[Apartment RO]

I have about a week left in my apartment but just recently discovered what I thought were worms in my bed, closet, and on the carpeting. They are very tiny and a yellowish/orange color. I have found only a handful - maybe 2 alive and the other were dead. I did a search online, and it appears these worms are actually the larvae of Carpet Beetles. I have yet to see any of the actual beetles. Just the larvae slithering around.

I'm an extremely clean person and am disgusted that these things are in my apartment. My apartment is part of a 100 year old house and the other tenants have pets and are not very clean from what I have noticed. So who knows where they are coming from?? Since I am moving in a week, I have boxes everywhere and am also trying to do one really good cleaning before I vacate - should I be concerned about these pests with only a week left? Some of the stuff I read about on the internet totally freaked me out and I started worrying that I'll have throw out all of my furniture and clothes, everything. Is there any type of pesticide I could purchase? Any advice would be great. I'm getting itchy just thinking about these guys.

[RubyPitbull]

I was just scrolling through all the unanswered questions and stumbled upon yours.

Apartment RO! Ack! My skin was getting itchy just reading your post! Ack! I would be freaking out too.

Okay, now that we have dispensed with the pleasantries, let's get down to business. The good thing here is that you were able to identify the culprit. I did find one pest control company that would sell you product but you don't have time to wait for it to show up in the mail. So, time is of the essence here and unfortunately, this is not going to be easy on you.

Start by vacuuming everything you possibly can. Shake out all clothing and bedding, pull everything out of closets. Vacuum anything and everything. Wipe things down and vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. You may want to look through the yellow pages and call a local pest control company to see if they recommend a spray that you can purchase from them directly or that they know is sold in a local hardware store. If they won't sell you anything and insist on spraying for you, you might want to consider doing allowing them to come in. No matter what you do, once everything is sprayed down, you need to find out from the company, how long it needs to sit and when you can start vacuuming and cleaning up the problem. I would probably give everything a good cleaning and vacuuming before packing it into boxes. Spray the boxes down before you place anything in them. Pack 'em up, spray the outside of the box and get them out of that apartment as quickly as you can. The point is, obviously, to try not to bring them with you as you stated. So, you need to be extra vigilant here.

When you get to your new place, you may want to respray and vacuum as often as you can for the first month you are there to make sure you are getting rid of any residual problems.

I am sorry I don't have an easy answer for you. I am doubly sorry you are going through this. But, I am very happy for you that you are moving out of that place!

Good luck!

[Apartment RO]

Thanks for your help. This is just the icing on the cake for all the problems I have had with this apartment - thank god I am out in a few days. But I do not want to bring any of these pests with me. I can't even sleep at night because I keep thinking about these "worms" in my bed. I found one on my pillow before I went to sleep last night and about died. It looks as if I have a lot of work ahead of me these next few weeks. *sigh*

[frsexton]

Sounds like you've done some homework. However I question if they are truly carpet beetles. Usually they are only found in areas that have wool in the carpet. This would be highly unusual in an apartment complex. One suggestion is to treat this pest as you would fleas. A good product is preclor 2000. This has materials that will kill the adults and larvae. Don''t worry about the IGR for the flea - it is a long term insect growth regulator that is for fleas only. This is available at do it yourself pest stores. If you don't have this option you can get a room fogger and set these off. They are great for a quick knock down and some have residuals as well. These are available almost anywhere.

Good luck