One of our readers reached out to us because her brother found some interesting creatures on his carpet. His puppy’s kennel normally covers this particular swatch of carpet, but the kennel gets moved between two different houses regularly. When he moved the kennel recently, he noticed about 10 reddish brown organisms. There weren’t any on the dog itself, or in the kennel, just on the carpet. Here is what they look like:
We believe these are pupae! A pupa is an insect that is in between the stages of larva and mature adult. During this stage, the insect appears inactive to the outside world as it undergoes transformation. Insects that go through the pupal stage experience four total life stages: embryo, larva, pupa, and imago. Depending on the insect, pupae may look different and be called different things. For example, a butterfly pupa is called a chrysalis, while a mosquito pupa is called a tumbler. The time spent in the pupal stage is also species dependent, ranging from days to months, and sometimes even years!
We know that these pupae are not chrysalis or tumblers, so we can rule out mosquitos and butterflies from being the mysterious creatures maturing inside these small pods. We think this might be the pupae of a moth or a beetle. However, we won’t know for certain until it hatches! If our reader has noticed any particular insects around the home, specifically near the kennel, then there is a strong likelihood that these are the pupal form of that insect.
To summarize, a reader discovered small reddish pods on her carpet. We are confident that these pods are pupae! We recommend that our reader place the pupae outside and clean the carpet. If she is curious about what these pods will mature into, she should place them in an area where she can keep an eye on them and track their transformation into an adult!
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