Dead Worms in Carpet Might be Carpet Beetle Larvae

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One of our readers recently sent us two photos and asked, “What are these dead worms that I found in my newly purchased used carpet?” The first photo is extremely blurry, but we can see 4 brown worm-like organisms:

Luckily, the second photograph is much clearer. We can see that these worms are thin with brown segmented bodies. We think these might be dead carpet beetle larvae:

While these creatures aren’t exactly what living carpet beetle look like, they do look very similar and we believe the fact that they are dead can account for some of the differences. Like the specimens our reader discovered, carpet beetle larvae have brown segmented bodies. The ones in the photo look a little frail and they are free of the bristle-like hairs that cover most carpet beetle larvae, but we think these abnormalities are due to the organisms being deceased!

Since carpet beetle larvae can be destructive household pests, we recommend that our reader remove this carpet from her home immediately. She should thoroughly clean it just in case there are any living carpet beetle larvae or eggs hiding in it that could spread to other areas of her home. Once it has been cleaned, we think it is safe to bring inside! Since she just bought the carpet, we don’t think she is dealing with a carpet beetle larvae infestation in her home, so we won’t go into details about how to deal with that. If she is curious, we encourage her to read one of our many articles on the matter!

To wrap up, one of our readers found some dead creatures in a carpet she recently bought. We believe these are carpet beetle larvae, which are known as household pests. We recommend she clean the carpet before installing it just in case there are living carpet beetle larvae in it that could spread to other parts of her home!

 

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Dead Worms in Carpet Might be Carpet Beetle Larvae
Article Name
Dead Worms in Carpet Might be Carpet Beetle Larvae
Description
One of our readers found some dead creatures in a carpet she recently bought. We believe these are carpet beetle larvae, which are known as household pests. We recommend she clean the carpet before installing it just in case there are living carpet beetle larvae in it that could spread to other parts of her home!
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Author: Worm Researcher Dori

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