Carpet mites although you may see the terms carpet mites and carpet beetles used interchangeably these two pests are actually quite different.
Full grown carpet beetle shells.
Usually we don t see the full grow beetle it s always the small longish c shaped wriggling larvae or their brownish striped shed skins.
The furniture carpet beetle has 6 legs as well and is often mistaken for its cousin the varied carpet beetle.
The grown up adult has a round like body with contrasting black white and vivid pastel colours.
These bumps and rashes are caused by an allergic reaction to hairs or bristles on the abdomen of carpet beetle larvae as well as to traces of the insect s blood.
The thorax and wing cases are covered with tiny overlapping scales of different colours brown orange black white etc giving a patchy variegated effect sometimes in a horizontal wavy pattern.
Carpet beetle adults are small 1 16 to 1 8 inch oval and with variations in color from solid black to having white or orange markings.
Varied carpet beetles.
Furniture carpet beetles this species is slightly larger than the varied carpet beetle species and has a black elytra with bitnik whitish yellow and random orange.
And may wander a considerable distance in search of new food sources.
Once you have spotted a full grown beetle in your home it is probably too late to prevent any damage.
The two can easily be confused as both bed bug bites and dermatitis caused by carpet beetles often appear in a straight line or row.
And if you have carpet good luck.
Colors also vary between species.
The larvae of this carpet beetle have a larger body size than adult carpet beetles which can reach 0 2 inches.
Say no to carpet because they hide in it.
The adults are small 3 4mm long oval shaped beetles with very short stubby antennae.
The full grown larvae are similar in size to the adults for each species and tend to be cigar.
Many species of carpet beetles are often times covered with fur like hairs or scales.
The size of carpet beetles also vary within different species however they will typically be 1 12 mm in length.
Damage caused by carpet beetles is often mistaken for a clothes moths doing.
When larvae are full grown they transition to the pupal stage.
Because beetles have mandibles or two hard teeth in the front of their mouth they are able to chew through leather carpet and any type of cloth even dead organisms more than that of a cloths moth.
The pupa occurs within the skin of the last stage larva.
The bodies of carpet beetles vary but the general shape is an elongated oval shape to an almost circular shape.
