Expert: Jan Hayner - 3/29/2008

Question
Hi I live in calgary,AB, Canada. We have carpet in 3 of our bedrooms. from last 3-4 months I am noticing small brown color worms on my carpet,its size is like size of rice. I vaccum whole house every 3rd day. but still next day they are again on the carpet. I have 1 year baby , I am so much worried about these worms. please help me what I can do to remove these. I have taken 2 pictures, but i don't know how to upload them on this website.
Thanks


Answer
Hi Ruby;

I wasn't too sure about this one, there are a ton of things that it could be, however, this seems to be what I came up with and is exactly as I thought.

Please check these websites yourself, as you would be able to tell if this was the same worm.

Check out this website for Carpet Beetles, I am wondering if it isn't a Black Carpet Beetle (they are also brown).

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7436.html

Also Check this website and see if the pictures that this woman provides resemble the larvae that you have found.
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.bio.entomology.misc/browse_thread/thread/e878...

As far as getting rid of the little pests, there are things on the market that will help, however most of them I wouldn't want to use with the baby in the house. Short of throwing out the carpeting, I would try a really strong solution (2cups vinegar to a gallon of water) and wash the carpeting. Then a few days later, I would go back through and wash it again with a solution of (1 cup vinegar, 1 cup baking soda and 1 gallon water), but be careful when the vinegar mixes with the baking soda, it will fizz and over flow rather quickly.

Why the two wash process?
The first time, you will be killing off the larvae, now the young die faster than the adults. But they don't tolerate vinegar. The second time that you wash the carpet; you are trying to kill off the adults, freshen the carpeting with the baking soda and get the vinegar and baking soda to grab hold of the fibers of the carpeting.

I think this is what you have, but you can always take one of the worms to the local Natural Resources Office that is available in Canada for them to identify it for you. Some colleges also can do this in their Science departments.

I hope this helped to give you are starting point and that it also provided a cure!
Good Luck,
Jan Hayner