I had Orkin out to try and find out what is eating small holes in my cotton shirts. I found one small black hard shell insect on my shirt but when I touched it, the bug fell off and my shirt had two small holes in it. Orkin said to use moth balls, but I don’t want the smell in my clothes. This problem is irritating because it has been going on for a year. I don’t know who else to call. How can I find the insect before it ruins another shirt? This problem is only in my closet. The Orkin man looked in the carpet but found nothing. At a lost, can you help?
Sounds like CARPET BEETLES. For now, read our article to learn about this pest. Once you learn more about them you can decide if you want to treat or have a service company do the work (which can be quite expensive FYI..).
As for the treatment; ideally you should treat all the carpet in the home along with couches, other furniture and basically anything with natural fabric. The products needed are listed in our article.
For the clothing in the closet; taking it all out and giving it a good “once over” with the vacuum will definitely help but ultimately, having it dry cleaned might be required.
Lastly, setting up an AEROSOL MACHINE with some PURGE III in the closet will insure your clothing does not get any further damage during the “eradication” process. This can be set to “barely” go off so you won’t even know it’s in there. Having one installed will kill hatching beetles which will no doubt be active for a few months until the treatments run their course as explained in our article.
Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:
Aerosol Machine: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/foggers/aerosol-dispenser-1000
Purge: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/aerosol/purge-iii-6-25-oz
Carpet Beetles: http://www.bugspray.com/articles98/carpetbeetle.html
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