Found this bug--in the tub of all places--and think (from looking online) that it's a carpet bug.
Advice on how to deal with this if it is?
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Found this bug--in the tub of all places--and think (from looking online) that it's a carpet bug.
Advice on how to deal with this if it is?
That is indeed a varigated carpet beetle. They're usually pretty easy to get rid of. Check any houseplants for grubs as well as throw rugs and drapes for holes in the backing. Use a surface spray with a growth regulator in carpeted areas and on rugs. Repeat in two weeks.
Thank you!
I do want to say that the plants are going to be a bigger problem than the carpets.
Oy.
A thorough vacuuming is the first option for carpet beetles. Empty the vacuum after you're done. The larvae aren't always easy to find. A few carpet beetles aren't cause for alarm. They shun the light and might be found feeding on wool carpets, fur, feather, animal dander, dead insects, hair balls, etc. Check your woolens, including wool rugs or furs for infestation. Check underneath carpets and furniture and inside closets. Adult carpet beetles are attracted to sunlight, hence they are often found at the base of windows.
Carpet Beetle Management Guidelines--UC IPM
The irony of this is that I have two 8x5 area rugs and the rest of my 2000 sq ft house is hardwood floors.
I thought I remembered that. That's why I mentioned the plants first. Don't forget potpourri and dried flowers as well. If you find them in flowerpots, diatomaceous earth mixed into the soil will get rid of them in the pot eventually. You trade off safety for speed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Synnen
Where can I get dirt like that? Like Home Depot? Or do I need to go to a nursery?
And yeah... something like 70 houseplants... this is going to be a long week of checking I think.
Check the Home Depot site for "Diatom Dust" in their Lawn &Garden section.Quote:
Originally Posted by Synnen
Adult Anthrenus spp.(carpet beetles) feed on flowers and pollen. The larvae scavenge on animal matter such as fur, dead animals, dead insects, feathers, uncured leather, etc. The larvae look dramatically different than the adult beetle. (They are not called grubs. Grubs are the larvae of scarab beetles.) Dermestid larvae often are hairy. (There are dermestid species that are not hairy.) It would be difficult to determine exactly which species, varied carpet beetle vs furniture beetle, without a microscope, but it is very likely your specimen is an Anthrenus
Dermestid beetles are also known as hide beetles, museum beetles, and furniture beetles. They are sometimes used by museums to clean carcasses, when they want to display or clean skeletons. They are pests in museum collections.
(I don't think it is necessary, but... ) Use diatomaceous earth in your houseplants, if you want, however you do not have to re-pot your houseplants. You can sprinkle the product on the soil surface and mix it lightly with the surface soil. Products that you might find in the nursery for this purpose are called by commercial names like Dri-die, Roach-Prufe, Silverfish packs, and others. They sometimes contain diatomaceous earth, or it may be called silica.
Once again, if you only found one or two, you might not have to do anything. Vacuuming should be your first defense. Once they finish feeding on whatever they were eating, you should stop seeing them. But check your woolens (rugs and sweaters), furs, feather dusters, feather artwork, stuffed animals, insect artwork or collections, anything with high protein content, because those could be infested and they could be breeding there. Do you have pets? They could be feeding on the dog/cat food and/or dander. Are your few carpets made of wool? If found, this type of material can be frozen to kill the larvae.
https://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg154.html
Dermestid Beetles - Hide Beetles, Carpet Beetles, and Larder Beetles - Family Dermestidae
Dermestidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dermestidae (Abbildungen)
Actually, without a microscope and a real expert (=PhD), the only identification that can be made is to the family Dermestidae. There are many species of dermestids. Your specimen doesn't exactly look like a varied carpet beetle, Anthrenus verbasci
Sorry, catsmine. I didn't say it was not an Anthrenus verbasci. There are over 500 species of Dermestidae. Many of them look very similar. Since the varied carpet beetle is so common A. verbasci is a good guess, but only a guess, because without microscopic determination with taxonomic keys of the actual specimen, by experts, I would only be confident in the determination to family.
I respect your experience with practical pest control techniques. I think you should respect my technical experience with scientific entomology. I post after careful research with references to authoritative university websites. You can't really be confident of that pitiful picture that you referenced from Project Noah, a citizen science site.
Below you see five pictures. The first is the OP's original. The second is your Project Noah picture. The next two came from Bugguide.net The colorful yellow multi-colored beetle was apparently posted from a museum and is identified as Anthrenus verbasci, the varied carpet beetle. The darker dermestid is apparently Anthrenus fuscus. And the last picture of two beetles is Anthrenus verbasci as posted on the University of California's website .
Are you still confident in your species ID?
Note that this beetle, ID'ed as apparently Anthrenus scrophulariae looks much more like the OP's picture, but I would still not be so definitive as to say we have a positive ID. All of the beetle pictures that have been posted could be properly called carpet beetles, meaning that they are classified in the family Dermestidae, but only the species Anthrenus verbasci is called the varied carpet beetle.
http://bugguide.net/images/cache/GHC...ZLOHWHAZ7L.jpg
I just found out that Anthrenus scrophulariae is called the common carpet beetle. I am more confident that this might be the species the OP is seeing.
common carpet beetle - Anthrenus scrophulariae (Linnaeus)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in873
Perhaps you might look at the Entomology Board to exercise your expertise. Normally technical identification is the answer requested over there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Locrian_44
You'll note that on this board the focus is usually "how do I get rid of..." or "how do I deal with..." rather than "what is it?"
I have found that my decades of experience are more useful than the Master's I picked up along the way. Give a university 25 grand and you too can have any Ph.D. you want.
The question has been answered.
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