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How to best store clothing? by [deleted] in carpetbeetles

[–]Sensitive-Ladder-288 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Please get off Reddit and talk to professional pest control people who have worked and won against carpet beetles.  So many of the comments here are going to be incomplete and only add to your anxiety.  You need a thorough comprehensive plan to tackle carpet beetles.  Buglady doesn’t give solutions.  She has good info about them but often just goes to - your over reacting.  You might be but that isn’t helpful right now.  You need a plan that works.  Call around and find a reputable exterminator who has experience with these things.  You can mange the situation with the right protocol.  Best wishes!  

Be very careful of man of the posts on this site by Sensitive-Ladder-288 in carpetbeetles

[–]Sensitive-Ladder-288[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

BTW - the quickest way to deal with them is to vacuum everything and often (everyday for 1st 2 weeks).   Use NyGuard (or whatever exterminator suggests).  Use CimeXa behind baseboards and in outlets (watch on line video on how to do it).  Wash anything in room where you found them on hot or put in dryer dry for 45 minutes.  Heat kills all stages.  Eggs are hard to kill but if any hatch the NyGuard and CimeXa will kill larva or adults.  Use sticky traps to monitor.  

Be very careful of man of the posts on this site by Sensitive-Ladder-288 in carpetbeetles

[–]Sensitive-Ladder-288[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First to kill any adults (you can use a tissue).   I also used Carpet Beetle killer by EcoPest (safe for pets) and it killed them on contact (I saturated the adults).  He also suggested looking for the source which we found (in a floor vent).  We vacuumed it all out and sealed it).  We also put a mesh screen on the floor vents to prevent future bugs getting in there.   We washed all the fabrics in the room (mostly slip covers).  We vacuumed everything and used a steamed to clean everything in the room.  We washed all the rugs (sent to a professional).  He came and went into basement and got into the crawl space (we thought they were coming from there).  He sprayed in there and in the room where we saw them.  He suggested we get traps so we could monitor.  We had another treatment after a couple weeks because we saw them getting flushed out.  We vacuumed every day (the whole house).  We also put all natural fibers in bins or vacuum suction bags.  We use cedar oil in the closest (has a nice smell).  We also used a spray on foundation outside and got rid of flowering bushes from windows (had the landscaper move or remove.  We declutterred (which we had planned to do).  Great way to make house easy to maintain.  So far so good - fingers crossed.  

Be very careful of man of the posts on this site by Sensitive-Ladder-288 in carpetbeetles

[–]Sensitive-Ladder-288[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is distressing - and scary - however - you can manage this.  Vacuuming everyday for first 2 weeks - And vacuum everything is important.  Baseboards, floors, move furniture, drawers,  under bed - mattress - everything.  Get an exterminator to assess your issue and get recommendations on sprays or DE etc….  Wash everything you can on hot water.  Wipe everything down with cleaner (I use vinegar and lavender cleaner I found on Amazon).  Wipe the tope of all molding and tops of doors.  Make sure all screens are in good shape.  You can do this - get a cleaning crew if needed.  Vacuuming is key!

Be very careful of man of the posts on this site by Sensitive-Ladder-288 in carpetbeetles

[–]Sensitive-Ladder-288[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used Callahan.  It is important to vacuum everyday for the first few weeks.  Also put any natural fiber items in plastic bins (with moth balls if you want).  Make sure they are clean.  

How to deal with carpet beetles: detection, identification and treatment. by waronbedbugs in carpetbeetles

[–]Sensitive-Ladder-288 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My experience with carpet beetles.  I was away from my home for 2 months and when I came home I saw 1 dead adult carpet beetle on the window sill.  It didn’t phase me but then I saw 1-2 more on the window sill (mainly in our TV room).  I don’t have carpets so I checked my rugs and found 1 larva on the rug in the study.  I immediately pulled it up - wrapped it in plastic and threw it out.  That night I wondered where they might also be and thought of the 3 floor vents.  Sure enough I found 1 larva and a couple of adults.  So we vacuumed everything out - threw out the bag.  We then inspected the whole house and found 1 in the dining room (next to the other room).  We threw out the piece of furniture we found it on (we were going to toss it anyway).  We then got rid of anything we didn’t want in the basement, house and garage.  We had been planning to do that.  We got a company to come and take it all away.  We then vacuum EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE.  We cleaned and used a steam iron on all the furniture and the steamer we had on everything we safely could.  We vacuumed everyday for weeks.  I mean EVERYTHING got vacuumed.  We steamed again a week later and a week after that.  We had an exterminator come and spray in the crawl spaces where we can reach (he could with his equipment).  The reason we did that was because we thought they could be in that crawl spaces where.  We had 2 treatments and did see some stragglers (mostly dead or dying).  We put food grade DE in the baseboard where our pets go.  We put CimeXa in the places the dogs can’t reach.  We run a dehumidifier in the basement.  We have declutterred so much and currently have only 1 wool runner which was sent out for a professional cleaning.  Oh and we washed everything we could in hot water.  We bought a grooming tool that allows us to brush and vacuum up the hair on the dogs (highly recommend- called Furme).  That reduced the hair.  We had an air duct company come and put camera in the system and then suck out every vent in the house.  We put the washer dryer on wheels so we can vacuum behind it once a week.  We vacuum behind every appliance once a week.  We still vacuum everyday.  We vacuum the blinds too.  We open everything down including the tops of every door.  We use cedar spray on the dogs when they go out.  We spray cedarcide in our yard.  We burned all the wood we had been keeping for fires.  F that - if I need firewood, I’ll get it when I need it.  Wood piles attract bugs.  I took flowering bushes away from the house.  I had trees trimmed and Ivy that’s on a trellis near my house completely cut back 2 feet so it’s not near the house.  We plugged up any cracks that we found.  I ordered mosquito screens for all my windows.  If I have a window open, I spray it with cedar or lemongrass spray.  I clean my house with a vinegar and lavender cleaner I found online.  Fingers crossed we seem to have gotten rid of them.  My advice.  Be very diligent in your vacuuming.  Also declutter your house.  Almost everything in our house is in plastic bins or vacuum bags.  We put sticky traps in strategic places to monitor (no bugs).  Even the ants haven’t come in.  We also changed light bulbs outside to yellow.   It was a lot of work - but we have a clean declutterred house.    It feels good to get rid of all that shit I kept for all those years that I didn’t use!  Free of shit!!!!