Beetles
Beetles are one of the most diverse groups of pests, with some species causing significant damage to homes and businesses. From structural damage to ruined food supplies, beetle infestations require immediate attention to prevent long-term issues. Flick offers effective solutions to eliminate beetles and protect your property.
Types of Beetles That Cause Problems
Australia is home to various beetle species, some of which can become unwelcome pests. Here are the most common types:
1. Carpet Beetles
- Damage: Carpet beetles feed on natural fibers like wool, silk, and leather, damaging carpets, clothing, and furniture.
- Signs: Thin, bare patches on carpets and damaged fabrics.
2. Flour Beetles
- Damage: These pests infest stored food like flour, cereals, and grains, rendering them inedible.
- Signs: Small beetles in food packaging and fine flour dust around infested items.
3. Wood-Boring Beetles
- Damage: Larvae burrow into timber, weakening wooden structures over time.
- Signs: Small exit holes and fine sawdust near wooden items.
Signs of a Beetle Infestation
Beetles can be sneaky, but there are telltale signs that indicate their presence:
- Damaged Items: Chewed fabrics, ruined food products, or weakened wooden structures.
- Visible Beetles: Spotting adult beetles crawling around your home or business.
- Powdery Residue: Frass or dust near food packaging or wood.
Act quickly to address these signs, as beetle infestations can escalate rapidly.
How to Prevent Beetles
Preventing beetles is the best way to avoid costly damage to your property. Here are some practical tips:
- Store Food Properly: Keep food in airtight containers to prevent access.
- Inspect Secondhand Items: Check used furniture, rugs, and clothing for signs of beetles before bringing them into your home.
- Seal Cracks and Gaps: Block potential entry points around doors, windows, and walls.
- Regular Cleaning: Vacuum carpets and clean pantry shelves frequently to eliminate food sources.
Life Cycle of Beetles
Understanding the life cycle of beetles is essential to effectively managing and preventing infestations. Each stage of the beetle’s life cycle presents unique challenges, making timely action critical to protect your property.
1. Egg Stage
Adult beetles lay eggs on or near suitable food sources, such as timber, fabrics, or stored food. The eggs are tiny and often go unnoticed, making early detection difficult. Depending on the species, eggs can hatch within days or weeks.
2. Larval Stage
The larval stage is the most destructive phase in a beetle’s life cycle. During this stage, the larvae feed voraciously on materials like wood, grain, or natural fibers, depending on the species. Signs of larvae include:
- Small exit holes in wood or furniture.
- Frass (a fine, sawdust-like powder) around infested areas.
- Damaged fabrics or food items.
3. Pupal Stage
Once the larvae have consumed enough, they transition into the pupal stage, where they undergo metamorphosis into adult beetles. This stage is typically inactive, with the pupae often hidden within wood, food, or other materials.
4. Adult Stage
Adult beetles emerge from their pupae, leaving behind noticeable exit holes in infested materials. Adults focus on reproduction, quickly seeking mates and laying eggs to start the cycle anew. The lifespan of adult beetles varies by species but can range from a few weeks to several months.
Understanding the life cycle of beetles is key to breaking the infestation cycle and implementing effective control measures. Professional pest control services, like Flick, are equipped to target beetles at every stage of their development, ensuring a comprehensive solution.
The Cost of Ignoring Beetle Infestations
Ignoring a beetle infestation can lead to serious consequences for your home or business:
- Structural Damage: Wood-boring beetles weaken timber, compromising safety.
- Product Loss: Flour beetles and other pantry pests destroy food supplies, leading to wasted resources.
- Fabric Destruction: Carpet beetles ruin clothing, furniture, and textiles.
Taking action at the first sign of beetles can save you time, money, and stress.
Flick’s Beetle Control Solutions
At Flick, we provide comprehensive beetle control services to tackle infestations and prevent future problems. Our process includes:
1. Thorough Inspection
Our experts assess your property to identify the type of beetle and the extent of the infestation.
2. Targeted Treatments
Depending on the species and severity, we use safe and effective treatments to eliminate beetles, including:
- Residual Sprays: For immediate and long-term protection.
