How to Kill a Carpet Beetle
- 1
A vacuum cleaner bag containing carpet beetle eggs is best removed outdoors.vacuum cleaner image by vb_photo from Fotolia.com
Inspect your home. If you have already seen a beetle, more are around. Look for the heaviest area of infestation. Larvae skins or holes in fabrics are indicators that beetles are nearby. Vacuum immediately anything you see. Take the vacuum cleaner outdoors before removing the bag and placing it in a garbage container. - 2
Hot water will kill carpet beetles, larvae and their eggs.buttons image by Vladimir Karpenko from Fotolia.com
Wash infested fabrics with hot, soapy water. Drop off rugs and larger items at a dry cleaner. - 3). Sprinkle boric acid around window sills, in cracks and crevices and in cupboards. This naturally occurring compound is safe around your food, but can bleach fabric. Sprinkle a pyrethrum-based insecticide powder along carpet and wall junctures, inside cushions, couches and chairs and behind baseboards.
- 4). Purchase an insecticide specifically made for carpet beetles. Spray a product containing deltamethrin, chlorpyrifos, bendiocarbs or allerthrin in cracks and crevices. Follow the manufacturer's instructions and use the products under and on edges of floor coverings, around rugs and furniture, and in closets. Apply up to four times three weeks apart.
- 5). Use a discrete, non-spray, time-release product containing hydroprene for ongoing, long-term treatment of areas infested with carpet beetles..
- 6). Place red cedar chips in closets. The chips alone will not kill carpet beetles, but newly hatched larvae cannot survive red cedar's toxic vapor.
- 7
Destroy all old nests.swallows nests image by green308 from Fotolia.com
Destroy and remove old wasp nests, mud dauber nests and bird nests around the home. Remains of wasps and other insects are food for carpet beetles, so the elimination of these nests is crucial to beetle control. Find nests under eaves and in attics. Place them in a plastic bag, seal it tightly and place them in a garbage container. - 8). Place sticky traps around heavily infested areas. Check the traps once or twice a week. These can be purchased with or without a pheromone, a chemical used to attract others of the same species. This will help you discover a possible entrance area.
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