Dermestid beetles are used by experienced hunters, taxidermists, and artists to clean animal skulls without inflicting any damage to the fine little bones in the nasal cavity and eye sockets, and they don’t cause the bone to yellow in color, unlike boiling. Investing in a healthy colony is critical to your ability to create those stunning European mounts or ornate, carved skulls. When you purchase a healthy dermestid beetle colony from a trusted provider, you will need to know how to care for your colony to ensure their good health, and when you buy from Kodiak Bones & Bugs we will educate you on how to properly care for your beetle colony.
One of the many things you will need to do is make sure wild dermestid beetles (also known as carpet beetles) aren’t able to infiltrate your colony and spread parasites and disease. The first step is to make sure you aren’t giving these wild beetles a reason to enter your home. This article is intended to educate hunters, taxidermists, and animal skull artists on the various things they can do to ensure they are not attracting the common carpet beetle into the home.
Wild Dermestid Beetles are Attracted to Dirty Laundry
If you regularly keep dirty laundry on the floor, or even have bags of dirty laundry in your home that aren’t regularly washed, you can attract wild carpet beetles into your home. The scent of body oils mixed with dead skin cells and hairs left on fabrics is the perfect calling card for carpet beetles. When it comes to building a dermestid beetle container, you will want to make sure there are no gaps or ways for wild beetles to enter your colony and contaminate it. In many cases people with inadequate beetle containers have experienced wild beetles entering the colony because dirty laundry first attracted the bugs, and from there they got into the healthy colony, corrupting it with illness. That said, make sure there is no dirty laundry on the floor or stored up over time.
Regularly Vacuum Your Floors to Keep Carpet Beetles Away
Carpet beetles, also known as wild dermestid beetles, eat human hair and pet hair, and they are attracted to environments where there is plenty of hair and fur to feast on. If you have cats and dogs, then you will want to vacuum your floors more frequently to help protect your domestic dermestid beetles from unwanted pests. Some vacuum cleaners are designed specifically to clean homes with pets, so you may want to invest in a good vacuum cleaner and think of it as a necessary tool to keep your dermestid beetles healthy while reducing the threat level for intruders.
Wild Dermestid Beetles are Attracted to the Light
Since wild dermestid beetles are attracted to the light, you will want to seal off as many cracks as you can locate. You can significantly lower your chance of having to deal with carpet beetles if the cracks around faucets, plumbing, fixtures, door frames, windows, and air conditioners are totally sealed off. Check with your local hardware store to get a good sealing product, but usually an all-weather or water-prod caulk will do the trick at blocking out tiny areas where light can shine through and lure carpet beetles into your space. These sealants come in a variety of colors, so the chances are high that you will find something that will blend well into the surrounding color of your home’s materials.
Carpet Beetles are Drawn to Curtains and Drapes
Many people forget to clean their drapery and curtains and doing so can lead to unwelcome pests like wild dermestid beetles. Drapery is an ideal area for dermestid beetles, as they are near windows where light enters through cracks at night, and during the day the crevices and folds in the drapery provide hiding places for the bugs. Be sure to have your drapes cleaned at least once every six months to eradicate the presence of any beetle larvae that feed on fabric and the loose hairs and debris that may collect and gather on the fabric’s surface.
Wild Dermestid Beetles are Attracted to Stored Textiles in Attics and Basements
When people store heavy blankets, quilts, old clothing, and fabric-based keepsakes such as a wedding dress, prom dress or uniforms, they tend to keep these in the attic or in the basement. Wild dermestid beetles are attracted to old clothes and blankets, so rather than storing these items in traditional chests that beetles can access through cracks, consider some air-tight, heavy-duty garment bags that will prevent the scent from spreading and attracting the bugs. In addition to playing a role to keep wild dermestid beetles out of your home, these garment bags will also protect materials from dust, water damage, and mold.
Ready to Increase the Size of Your Dermestid Beetle Colony? Call Kodiak Bones & Bugs Today!
Are you ready to expand your dermestid beetle colony? If you are taking on large skull trophies, or you are producing more work than you previously anticipated, you may need to upgrade your dermestid beetle colony to a larger size. Give us a call and tell us all about your current set-up, where you got your beetles, and the type of work and frequency you produce at, and we can send you the correct dermestid beetle colony size to add to your current setup and guide you on how to build or acquire the right container for your growing community.