pet safe carpet beetle control

Thanks so much for the info, I just placed my order.  (I have varied carpet beetles by the way, I’m sure).

The infestation we have is relatively mild, but a nuisance (I’ve already had to throw out 2 dress suits, 3 coats and other clothing!  So, I have everything sealed in garment bags now.).  The problem is that my wife and I live in a very small apartment with 3 cats.  As you know, most pesticides are highly toxic to cats, so we’re just using regular household cleaners like Clorox clean up spray w/bleach (and soon the pheromone traps) to regularly clean infested areas keep the beetle population in check.

I really appreciate any other advice you may have.  How long do the traps typically last before I need to change them?

Thanks very much for your help!

Our CARPET BEETLE TRAPS will generally last 2-3 months before the pheromone looses it’s scent or the glue gets too dry to hold target insects. I would say to replace them every quarter when you know you have activity; less frequently if nothing is active.

But since you mentioned you have cats, there are two products I believe will help your problem and are very pet friendly for use in apartments and homes. Both are generally used to treat flea infestations but because the area being treated with either product would be your carpet, I know both can effectively help reduce carpet beetles too. In other words, if you used either for fleas in your apartment, these dusts would control the carpet beetles that live and breed in the same area as fleas. We know this due to the biology but more importantly, over all the years of selling it and having customers use it, we’ve heard feedback over and over to substantiate the claim.

The first is a Diatomaceous Earth product that’s been refined and is very clean to use in the home. It can be applied directly to carpeting for fleas and will definitely work on the carpet beetles too even though you won’t find them listed on the specimen label. You can read more details on the MOTHERS EARTH DUST page but this is highly effective on larval stages of any insects including carpet beetles. I know it would help your problem if you got some applied to carpeting and up under furniture which may be another great nest location for this voracious insect.

The second product can be seen on our FLEA CONTROL page and is something we’ve sold for a long time. Basically it’s a product that looks like salt and is odorless. Treatments last a year and it’s so safe, it won’t even kill adult fleas. But because it nestles down to the nap of the carpet, it will effectively dehydrate and kill carpet beetle larvae, flea larvae and any other pest that tries to live in this area. You can see a write up on it here on this post:

Once a Year Treatment:  http://www.flea.net/carpet/once-a-year-flea-treatment.html

Here are links to the other products mentioned in this post:

Carpet Beetle Traps:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/traps/pheromone-and-food/varied-carpet-beetle-trap

Mothers Earth Dust:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/exempt/dust/mother-earth-dust-8-oz

Once A Year Flea Treatment:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/dust/first-defense-20-ounce-jar

Hope this helps!