- Fumigation: For severe infestations in hard-to-reach areas.
3. Preventative Measures
We offer practical advice and solutions to keep beetles from returning, including sealing entry points and improving storage practices.
Why Choose Flick for Beetle Control?
With years of experience in pest management, Flick is Australia’s trusted partner for beetle control. Here’s what sets us apart:
- Expert Technicians: Our team has the knowledge to handle beetles of all types.
- Customized Solutions: We tailor our treatments to your specific needs.
- Safe and Sustainable Methods: We prioritize the health of your family and the environment.
Don’t let beetles wreak havoc on your property. Whether it’s carpet beetles, flour beetles, or wood-boring beetles, Flick has the expertise to eliminate infestations and protect your home or business.
Contact Flick today for an inspection and customized pest control plan.
Commercial Pest Solutions
Integrated Beetle Solutions
It is essential for businesses to prioritise the health and safety of their employees and customers. Beetles not only pose a health risk but also damage property and reputation. Flick’s professional commercial pest control services provide tailored solutions to prevent and eliminate any pest infestations, ensuring a clean and hygienic environment for everyone. Our regular inspections and treatments help to maintain a pest-free workplace and protect your business from potential pest related damage. Trusting in Flick’s commercial pest control solutions is a smart investment in the long-term success and reputation of any business.
Learn more here or call 1300 270 019.
Common Beetle Questions
What are common features of beetles?
Beetles are part of the order Coleptera, which literally means “sheath wings”. Like many other insect varieties, they have 3 key parts – a head, thorax and abdomen. They also have 3 pairs of legs and 2 pairs of wings. The key differentiator is that beetles’ forewings form a hard, protective sheath that protect the delicate hindwings.
What do beetle’s like to eat?
Because there are over 300,000 species of beetles there is a great deal of variety in their diets. The most damaging beetles (including Furniture Beetles, Powderpost and the Carpet beetle) are those that feed on organic matter like carpet, wood, and other housed organics like fabric and textiles. Stores pest insects like the Larder beetle, can be found munching away on many varieties of food in your home such as, grains, rice, flour or cooked food, like cookies and bread. This leads to food contamination meaning the food must be destroyed.
Where do beetles live?
Beetles are a diverse species, which can be found in most habitats, although they particularly thrive in warm areas. Its characteristics also vary significantly. Some groups are predators while others are herbivores. Some are found mainly in the flowers where they feed on pollen and nectar, others feed on mushrooms. Still others live in wood or under the bark of trees. Pest beetles find their way indoors and feed on food or wood products.
In what ways are beetles pests?
With over 30,000 species of beetles throughout Australia, there are only a handful of varieties which are considered major pests, feeding on wood, grain, organic products or food. Beetles can cause major problems for agricultural businesses by invading storage facilities.
What are the core stages of a beetle’s development?
Most beetles move through 4 core stages of development. They go from egg, to larva, to pupa before finally becoming a fully formed insect. Very often the larvae can cause significant damage to products – such as with the Carpet Beetle – while the presence of adult beetles may simply be a sign of moisture problems.
Common Beetle Species
Carpet Beetle
Apppearance
The translucent eggs are 0.5 – 1mm. Larvae are 4mm long, dark in colour and covered with tough bristles. Adults are actually smaller. They are 2-3 mm with mottled colouring.
Lifestyle
Carpet beetles live between 9-12 months. They are able to fly into homes through open doors and windows and may cause severe damage to carpets, rugs, curtains and clothing. When in their natural habitat, they feed on pollen and plant nectar. When burrowing in carpet, vacuuming may not completely eliminate these pests; chemical treatment by a pest professional is recommended.
Habits
Carpet beetles come in a number of colours and species, although they are usually yellow, white and black. However, they all feed on animal proteins or materials from animals. These include furs, carpets, ants, clothes, hair, silk, insulation, dried insects, seeds, grains and small animal carcasses.
Furniture Beetle
Apppearance
The Common Furniture Beetle is brown and grows to 3-4mm long. They begin as a small white curled grub, only 1mm long.
