Carpet Beetle Bed Bug Larvae Worm

A few days ago we received a question through the all about worms facebook page about a brown worm on a reader s mattress.

Carpet beetle bed bug larvae worm. Their food preference includes all kinds of fabrics and dead insects. The main difference is the color. The most diverse animal group in the planet p p more simply a nymph is a bed bug that hasn t fully matured into adulthood. Carpet beetle larvae are the form of beetles that comes between the egg stage and the adult stage of their growth cycle.

They re covered with bristles. Bed bug larvae look like little worms while carpet beetle larvae look like fuzzy bugs with little spines all over them. P this worm is a parasite that spreads through deer fly bites. She also found dead worm bodies on the carpet and on a spare mattress in her bedroom.

She learned that they did not need to chemically treat for carpet beetles as it isn t the live insects that cause the allergy. Carpet mites although you may see the terms carpet mites and carpet beetles used interchangeably these two pests are actually quite different. How can you tell. Bed bug bites are itchier and the carpet beetle s rash is more painful.

Larvae young carpet beetles are 1 8 to 1 4 inch long and tan or brownish. The allergic reaction is so bad in fact that it s hard to tell the difference between both. An adult bed bug next to a carpet beetle larvae. They range in color from black to speckled with white brown yellow and orange.

For one it looks like a carpet beetle larva with its brown and stripped body and in addition carpet beetle larvae are common household pests and of course one is more likely to find a common pest than an uncommon one. Carpet beetle larvae have prickly little hairs that cause a reaction in some people that looks very much like bed bug bites. On the basis of articles we have published she suspects she found carpet beetle larvae and we think she is correct. Thus we are fairly confident in identifying the larva in the above photo as a carpet beetle larva.

Because carpet beetle larvae can cause an allergic reaction to some people when the larvae s hair or dead skin gets in touch with our skin. You might not know.