To feel such anxiety over carpet beetles

[feduuup123]

We had some carpets beetles in our bedroom in April, on the bed to start with which was awful, we deep cleaned & steamed, hoovered everywhere each week , checked everywhere and then today we found another larvae crawling up our bedroom wall.
A new larvae spotted in different upstairs room every few weeks despite all the work.
Today DH lifted carpets in our room and put zero in around baseboards so I'm not sure if it crawled up after this. Our bedroom carpets being replaced next week, which I'm not wondering if it's worth it if they will just keep appearing. Baseboard and all gaps been filled too.
Pest control have checked house and loft and can't see infestation.
It's making me feel ill to have done so much cleaning and to still be seeing one every few weeks, what more can we do? AIBU to feel so stressed about it?
They are supposed to be so common and yet I don't know of anyone else with them.
I hate being home and feel it needs to be super clean all the time which is so stressful with a toddler making constant mess and WFH too. I don't want to spray whole house because of young DS.
It feels like a constant anxious battle of checking.

I have no advice but didn't want to read and run! We had them in our last property and similarly tried everything to get rid of them, but they would keep reappearing every now and then. I believe we got some stuff for killing them which you spray onto the carpet and it was none toxic and that virtually eliminated all of them, just the odd one once a month after that before we moved out. We had very young DC at the time and they were fine with the none toxic spray so maybe give it a go! Good luck.

@Blev2022
Which spray was this?
I'm so sick of them now and want to move but we cannot afford to.
Did it ever turn into an infestation as that's my worry but we cannot keep deep cleaning and living like this all the time

@feduuup123 we just bought it off Amazon and concentrate it more on the rooms we had seen them.
No, never got to infestation levels and this was with having them around for months so try not to panic. I will say, we moved furniture around to check and found a few under the sofa which we had missed the first time we sprayed. Actually reflecting on it, once we sprayed there they didn't come back

I have never had carpet beetles but last year we did have maggots and no matter how hard I cleaned they just kept appearing for a while. I felt just as you do so I am sorry you are going through similar, it was horrible.

I see them on and off but they really don't bother me. I go months not sewing them and then see a few within a few days. It's not like having bed bugs or fleas which bite. I just see them as something to live with I guess?

We get them on and off, I’ve never been able to get rid of them. One will pop in in all different places of the house every now and then. Hate them.

Pretty much all old houses will have them. They're dermestid beetles which means they'll eat anything organic, they can survive on tiny crumbs or dead insects in the space under your floorboard. We get them a lot as our house is an old end victorian terrace but diatomaceus earth brought them under control it's not toxic to humans or animals but it dries the bugs out. I put it all round the skirting boards and anywhere that's get damp and it cut the numbers hugely.

Kind of helpful to see them as little cleaners, they'll eat all the dead skin and crumbs.

So am I being a bit crazy?
It's mostly because they were in our bedroom that I'm so freaked out. Some larvae were on our fabric headboard.
We have steamed sprayed this and for a bed bug proof mattress zipped up protector.
I'm prone to night sweats too which makes me paranoid they will be attracted to our bed.
I absolutely hate the larvae, if it was just the beetle I wouldn't be bothered.
We are supposed to be house sitting for neighbours next week to give me a break from the house and now I want to come back each day and check everything

Our house is about 18 years old, I'm assuming one prob came in on the dog as he used to sleep on our bed.
Ironically he's the least shedding member of the house

😂I love this

@feduuup123 I get it because you can't help what you feel anxious about but I have had bed bugs and trust me, it is a million times worse than a few carpet beetles.

@HappierTimesAhead
Oh god yes indeed!
I am repeating to myself all week that we can do a reasonable amount of cleaning to keep them in check and every house probably has one or two creeping about.
That is until I see the next one..

I totally understand how you feel.
We had this but what made it worse was my daughter was allergic to the larvae hairs and was getting huge reactions until we realised what it was. Regular vacuuming and diatomaceous earth brought it under control (touchwood). And a big declutter!

