only in the wee hours of the morning. There is one critical difference between these bugs: bed bugs bite and carpet beetles don’t. Bed bugs are parasites that need blood meals from us to survive. Carpet beetle larvae feed on the natural fibers found in fabrics, furnishings, and clothing. 

Needless to say, because of this confusion, it’s important to have a reputable pest control service perform a proper inspection so you don’t pay for a bed bug treatment when all that’s needed for carpet beetles is a thorough vacuuming and a light chemical application to those areas where these pests have been congregating. Unfortunately, store-bought DIY products doesn't seem to do the trick with these stubborn larvae that will do a number on many of your personal belongings if you don’t get the problem timely treated. A professional pest control service has the tools and products to resolve a carpet beetle infestation quickly and without any guesswork.