Insects That Eat Carpet

This is especially helpful for carpets rugs and furniture.

Insects that eat carpet.

Moths and carpet beetles love to eat under a sofa that is never moved to vacuum under it. Their natural habitats are the nests of birds rodents insects and spiders. Carpet beetles have a wide variety of things that they eat and interestingly enough sometimes they won t even eat carpet. Today s carpet is made from synthetic materials that carpet beetles won t eat.

Step 3 woman feeding dog. Carpet beetle larvae can damage fabrics furnishings and clothing that contain cotton wool silk hair fur or feathers. Carpet beetles like to gather in dark low traffic places in your home like closets storage areas your attic in air ducts and of course underneath your carpet. Carpet beetles are often found around the edges of rugs and carpets.

Typically they like to feed off of animal based products. Storage is the place where the worst damage occurs. Synthetic items are resistant to attack but blends of synthetic and natural fibres can be damaged. There are two main types of insect which cause serious damage to textiles in the british isles.

Adult carpet beetles don t eat carpet or upholstery as they prefer pollen and nectar. Carpet bugs will eat through clothing but they won t stay there like moths. Clothes moths and carpet beetles. Carpet beetles have a recognisable oval body with a shiny dark brown black colouring though their wings tend to vary with irregular patterns of white brown and dark yellow.

These beetles may also eat synthetic fabrics if they are soiled with food or oils. They range in size from 0 3 cm to 0 4 cm. Carpet beetles don t usually eat cotton linen or other plant based or synthetic fabrics but they may eat fabric blends or fabrics stained with animal products. Synthetic materials typically used for rugs and carpeting include nylon polyester triexta and olefin.

In homes with rugs in use this bug damage will be found under large furniture. The pests can also proliferate on bird nests animal carcasses and dead insects cluster flies lady beetles stink bugs wasps etc which tend. Carpet beetles can also thrive on lint hair and debris accumulating under baseboards and inside floor vents and ducts. This makes sense because the bugs like dark undisturbed places to make their meal.

Carpet beetles will only eat organic products so choosing synthetic materials will lessen your chances of getting an infestation. They will move on as soon as possible so if holes begin appearing in your clothes but you don t see moths flying in your closet the problem is most likely carpet bugs.