Are Beetles in Your Business?

19 Jan Are Beetles in Your Business?

Most customers frequent businesses that are clean and well cared for. The last thing they want to see as they shop are bugs of any kind. Unfortunately, as the cool fall days come in, they often come with an influx of beetles. While some beetles are more of a visual nuisance, other beetles can create damage to your property and set off allergic reactions among your customers and employees. Here are a few beetles which may be in your business.

Lady Bugs

The beautiful red and black, or orange and black, ladybugs you see in your flowers in the spring and summer are usually working hard, ridding your grounds of aphids. Unfortunately, as the weather starts to cool off, these bugs look for a warm, dry place to spend the winter, and if you are not careful, it may be inside your business.

Ladybugs fit through small cracks around your windows and doors and may come in through your ventilation system. Large swarms of them often gather in the sunny corners of your ceilings.

While masses of ladybugs may be unsightly, they are relatively harmless to humans. Unfortunately, when stressed, they engage in the process of reflex bleeding from their knees, which causes odors and possible staining to your walls, furniture, and floors.

Ladybugs may also trigger allergy or asthma attacks in people who suffer from these conditions. These triggers could be associated with the dust of the bug’s exoskeletons when they die and dry up.

Drugstore Beetles

If you store any type of food products in or around your business, you may fall victim to hosting drugstore beetles. These are small oval-shaped dark reddish-brown beetles that range in size from 2.25 to 3.5 mm long. Their larvae are small white hairy grubs.

Although they mainly lay their eggs in food products, they will also infest other non-food products such as:

• Drugs
• Hair
• Books
• Bound paper
• Leather
• Museum specimens

Drugstore beetles eat almost everything, and what they do not eat, they will contaminate with their droppings. You usually bring these beetles into your business through contaminated products. They may also fly into your business, attracted to your lights.

Powderpost Beetles

If you deal in wood flooring or wood-based products, you may have to deal with powderpost beetles. Powderpost beetles are not one specific beetle but a collective term describing several species of beetles. These very small reddish-brown or black beetles wreak havoc on wood products. Most are only 1/8 – 3/4 inch long. They produce tiny cream-colored, c-shaped larvae.

Powderpost beetles destroy wood through their reproductive process. The female lays eggs in the crevices of untreated timber. Once the larvae hatch, they will eat their way through the wood, creating tunnels in the wood as they go.

Once fully developed, the larvae will enter a pupal stage and emerge as full-grown beetles. When the full-grown beetles emerge from the wood, they will leave small holes in its surface.

Powderpost beetles are only second to termites in the amount of damage they can do to wood. If not quickly addressed, powderpost beetles can create major structural damage. The beetles can destroy some or all of the following:

• Flooring
• Subflooring
• Floor joists
• Wall framing
• Window sills
• Interior trim
• Furnishings and more

Because most of their damage takes place underneath and within the wood itself, there is often significant damage before you realize you have an infestation. 

Do not allow beetles to be in your business. Eary Termite & Pest Services can treat these beetles and any other pests you may have. Give us a call today so we can help get you bug-free.