r/carpetbeetles

Hello people of reddit,

long explanation following but we suspect we might have bed bugs, professionals however have told us (based on all except the last two photos) that it‘s more likely to be carpet beetles. If you have any knowledge of either, please give us some feedback/estimation!

I got a couple of bites/red marks about a week ago, thought it was mosquitos bites first (spend a couple days in a row at the lake) but I woke up every morning with new ones, a couple of them in „clusters“ and a short google research later, everything pointed towards bed bugs :( we searched the bedroom and actually found some sheds/skins in the bedframe, later on also at the couch. We immediately called exterminators and got scammed by a firm not actually certified to do exterminations.
We called some more professional firms since then but it’s super hard to get an appointment rn. However we send them photos and they said they thought it was much more likely to be carpet beetles, since we haven’t been traveling or getting new furniture or had someone over who was known to have bed bugs and they are super uncommon to have in private households (based in Germany). We also found dark stains in the storage unter the bed and a pillow, but both haven’t been checked/cleaned in a long time and they told us it could be mold too (see pictures).
Today we checked the traps we bought and found a tiny beetle (nymphe?) in one of them and one very light colored one on the wall. No other live carpet beetles or bed bug so far.
We‘re going crazy rn waiting for an exterminator to come check, not knowing if we are dealing with bed bugs or not, constantly washing everything we wore on high heat and sleeping on the couch.

If you think you can give us an educated estimation, please help! Thank you!!!

i’ve seen carpet beetles in other parts of my place (in iowa) and this is in a different place— this one is just a gnat right?? i’m almost positive but also super paranoid.

New England US, just came back from Spain Wednesday.

I think this is carpet beetle larvae giving me bite-like things but this larvae seems massive!

I have big bed bug fears so if anyone could confirm!

I believe I had a decent infestation (5-8 beetles a day) that emerged out of nowhere. I used diamatrecous earth and it sorta helped, however, I think I needed to add something else to take care of the issue and I seen this in another forum. This spray seems to kill them on the spot and when they walk in it. The smell isn't too bad either. I got it off Amazon, it was around 20ish dollars.

I sprayed the entire perimeter of my apartment and sprayed where I believe they like to hang out. The directions on the back for carpet beetles specfically states "apply a sweeping motion as a surface spray to carpet, rugs, closets, baseboards, upholstered furniture, and around edges of carpet" and that is what I did and so far I haven't really seen any. Hopefully this helps someone else, I cannot live like that lol.

Found it in my room at night, in the New York area. It looks a bit longer than the pics of carpet beetles on google so I'm not too sure

I recently had a problem with carpet beetles in my bedroom a couple of months ago. I did everything to get rid of them, tirelessly cleaning, calling exterminators, replacing everything. I was in my bathroom (inside my bedroom) and noticed this little bug on my floss, I saw another one too in my qtip box. It looks similar to a carpet beetle but it looks smaller than the ones i have seen before. I am currently looking around the bathroom and room for more and about to clean. Can anyone help me identify this bug? (I live in Texas)

I was looking more in my bathroom and found this come out of a little crack underneath my sink… Basically throughout the years this little crack has given me lots of problems, I have gotten ants in my bathroom through there because the other side of the wall is the kitchen pantry and they come into my bathroom through that channel. I just found this little guy come out of there, looks different from the other two I just posted. Are these the same thing? What is it? Please help, I am so distraught I want to throw up.

I’ve tried washing the bedding, vacuuming and Nyguard plus and it doesn’t seem to work bc they come back immediately. Are these carpet beetles and how do I get rid of them. I can feel them crawl on me when sleeping.

Was getting ready to lay down, felt something on my blanket, this jumped off. Freaked me out!

Edit: location - central Indiana

I am currently living with my parents on an Acreage outside of the city in Alberta, Canada. I just came home after a tiring 10 hour shift to see THIS. Im worried since I keep birds and often keep my clothes in hampers on the floor (My drawers cant fit them all). But since I live Rurally im wondering if it could be a one time sighting. I also get some bugs that wander in from time to time (I literally just saw an Ant wander by 🫩). What are the chances im screwed? Im scared. Ive seen nothing other than that, but my room IS messy. I work overtime for the next 10 days, so checking and cleaning everything would ruin my days even more!

Hi! I’m hoping to get everyone’s opinion because I’ve been dealing with what seems like an environmental arthropod problem for several years, and despite multiple pest control visits and doctor appointments, no one has been able to identify the cause.

It started in San Francisco while I was living on the top floor of a house with a flat roof. We had a mouse infestation, and my downstairs roommates had bird feeders (it’s possible there were bird nests on the roof above my room). Around that time I developed intense pinprick/stinging sensations, especially at night or when I got hot, along with tiny itchy red bumps. We fogged multiple times, and things only improved after removing the carpets (I had layered rugs on top of built-in carpet). I also had to have my car fogged because the problem spread there. I found adult carpet beetles multiple times in that house and once saw what looked like a tiny bug, but nothing was ever identified. We did find a few beetles in the house and a bug that the pest control company said they couldn’t identify. Also, at my house in San Francisco, I was the only one out of 5 people who was getting what looked like bites (see pictures).

After moving to San Diego and unpacking items from storage, the exact same symptoms returned. Freshly washed sheets and pajamas feel better at first, but within 2–4 days they become unbearably itchy again. The couch also gradually becomes unbearable to sit on. Heat makes everything much worse, and I often wake up at night with pinprick sensations and new tiny red bumps. Two doctors thought it could be mites, but no species was ever confirmed. My sister and dad also developed itching and bumps, and my sister even had a small patch of hives. I’ve also found adult carpet beetles several times in my current home, including multiple over the last few days, and glue traps have caught tiny brown insects (possibly booklice, springtails, or another storage pest). I’m not convinced carpet beetles alone explain the recurring “recontamination” of bedding or the nighttime symptoms. Based on this history, what would you consider the most likely cause, and is there a particular mite or storage-associated pest I should investigate?

I’m just looking for answers, as getting fogged helps but seamingly only for a little bit of time and this has been going on for years without knowing the cause and how to treat. It’s exhausting.

This HAS to be a carpet beetle. This is like my 4th one in this area of the apartment (old house in Iowa). I’ve found one larva and then one adult in the bathroom, one in the kitchen.

My rental company (i moved in just a few weeks ago) is not helping. The contact me with pest control and pest guy tells me not to worry until i see 6-12 in the same place.

Every other time I come home, I find one in this spot in the bedroom. Pest guy says it’s not a problem. Just called my rental maintenance guy and he said “i’ll talk to him, he knows his business you know, seems like you don’t know that.”

I’m getting extremely fed up, I pay a decent amount for this place and feel like I’m getting screwed over.

I don’t want an infestation and the pest control guy is just like “meh, we’ll deal with it if it gets there” essentially.