Jot Notes So Far!

-Preventing larder beetles [Dermestes lardarius] is often the best approach in control as if they never get into your house you wouldn’t need to control them


-Larder beetle control methods usually depend on three things:

1-Season- In some seasons they are more active and are easier to scout out and find the source of infestation.

2-House Temperatures- Different temperatures in a home also effect how long it takes them to develop the temperatures also effect how often the larvae/adults wander away from their food sources.

3-Food sources- Food sources with higher protein content make the larvae grow faster; as well water helps the females produce more eggs. Example: Normally 1 female would produce,[on average] about 100-105 eggs but when water is normally available [such as in a bathroom] they can lay 250-800 eggs

-There is a variety of ways to go about control;

-Physical force- finding the infestation and either freezing them [And the infested material] at a low temperature for instance in your freezer to kill off all the life stages because if you just kill adults and larvae the eggs will just make more larder beetles in the next month.

-Insecticides- After you’ve found the source of the infestation [and you can’t freeze it] you should then use insecticides. If the spray doesn’t have the following chemicals it won’t work:

-Malathion

-Propoxur

-Diazinon

-Do not use insecticides in or around an area that children play in as the chemicals are harmful to the lungs.

-Cleaning- Without knowing where the infestation is it is often hard to actually kill all the larder beetles. Cleaning around where you find them and vacuuming them up will at least help reduce numbers. Cleaning isn’t really a good control method but it works for reducing the number of larder beetles in your home.

-There are a lot of different ways to prevent a larder beetle infestation from even accruing.

Chaulking- Caulking works in preventing the larder beetles from even entering the home in the first place. Firstly find all the openings were the larder beetles can get into a home.

-Next caulk holes in baseboards, roof, chimney openings, doors that have holes in them and anywhere else that seems like it could be a potential spot for larder beetles to invade into and breed.

Sources of the infestation:

-No matter how well you prevent them from getting in chances are you probably didn’t seal every last crack around the outside of your house.

-Even if you did they can still get in via an open window or just go in when you do.

-this is generally what happens once they get into your home,

-They find the nearest food source that is high in protein and begin to lay eggs