Carpet Beetle Larvae Identification

Carpet beetle larvae are about 1/8 to 1/4 inch long and covered in bristly hairs. Varied carpet beetle larvae are striped light and dark brown and widest at the rear, with tufts of hair at the tail.

Black carpet beetle larvae are golden-brown to dark brown, shiny, and tapered like a carrot, with a long tuft of hairs at the tail end. They move slowly and curl up when disturbed.

Larvae molt many times, leaving hollow, hairy, light-brown skins that look like the larva itself. Finding these husks under furniture, along baseboards, or in closets is often the first sign.

They eat animal-based materials: wool rugs and sweaters, silk, felt, fur, feathers, leather, pet hair, lint, and dead insects. Check under furniture, inside closets, air vents, and stored clothing.

Irregular holes and thin, bare patches in natural-fiber fabrics and rugs, often along seams and folds. Unlike clothes moths, carpet beetles leave no silk webbing or tubes.

Adults are small, round beetles, 1/16 to 1/8 inch. Varied carpet beetles are mottled white, brown, and yellow; black carpet beetles are shiny and dark. They're often seen at windows in spring.