“I found this on my mattress when I woke up” says this reader about the segmented, orange-brown creature in the photograph below. “I’m not sure what it is? Maybe you know?” asks our reader in her submission.
The creature’s bulbous head, clear-cut segmentation, coloration and its thin, stringy tail at the end of its body tells us that it is a carpet beetle larva.
Likewise, its location also gives it away. This is because carpet beetle larvae tend to be found where they can feed: their diet consisting of various organic and/or animal-based materials.
This includes textiles made from such materials (cotton and wool, for instance), as well as items of furniture (upholstered leather furniture, feather-stuffed pillows), or other bits of organic debris that could be scattered throughout the home (loose hair or fur on beds, or a bird’s nest in the attic).
Carpet beetle larvae can cause massive infestations that are an extreme nuisance to get rid of. Additionally, these infestations can go unnoticed for a long time as they tend to hide in cramped, dark spaces where they will not be discovered, such as underneath or behind upholstered furniture, in between the folds of clothing, or in between the fibers of a carpet.
To find out if she is experiencing an infestation, we recommend that our reader look for the source of a potential infestation. To do this, she must simply search her home for more roaming larvae, or other signs that there have been larvae present.
Signs she can look out for are: clothing with holes in them, small faecal pellets, and shed skins (they will approximate the appearance of a larvae but will be transparent and empty, of course).
If our reader does think she is experiencing an infestation, she can consult this past article on carpet beetle larvae for advice on how to control such an infestation.
In conclusion, the creature our reader found on her mattress is a carpet beetle larvae. They are nothing to be feared in terms of health and safety, but they can be quite destructive in the home as they munch away on organic-made items and animal-based textiles. We hope that this article helps our reader confront this potential infestation and that it has put her mind at ease that carpet beetle larvae are nothing to be feared, even if they do pose a threat to one’s upholstery!
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