Carpet beetle larva I believe. :/

Ew. Odd, because I only have hardwood floors upstairs, no carpets. I will google and learn more. Thanks.

Okay, just read about them and they are just disgusting. There's a chance they are in my box springs!!! My mattress and box springs are so heavy I cannot move them myself so I will have to enlist some help. I am gagging. I don't see them often, so I am presuming there is not a big infestation (oh, gag again), but obviously something has to be done. Why me??

Really? Carpet? I used to find something that looked very much like that in my former house, not many and only once in a while. But in my kitchen, no carpet there either. That kitchen had one of those lower corner cabinets that was like neverland, to reach anything at all I had to get down on my knees and all but climb into the space. The few times a year I might straighten out that area, see what was actually back there since things I seldom used (no food items at all), I would sometimes see something that looked like that bug.

Do you ever post on the gardening side? There are a couple of people very good at confirming ID's there on Garden Clinic forum.

Thanks, Morz. Good idea. I will try over there and maybe get an answer I like better. Ha ha, keep trying til you get the answer you want.

I think that is the correct ID for the bug. I think they like fabric/clothing too, so you might want to check any older clothes you have in the closets/drawers and give those areas a cleaning.

All that's needed to confirm is an image search for carpet beetle larvae. I did & they look exactly like the photo to me...

I was curious because we live in the country and have all sorts of bugs flying around on occasion. Turns out those darn carpet beetles will feed on just about anything, including cat and dog hair, food in your pantry, and other cloths (silk, linen, cotton, etc). Who knew?

I have never seen one thankfully but it helps to be educated. However, my friend who had rolled up her rugs (after having them cleaned) for her move here from DC discovered a few rugs with them inside. She was most unhappy.

I guess I should be grateful it is nothing worse. I knew it was not a bedbug because I have no bites. Thanks. On my way upstairs to do a super duper clean out.

I would hire an exterminator and I'll tell you why - I thought I had carpet beetles and I went on a mission to mars to clear every one of those suckers out and had a total freakout about it. Then I hired an exterminator and he was like "harmless leaf beetles, no bigs, I'm not even gonna spray, they'll be gone in a week." Could have saved about 20 points off my blood pressure and $$$ drycleaning bills!

Why did my head start itching after seeing this bug?! :o

If you have a local cooperative extension you can scoop up the bug and bring it to them, actually I have done this to exterminator company too. Just drive over and ask them what the bug is. They are very nice. I left a bug once and then called me back and told me what it was.

Somewhat unrelated but I had a bedbug scare not too long ago (friend who did laundry at my house discovered he had them afterwards) and hired bedbug sniffing hound dogs to tell me if they were in my house. Happy to report - no bedbugs! My husband thought I was crazy but went along with it to give me peace. Or him peace from me. Probably mostly him.

Don't say that! Now I itch, too.

My niece thought she had bedbugs. She lived in Manhattan and traveled a lot. She spent a fortune having her condo treated. She still was finding red spots. She called a different exterminator, showed him her spots and he said they were not bedbug bites, she didn't have bedbugs ever and that she threw away a ton of money.Too bad she didn't know about the dogs.

I will catch the next one and take it to the exterminator. The one in the picture got squished shortly after posing for the photo.

Dedtired, I think no less of you.

Look at these images of "larder beetle" -- I sometimes find these in closets, usually dried up. Once I spotted one outside, trying to get inside.

https://www.google.com/search?q=larder+beetle&biw=1280&bih=530&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwig74WXjerPAhWKWz4KHTXEBm8Q_AUIBigB

Try asking the Insect ID forum. Some great people there who will ID this very quickly.

Robo -- gimme that dog, now! Adorable. I'm so happy that you finally found one another.

What good dogs. I trust dogs.

My bug doesn't look quite as long and hairy as the larder beetle. I did post over on Insects, so we will see what they say.

Definitely carpet beetle larvae. They are common pests that are a nuisance because they damage natural fibers. They are otherwise harmless although I believe they shed little hairs that can be an allergen. The outdoor beetles are also tiny. They feed off of pollen and easily get indoors to lay their eggs through windows, cracks or fresh flowers. The larvae are a type of bug that like to travel by hugging perimeters so you will often find them along baseboards, which is also a location where dust and pet hair accumulates for them
to feed on. This is a good place to do deep frequent cleaning (and an area that is often skipped).
They scatter wide throughout a structure, leaving behind shedded skins during their growth cycle. Like to eat clothing and other natural fabrics, among other things. Hatched beetles seek the light of windows where you can find some of those. The larvae prefer darker undisturbed places.

They are very difficult to completely get rid of. Cleaning is the best defense to control populations. Extermination through chemicals is recommended only when there is a severe infestation. I think boric acid is effective if you can lightly dust that in places.