Oh God same here OP. Had the infestation for about a year.

Tried special sprays and powders, carpet steaming, white vinegar etc, but still they live!

The other day I found one crawling on my arm and I swear I feel so anxious about I now think I'm seeing them when they're not there. I'm next planning to block the areas I think they're coming from but I don't think I'll get rid completely.

We had fleas at one point in the carpet. Gross. There was only one good thing about it - the side effect of spraying Indorex to get rid of them was that it also got rid of all carpet beetles!

We've used an insecticide in our bedroom now before the new carpet goes in.
I was a bit stressed about using it with a kid in house but doesn't go in our bedroom and I just want rid of these little shits now!
Funnily enough my cats had fleas decades ago and that didn't bother me as much.
I dunno what it is about these furry little larvae that gives me the major ick

We have chucked away a mountain of stuff and put a lot in vacuum bags, quite cathartic in a way!

I kept finding them, mostly in the bedroom and also found one crawling on me once, which freaked me out. Instead of spraying I bought strips of carpet beetle insecticide paper and placed it under the bed, wardrobe etc. I also put one on the windowsill as I noticed they often turned up there, presumably seeking out light. I found several dead ones on the sill for a couple of weeks after that and haven't seen any since. I doubt I've completely eradicated them but it's certainly kept numbers down enough that I haven't noticed them.

Maggot's 😱😱😱😱 I'd have been burning my house down!

Mine's a 1980s house, not very well built.

We get carpet moths, and the spray we use is for beetles as well. It's the zero one I think.
We use a whole bottle in each room though. They sonetimes come back but only a few, so it does get rid of the infestation.
I'm not sure about the beetles but the moths only like organic fabrics like wool. We replaced some carpets with synthetic and that made them never come back in those rooms. There are bald patches all over the place under furniture where the moths have eaten the whole carpet!

Hello! I could have written this myself. Exactly the same scenario, and the way I feel too.
just wondered how you were feeling now and how it has been, I’ve seen a lot of the larvae around my house. It is a constant struggle!

I have experience with the larva of the carpet beetles for 2 years in the place I live now, and never to infestation, never to the hatching, the thing that worked for me is sprinkling Diatomaceous Earth (From amazon) around all the skirting boards and furniture, leaving it in a faint cover, vacuum it if there's too much in mounds, it comes in pale brown or white, mostly does not smell and if it does the smell goes. If you wear a mask and glasses when you do it, that may help if you're concerned about breathing the fine powdery airborne stuff in, but it's safe, food grade, and have used it zero issues for years. any larvae or pupae have to move through it, it dries their exoskeleton out, they show up dead. We find a few here and there, at various skirting boards, so assuming the creeps are creeping about there.

I know it's scary but I promise (From someone with high anxiety) seeing them is not going to lead to infestation, you can stop them with regular vacuum, vigilance, and remember so many people, including me have defeated them, and they go, even if they come back, they go away again. it's seemingly part of being here, some houses have more or some, some do not.

The first step other than vacuum, the D.Earth is banishing fear where possible, that you will and can prevail at this. If someone (me ,others) can, you can. I did it with no toxins, and keep a back up of Indorex spray (used once for fleas in another house) in, in case. Then go full on nuke with house empty for 2-3 hours, I know someone who ended them with that but I never had to.
I echo other posts here, a few, even 10+ every now and again in various rooms, please do not be afraid, it does not mean infestation. Pest control people also say it, they'd not even treat that as an infestation, they are common in UK houses, landing in April may, sometimes crawling about in Aug - nov, before hibernation, hatching circa April may if they even do. They will die by then, am sending anyone who reads this super turbo charged quantum manifestation: removal of the beetles ! x

We get them sometimes but no-one in real life knows as it's never come up in conversation.

Regular cleaning and vacuuming is how we got ours under control. We don't have wool carpets though.

I try and store natural fabrics in sealed bags if I can and also found decluttering useful as less to clean.