I have for the past few years been getting beetles randomly appearing every few months, When they are out ican find 10 a night but then dont see them for months again, Ive googled and nearest description I can get is carpet beetle but they dont look like them, they start off as tiny wee brown worm maggot tyoe things which grow and get fatter to about 1-2 cms long then I guess they shell and turn into the beetle, both are really dark brown in colour, mostly find them at my kitchen door but also been found in other rooms, always in the corners or around the skirting, theyt come out whenits dark and run away into nooks and crannys when I put the light on, ive just been lifting them and flushing them down the loo but would really like to get rid of them once and for all.
Any ideas what these are and how I get rid???
TIA
Hi Joanna,
There are a few species that might fit your description, if you could put a few in a little tub or box and post them to us we could confirm what they are. The address is -
Identification Service
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 5BD
With all household pest species the best way to get rid of them is to find out what they are eating and cut off their food supply! You could start by giving you kitchen cupboards a clean with disinfectant and cleaning out any old food items that you haven't used in a while. If you have open packets of flour, nuts, dry pet food etc keep them in a tupperware box or tin so that the beetles can't get in.
Hope this helps
Hannah
A lot of beetles fly but you rarely notice it. Just because you've not seen them fly doesn't mean that they won't.
You remind me of a funny story that happened a couple of years ago. I was at the northern coleopterists meeting in Manchester and had gone to lunch with a few friends to a local vegetarian restaurant - this is one of those places that just oozes 'new age activist' lifestyle; health foods for sale, feminist and eco-literature everywhere, you get the idea.. and there, crawling up the wall, was the first mealworm beetle I've seen in Manchester!
I didn't tell them about it, I thought that particular bit of the ecosystem had every right to life....

