Carpet Beetles In Kitchen Cabinets

In most cases pest management professionals refer to these beetles simply as trogoderma beetles or use the term warehouse or cabinet beetles.

Carpet beetles in kitchen cabinets.

Warehouse beetles trogoderma variable and larger cabinet beetles trogoderma inclusum are two of several household pests that are closely related to carpet beetles coleoptera. Carpet beetles are grouped and named according to their feeding habits which are varied carpet beetles black carpet beetles furniture carpet beetles and common carpet beetles. These pests enter homes through doors windows and similar entrances. On the floor of the kitchen close to where the beetles were found was a vent for the a c system.

They can also be brought in by way of cut plants and flowers. Adults are typically 1 8 to 3 16 inch long elongate oval in shape and brownish black with variable patterns of transverse bands of pale yellow to off white hairs on the back. Adult carpet beetles can live both indoors and out but females prefer to lay eggs where larval food sources are abundant. The pests can also proliferate on bird nests animal carcasses and dead insects cluster flies lady beetles stink bugs wasps etc which tend to be associated with attics chimneys basements and light fixtures.

Warehouse and cabinet beetles are a nuisance to insect collectors around the world because they infest boxes of stored dried insects and reduce them to collections of dust and insect parts. Carpet beetles can also thrive on lint hair and debris accumulating under baseboards and inside floor vents and ducts. I removed the vent cover and felt around inside the duct and pulled out handfuls of debris including lots of pet hair that had accumulated there.