Humans have battled with many bugs that sometimes make life miserable and the home uncomfortable. However, carpet beetles in car have become the new trend.
Although these bugs can be found to infest the home as well, who would have thought that the car would also be an infestation hot spot for pests?
Let us now find out more about these bugs and provide you with useful tips to protect your cars from an infestation.
What Do Carpet Beetles In Car Look Like?
It is important to take note of what your pest looks like, as this will help you know how to control it. Using the right method to treat the wrong pest may seem ineffective, so it is important that you can identify your unwanted guests.
Carpet beetles in car are sometimes confused for bed bugs or ladybugs due to their resemblance in size and body structure, but it is important to tell the 3 apart to ensure you use the appropriate treatment method.
Probably you were cleaning your car and spotted a bug. How do you know it is a carpet beetle? Well, below is a brief description of what a carpet beetle in car looks like:
- Carpet beetles do look like the aforementioned ladybug and bed bug and measure 2 to 4 millimeters in length.
- Carpet beetles have a variety of colors and are usually patterned. These colors include:
- Brown
- Black
- Yellow
- In terms of shape, the carpet beetles in car have oval-shaped bodies.
It is possible that the carpet beetle you spotted is in its larval stage. What do carpet beetles look like as larvae?
- Their bodies appear to be elongated, even more than that of their adult counterparts.
- The larvae of carpet beetles in car have short, stiff hairs all over their bodies.
- These larvae usually vary in color, and they include:
- Grayish-black
- Dark brown
- Reddish-brown
The larval stage of the carpet beetles is usually responsible for most of the damage you tend to find during an infestation.
Knowing what a bug looks like and being able to identify it is one important procedure in its control/treatment process.
Read also:Â How to Get Rid of Carpet Beetles; Carpet Beetles Infestation
What are the Signs of Carpet Beetle Bugs in Car?
After knowing what these carpet beetle bugs in car look like and being able to boldly identify them, it is important that you check for signs of their activity.
As we mentioned earlier, the larvae of these bugs are usually responsible for most of the damage that you will come to discover as you carry out your inspection.
These damages may turn out to be signs that you should look out for during an inspection of your car. Below are these signs:
- Chewed leather seat cover.
- Chewed car carpet. Of course, they are carpet beetles, so this one seems pretty obvious.
- Fecal droppings (Usually brown or black in color).
- Molted skin in the following places:
- Seams
- Crease
- Car seat
- Nooks and crannies of your car
With the following signs noted, you can confidently certify that your car is being run by uninvited guests, carpet beetles, or carpet mites, as they are sometimes called.
What Causes Carpet Beetles in Car?
Bugs do not just infest a house or even a car, but there are certain things that attract them to these places, it may be food, shelter, water, temperature, etc., but in all this, there must certainly be an attractant.
What causes carpet beetles in cars includes the following:
- Moisture:
Most pests are usually attracted to moisture, and the carpet beetle is not an exception. One would wonder how exactly this moisture could be possible in a car.
Well, there are certain things that we tend to ignore in our cars that may create moisture spots for these bugs and these include:
- Spills
- Leaks
- High humidity
Leaving moisture in your car tends to create breeding spots for carpet beetle bugs, where they can reproduce and increase drastically.
The more moisture points, the more breeding spots, and the higher the rate of infestation.
- Warmth:
Will carpet beetles die in a hot car? Well, the answer is no. Carpet beetle bugs and their larvae even prefer the heat, as this is an ideal temperature for them to settle in.
- Darkness:
Rarely used cars become the victims of these carpet mites, mostly as they tend to prefer quiet and dark places where they cannot be seen or disturbed.
Read also:Â Identifying the Carpet Beetle Life Cycle
How Do You Get Carpet Beetles in Your Car?
In the heading above, we have mentioned the things that attract carpet beetles in cars, but what are those things that sustain them? How do you get carpet beetles in your car? What do these bugs want?
Well, below is a list of things that carpet beetles eat when in your car:
- Leather:
If the upholstery of your car seat is made of leather, this will definitely serve as a good meal source for these insects. They will gladly chew on this and even the leather that serves as a cover for your steering wheel.
- Hair/Fur:
The hair from your body and even the fur from your pets can serve as food sources for carpet beetles in car. With this in constant supply, they are sure to enjoy their stay in your car.
- Fabric:
Carpet beetles in cars will gladly munch on the fabrics on your carpets and car seats, which are natural fibers. They love this one.
How do you get carpet beetles in your car? Well, with these food sources in constant supply, your car is definitely prone to being infested by these bugs.
How to Get Rid of Carpet Beetles in Car
- Fumigation:
Pests can be sneaky and tricky sometimes, and it will require that you hire the services of licensed pest control experts who can help you do the job of eliminating them safely.
Fumigation is one method that can be employed to safely kill carpet beetles in car. There are 2 ways this can be done:
- Your infested car will be driven into a tent, which will then be sealed and fumigated with Vikane gas.
- Your car will be driven into a truck, which will then be closed tightly and fumigated with Vikane gas.
Either way, these 2 methods will work adequately for killing carpet beetles in car, but the latter is to be employed when dealing with serious infestations.
- Steaming:
Steaming refers to the application of heat as a treatment method. We mentioned earlier that carpet beetles in cars even prefer the heat from the sun, but that is because it is an unconscious act.
Applying heat by steaming to a certain temperature will make these insects uncomfortable and send them scurrying away if they even make it out alive.
- Vacuuming:
After purchasing a vacuum machine from Amazon, using this machine in your car as a control method is a sure way to eliminate the bugs quickly from your car.
Focus more on the carpets, nooks and crannies, upholstery, etc. This way, you would be able to get rid of the carpet beetle, its larvae, and even their shed skins.
Read also:Â How to Get Rid of Carpet Beetles Permanently
Conclusion
Killing carpet beetles in car is a very important step in protecting your car from damage. It would not be nice if you had bite marks on your steering wheel or car seats.
Carpet beetles are capable of surviving in cars and will even survive at high temperatures.
Employing the services of pest control experts is one way to eliminate them totally from your car and have a bug-free ride to your destinations.
Have you ever encountered these bugs? Tell us about your experience via the comments section below, and do not forget to subscribe to get updated on more articles like this.
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