Extensions are your best source for identification and information on pests. You can email them photos.

Offices by state:

http://npic.orst.edu/pest/countyext.htm

Carpet beetle information:

http://entoweb.okstate.edu/ddd/insects/carpetbeetles.htm

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/kbrec/furniture-carpet-beetle

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/carpet_beetles

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7436.html

Thanks for those links, Snookums. Loads of good info there. Looks like I have a major cleaning project ahead of me. One site mentioned pet hair and stuffed animals (as in taxidermy) as common breeding spots. I have no pets, but I do have a mounted deer head (family heirloom!) in the detached garage.

I just lugged the heavy canister vac up the stairs to get at all the baseboards. I clean often in my bedroom, but it is the dustiest room in the world. I swear that room needs dusting three ties as often as the rest of the house.

I have an upholstered headboard so I may have to take that dust cloth off the back to check behind it. It has no buttons or tufts for them to hide.

Check your clothes and closet. They eat natural fibers so often chew holes in clothing. You might want to hand vacuum garments or run a sticky roller over them even if you don't see anything.

You can encase your mattress and box spring in dust mite covers. They are huge havens for unhealthy dust mites so good to use anyway. Allergy Control Products is a company recommended by doctors.

Good detective work, Snookums.

Dedtired, I am dead tired thinking of all the work you'll be doing.

Would a garment steamer help? I recently bought cedar chip bundles for woolens in a garment bag. Time for GMO (Get-outta My Orientals).

I'd like a whole house Super Vac. It runs along the edges of each room. Pick up any loose socks, magazines, dropped earrings, small pets, kids, toys. Then turn that sucker ON! VAROOOOMM! Can do it weekly.

I hate bugs with lots of legs. Totally creep me out. I had a mini-freakout recently after I'd stayed at a motel for that concert last month. The next day I was very itchy and had red marks on my arm pits and chest. My back started itching really bad too and I was just SURE I'd contracted bed bugs. I was on the verge of panic, when I realized I had no marks anywhere else, just around where my bra would be.

Turned out I had washed my bras with a new cleanser and I had a reaction to it when I started getting sweaty at the concert. Crisis averted!

I wonder if some of the holes in my sweaters are from the beetles rather than moths. I have been blaming the moths. They probably conspire together to destroy as much as possible. You would not have believed the hole in my best cashmere sweater. I know that was a moth because I caught it. Bugs seem to really enjoy cashmere and anything made by Eileen Fisher. They only eat organic.

The covers for the box springs is a very good idea. I will look for those. I just wish the darn things weren't so heavy.

I have lavender sachets to repel moths as well as those sticky moth catchers. I am on a vendetta against bugs in my house. The weather was warm yesterday and a fly got in the house. I stalked him down and smashed him. Very rewarding.

The worst invasion I ever had was fleas. One time we went away for two weeks and put the dog in a kennel. When we got home, a million fleas had hatched and were waiting for their first meal. They were all over our ankles. We had to call for an emergency extermination and wait outside for it to be done. I also threw away all the carpets.

Neetsie, I always check for bedbugs when I go to hotels. Glad that was not the case for you!

I think the type of holes they chew look different. I did read that people often think they have moths when it's the less familiar but very common carpet beetle larvae at work. They are very small and like to hide so go unnoticed.

Funny story, Neetsiepie.

Dedtired -- maybe there's a sort of "yard cam" for insects. I can just imagine.

I'd like to get some small drones to scout around under furniture, inside cupboards and clothes drawers and chests, striking and eliminating beetles, moths and larvae, European house spiders, mosquitoes, and anything bite-nasty like fleas, ticks or any insect even thinking about getting 'radicalized' into a bedbug.

Someone gave me one of those battery-operated electric fly swatters. Since June, I've hardly found an opportunity to use it. Hardly any mosquitoes this year because of the long drought. I kept it close to the bed so that I could dispatch any errant flying insect. (I let lg moths, ladybugs and spiders outside). No action but for a few small moths (maybe pantry or clothes moths or something from outside. These sorts of things are so difficult to swat or catch -- they have great evasive tactics. However, that electric swatter was a success. Too bad my friend didn't have one a few years ago when she had a houseful of small moths.

I just want to correct one misstatement above...you can have bed bugs without having bites. Don't ask how I know.

Not sure if it's the same kind of bugs, but the one's I've seen is always in a corner of the walls. I have no idea what they are

Welcome to GW, Keshia. Hoping you are legit and not one of our resident spammers. Fortunately I no longer have the carpet beetles, although I can’t say why. Hope you find solution to your bug problem.

I think it could be a larder Beetle

Whatever it was, its been gone for six years.

Gee Ded. You'll never live this down! 😛