The main difference is the color.
Carpet beetles bed bugs same.
Also carpet beetles feed on fabric type substances and bed bugs feed on blood.
Both can live in mattresses and other bedding and are attracted to the carbon dioxide you exhale as.
If carpet beetles are living in your bed it can be hard to tell if you have them or bed bugs.
Both can be difficult to detect and have many of the same results.
However the carpet beetle is the smallest of the two and averages 1 8th of an inch in length while the bed bug is about 1 4th of an inch long.
But the main difference is that the varied carpet beetle does not feed on blood.
One might be covered in carpet beetle bites and rashes while other will seem to be absolutely fine.
The second difference and the biggest nuisance is the fact that bed bugs feed on human blood while carpet beetles feed on animal fibers.
The biggest difference is in size.
Bed bugs and carpet beetles are both very small.
Differences between bed bugs and carpet beetles.
Carpet beetles on the other hand measure between 1 16 of an inch and 1 8 of an inch long.
Bed bugs will hide in bedding in ribbing around mattresses in the cracks of hardwood floors behind electrical outlets behind wall coverings in carpets and furniture in wall voids and behind baseboards.
Bed bugs are in the family cimicidae while carpet beetles are in the family dermestids.
The presence of either one can cause skin reactions as the bites of bed bugs are itchy and can get infected if scratched or torn but similar skin reactions can be caused by the larvae shells of carpet.
That s because bed bugs always look the same but there are a lot of carpet beetle.
Bed bugs measure of an inch long.
Varied carpet beetles do have brown on their backs but they look more spotted or striped with white and light colored patches mixed with brown.
Also once magnified the varied carpet beetle larvae actually look like tiny furry caterpillars with little spines on them whereas the bed bug larvae look like little worms.
Bed bug larvae look like little worms while carpet beetle larvae look like fuzzy bugs with little spines all over them.
Itchy bites that occur while you sleep in your bed.
The carpet beetle and bed bug not only leave similar looking bites but there are other similarities.
The difference here is that bed bugs have a mouth made for piercing skin and sucking blood while carpet beetles have a mouth made for chewing on plants and other fibrous material.
The official name for the varied carpet beetle is anthrenus verbasci they are small about 3mm in length and flat in their shape.
You ve noticed that carpet beetles length varies a lot while bed bugs are always the same length.
Carpet beetles and bed bugs can have similar bite patterns and inhabit many of the same locations in your home.