Carpet beetles? Any ideas on how to get rid of them?

[i-need-a-martini]

I don't want to have the house sprayed (not that it would do much against these pests anyway) so hoping that others might have found a way of eradicating them.

I think the infestation was in the roof cause the house had wool insulation laid a decade or so ago. We had that removed and the roof cleaned out about 5 mnths ago but I am still seeing larvae.

The weird thing is that I never see the beetles - just the larvae.

And the things eat EVERYTHING. Every piece of wool, silk or cotton clothing has holes in it. My books and papers are also being munched through. They have even eaten through the various pest repellent things like moth ball sachets! It's driving me crazy.

[cueperkins]

Call a commercial steam cleaning mob....they should be able to tell you if steam and suction will do the trick.  It works with dust mites so why not?

[i-need-a-martini]

I don't have carpets in my house so there is nothing to steam clean. I have rugs and I sometimes see the larvae around the edges but they are generally free of problems cause they are vacuumed and checked regularly.

Commercial insecticide sprayers won't guarantee that they can eradicate them because they can't access all the places they breed so they would just wander in after the spray. So I am not chancing it with overall chemicals on the off chance it might work.

[mainecoon1]

martini I found this on the web it is a bit long so I did not read it all just scanned through it, so I hope it helps

http://www.csiro.au/files/files/pdnx.pdf

[cueperkins]

Martini, I can understand why you wouldn't want to use chemicals.

I never do, but have used numerous natural products to control pests.  e.g. Rose Geranium oil will deter ticks, along with vinegar and garlic.  So rather than spraying that toxic DEET stuff all over me when I'm in the garden I use a spray mixture of the above.

Apparently Carpet Beetles can be controlled with Boric acid. 

"If you want to kill carpet beetles and keep them out, try dusting with boric acid. Boric acid is great stuff. It kills just about any insect that comes into contact with it, yet it's almost completely harmless to humans. . Boric acid is a naturally occurring compound mined in primarily in the Southwest of the U.S.A."  

As long as you don't let pets get near it, you should be able sprinkle it in your roof and treat the rugs with it occasionally with no nasty effects.

[moiya111]

Cue wrote "Rose Geranium oil will deter ticks, along with vinegar and garlic"

Can you tell me how you mix this and where you get the rose Geranium oil from.  Living in a bush area I get loads of ticks on me when I am gardening as I won't use tropical sprays with deet.

I have tried using t-tree oil in water as recommended by a landscape gardener friend but this has not worked.

[cueperkins]

Most of the home remedies are about keeping animals safe, but it works the same for anyone allergic to ticks....& I am.  Here's a few: 

Make a skin oil by combining 2 tbsp. of almond oil and 10 to 25 drops of rose geranium oil and then rub it on your skin or clothes. Always mix essential oils with carrier oils or lotions before you apply them to your skin. Almond is the best as ticks hate the sulfur in it.

(You can mix geranium oil with vinegar, water etc as a spray on remedy without the almond oil though - read on

You can also drop rose geranium oil directly onto a tick that has burrowed in and expect the tick to extract itself in short order. An essential oil blend containing lemon, rosemary, water, rose geranium oil, other essential oils such as citronella and vodka is said to be effective as a spray that prevents ticks from attacking.

Read more: Rose Geranium Oil for Tick Control | Garden Guides http://www.gardenguides.com/91026-rose-geranium-oil-tick-control.html#ixzz2LgT4WnwL

Common natural tick repellents include American Pennyroyal (also called tickweed), rose geranium oil, almond oil, vinegar, lemongrass, eucalyptus, lavender, lemon, amber, and garlic pills. Almond oil contains sulfur, a natural repellent, while the other types of essential oils and substances mentioned above are unpleasant to the ticks senses.

Warning: Most essential oils are toxic to cats and should not be used to repel ticks.

This site has a number of recipes including the vinegar and garlic mix (according to what you can get hold of locally)

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/fight-ticks-lyme-disease-natural-tick-repellents

As for where to get it...those cheapie shops usually stock essential oils and some chemists, health food shops etc.  Just ask for Rose Geranium Oil & if it's in Almond oil as a carrier then that's even better - you can just use it as a moisturiser/tick deterrent.  To get hold of Almond Carrier oil, just go to a soap shop or natural health food shop.

[cueperkins]

BTW, Pennyroyal is also toxic to animals, so best not to plant it. - you can get essential oils of it though. 

There's a place in Sydney CBD called Newtons Pharmacy, just behind the Queen Vic Building - You can buy any and all of the ingredients from them directly and they'll ship it to you.  They're a homeopathic pharmacy and they do their own extracts and tinctures.  They'll also give you a free consult over the phone with one of their homeopaths regarding what you might need.   

You could also ring and ask them whether they can mix you up a natural 'tick spray', based on the essentials oils mentioned above, (which I'm sure they'd know about) then you may be able to get one made up like a prescription.  (They're also a normal chemist as well). 

I'll be ringing an order to them soon myself for natural skin cleaner and a few other things.  I'll ask them if they can put one together.

[moiya111]

Thanks Cue that is really helpfull, I will have a proper look when I get home,  I have cats so I am very careful with what I use

I clean the house with bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, steam machine and plain old hot water these are safe methods do a great job and costs less.

[cueperkins]

LOL....so do I....I have an Italian Steam cleaner (LecoAspira)  that sucks and blows...lol = I even do my mattresses with it a few times a year.  Floorboards no problem = has parquetry setting etc.

I can't stand the smell of chemicals - I've got dogs who had a really bad skin problem when I first got them due to neglect of a blasted breeder = cost me heaps to get them right again, but they were well worth rescuing.   They're always laying on the tiles, so I prefer bi carb & vinegar...don't ya love the fizz when they first go off?...it helps lift all that ground in muck.  Shannon Lush is a great one to follow = she's a fine arts restorer so she knows how to clean stuff without toxic chemical etc.  She has a website.

BTW, you know how bicarb is so expensive?  We buy a 25kg sack of it for 29.00 from a local chemical manufacturer/supplier. = much cheaper when you're cleaning with it all the time.