Lifestyle
Common Furniture beetles thrive in high humidity and are found on the northern outskirts of WA, NT, Queensland and some parts of north east NSW. When furniture beetles grow past the larvae stage, they will discard a course faecal frass that has a similar consistency to table salt. Note that Common Furniture Beetles feed during the larvae stage. As adults, they only reproduce.
Habits
The Common Furniture Beetle has a particular fondness for pine woods. It is known to damage Seasoned Baltic pine, New Zealand white pine, hoop pine, English Oak, and some other exotic pine woods. If you’re noticing holes in the floorboards or in your timber furniture, the furniture beetle may be your culprit! They prefer timber flooring, paneling and furniture.
Larder Beetle
Apppearance
Dark covering with pale yellow hairs. Striking yellow-brown bands across the front part of the wing covers; three brown spots on the yellow hair portion of their bodies. Large; usually between 7-9mm but able to grow to 15mm.
Lifestyle
Larder Beetles are found worldwide. It is a common pest of households and storage facilities (“larders”) in much of the world. They eat animal products but may also eat plant material that is high in protein, such as grain. Females lay approximately 135 eggs near a food source, and the eggs will hatch in about 12 days. The life cycle of Larder Beetles lasts around 40 to 50 days.
Habits
Larder Beetles eat through animal skins, hides, leather, smoked meats, fish and meat meals, bone and various dried food. As a result, they’re often used in universities and scientific research centres. They’re used to clean dead flesh from corpses and skulls so the bone can be studies, researched, and recorded in their raw form.
Powderpost Beetle
Apppearance
At its adult peak, the Powderpost Beetle can grow between 3-6mm and are dark brown in colour.
Lifestyle
The beetle will begin as a small white curl grub, only 1mm long. The powderpost beetle will live for around 6-18 months, depending on the environmental factors. The female lays 50-100 single eggs in each pore of the timber and tunnel. They are so named because active Powderpost Beetle infestations usually have powder that is the color of freshly sawed wood sifting from the exit holes.
Habits
Only second to termites in destructive capabilities, Powderpost Beetles attack the sapwood of hardwoods containing starch and their presence is usually detected during the first few years from buying the timber furniture piece. The powderpost beetle tunnels through the grain of wood and if any abrasions or fracture are in the wood or furniture, the other beetles will follow the same path.
Spider Beetle
Apppearance
Bulbous body, long legs, and ranges in colour from dull reddish-brown with light brown hair, to black and shiny black.
Lifestyle
Spider Beetles enjoy dark and damp conditions and feeding on moisture-damaged food. One way that infestations can originate is from birds’ nests. Spider beetles are becoming increasingly common in domestic premises where they are found in attics, wall cavities and floorboard cracks. Food retail outlets such as bakeries also offer the perfect conditions and food sources.
Habits
Spider Beetles can be significant pests. Beetle control and treatment is important, as there are several spider beetle species that typically feed on decaying foodstuffs, seed, woollens, furs, carpets, rodent carcasses’, rodent droppings, old grain based rodent baits, dried animal products, and a range of other organic material. Their entire life cycle only spans 15 to 18 months.
I found Beetles! Help!
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Call a Professional
Call Flick Pest Control Immediately.
If you encounter beetles in your home or business, you may be dealing with an infestation. Don’t wait until the problem gets out of hand – we can help protect your property and ensure the health and safety of those around you. Fill out the form below or call 1300 270 019 today.
Leave the Beetles Alone
Trust Flick Pest Control to handle the situation
Our pest control technicians have the knowledge, experience, and tools necessary to effectively and safely eliminate pests from your home or business. Attempting to treat beetles on your own can be risky and may not fully eradicate the problem.
We will and ensure a safe and effective outcome for your property.
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Don’t Go Looking Around!
Flick’s pest control experts will perform a thorough inspection of the property to identify any areas where beetles may be present, followed by the development of a treatment plan tailored to the specific needs of the situation. By implementing effective pest control strategies, we can help ensure a pest-free environment for you.