larve or worm
Location: iran/tehran
October 30, 2010 9:30 am
Hi I’m Maryam. My family and I are living in Iran.
During the last month my parents suffered from some kind of rash or bite…!
Who did not understand what causes allergies.
Until we find a large number of very small worms under their bed.
Their length is about 4 mm… We do not know exactly where they live..!?
Do they live in textiles, mattress or in soils and between the tiles..?
Because they also existed under the carpets
Is it possible they eat blood?
Because some of them had a reddish color…
How we destroy them?
Thanks for your help
Signature: allergen worms

Carpet Beetle Larvae

Hi Maryam,
The insects in your photo are Carpet Beetle Larvae, probably in the genus Attagenus based on comparison with some photos on BugGuide.  Carpet Beetles have a cosmopolitan distribution and they are responsible for doing considerable damage to museum collections that contain animal specimens including insect collections, taxidermy specimens, and human textiles made of wool and other organic materials, but they are not responsible for the bites in the second photo you have submitted.  The Carpet Beetle Larvae will also feed on pet hair and human hair, but they may be damaging your wool rugs.  The bites are another matter entirely, and we are not sure what might be causing them.

Unknown Bites

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what is it?
Location:  inside house on walls, one on top of quilt, one on top of exposed bed divan. On landing wall.
October 20, 2010 9:51 am
TOP LEFT OF PICTURE
It’s 5mm long.
4 furry legs, mostly at the front of the body.
Mustard colour, with white stripes on the abdomen.
Small blob for a head, body gets bigger and bigger to abdomen, then tapers off to a furry bottom.
I thought it was a pupae, until close inspection showed it was a hairy creepy crawly.
In the picture you will also see all the different casts of ONE bug I caught earlier this year.
many thanks
Signature:  Tracey

Carpet Beetle Larva

Thank you for your reply.
I do hope it is possible for you to tell me what “old fluffy bum” is.
I studied your website in great detail after I requested identification, and I loved it, too much I’m afraid, I didn’t get anything done all day.
I should have added that I have not murdered the grub, at the moment he is in a glass jar with air holes, but as I don’t know if it is carnivore or herbivore, he could die of very slow starvation unless you reply to me.
I await your reply (please) with anticipation.
Kind Regards
Tracey

I identified the bug using your web site IT’S A CARPET BUG LARVAE
October 24, 2010 1:33 PM
Thank you, but I have found really good close ups on your web site and it’s a CARPET BUG LARVAE

Hi Tracey,
Please accept our apology for not returning either of your earlier emails, but as our automated form has indicated, we have a very, very small staff.  Daniel still has a considerable amount of answered email from October 20 as well as from days prior to that and days since then, but he was so charmed that you informed us of your success, and your subject line caught his attention, so he tracked down the photo attached to your original email.  He was also impressed that you enjoyed the website so all of your previously overlooked communications to us have been collated into a posting with your photograph of a Carpet Beetle Larva.  If you want to continue to raise your Carpet Beetle Larva, you can try feeding it pet hair.

Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your reply.  I think the little BUG’rs been eating my hair, cause I’m always pulling handfulls of it off the Dyson carpet brush attachment and I don’t have any pets. I’ve asked my mum for a loan of her Kirby, cause it will do a better job of vacuuming.
Best wishes for the future and kind regards, Tracey

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always in my carbs!!!
Location:  Buffalo, NY
August 4, 2010 7:59 pm
These disgusting creepy little bugs somehow ALWAYS get into any kind of carb I have in my cupboard-flour, pasta, sugar, etc, even if it’s stored in a container other than the one it came in, although glad containers seem to be working to keep them out. I often find like skins or something in there too like they shed or something? In the pic those are medium-sized shells & it was desperately trying to crawl towards them. Thanx!
Kathie

Dermestid Beetle Larva

Hi Kathie,
We are confident that your Beetle Larva is in the family Dermestidae, known as the Carpet Beetles.  The family contains the common Larder Beetle as well.  As a family, bugGuide indicates the larvae feed on:  “dried organic material of high protein content (skin/flesh of dead animals, dandruff, feathers, hair, mantid egg cases, dried foods, wool/silk, etc.); a few spp. prey on wasp & bee larvae or spider eggs; most smaller species feed on pollen/nectar“ and they are frequently found in dried pet food.  Their fondness for grains at your place may indicate a species that has specific dietary preferences that differs from the family.  We wonder if perhaps you have Novelsis aequalis, the closest visual match we can find on bugGuide, but alas, there is no information on the larval food preferences.  You may want to discard all stored foods and begin with a cleaned pantry.