Hide Beetles Control: How To Get Rid of Hide Beetles

This page is a general hide beetles control guide. Using the products and methods suggested, you will get control over hiding beetles. Follow this guide and use the recommended products, and we guarantee 100% control over hide beetles.

Don’t let the name confuse you; hide beetles aren’t named as such because they like to hide. Though they do a good job of hiding, when you’re looking for them, they are named hide beetles because of their affinity to feast on dead animal hides. That is also why they are alternatively called skin beetles or leather beetles. These beetles are not pretty, usually black, bumpy, and warty.

Hide beetles can be found anywhere that provides them with a food source, usually close to an animal carcass, but they can also infest other areas of the home. They could be in carpeting, food storage, furniture, and, primarily, close to animal hides. They commonly infest homes when a dead carcass or animal hide is found inside. After all, they get their name from their eating habits, which include animal hides, skins, and feathers.

Hide beetles have such a ferocious appetite for flesh and hair that they are used in forensics when a dead body needs bones cleaned for examination. While they can be beneficial in such cases, if they make their way into your home looking for things to feed on, this can cause a considerable problem.

If you encounter an infestation of hide beetles, follow our helpful DIY guide below to learn how to eliminate this problem pest using professional products and techniques.

Identification

Before you can proceed with treatment, you must be sure that the pest you are dealing with is a hide beetle and not some other insect. Misidentification can lead to using the wrong treatment methods and products, which can be a large waste of time and money.

Because hide beetles are often mistaken for other small insects, correct identification is essential to proper control. Some of the defining characteristics of the hide beetle include the following:

• Hide beetles range between 5 to 10 mm in length.
• They are dark brown or black and usually have a white underside or belly.
• Their body also has small white or yellow hairs on its body.
• Hide beetle larvae are reddish-brown to black and are cigar-shaped with differently-sized hairs throughout their body.
• Larvae have two distinct horns at the end of their abdomen,
• Hide beetles and larder beetles are similarly shaped and belong to the Dermestes family.

Use the description and image above to properly identify hide beetles on your property. If you are unsure, contact us, and we will have one of our pros assist you with correct identification.

Inspection

Once you have confirmed that you are dealing with hide beetles, you can move on to inspection. During this phase, you will need to find out where the hide beetles are located and the places they are infesting. This will help you in determining where to focus your treatment application.

Where to Inspect

Indoors, look in storage areas, living rooms, garages, attics, basements, and pantries. Look in the rooms where animal hides and mounts are stored. Also, look in carpeting, rugs, and items of clothing with fur. In the pantries, look inside food goods to see if any food goods are contaminated. Most infestations will be concentrated indoors, but outdoors, look for possible animal carcasses.

What To Look For

You're looking for hide beetle larvae and the hide beetles themselves. They will usually be found near animal hides, animal mounts, carpeting, rugs, clothing with fur, and food goods. Larvae will look like small worms with two distinct horns at the end of the abdomen. If you find any infested items, you will have identified the source of the infestation.

Treatment

Once you have confirmed hide beetle activity, it is time to begin treatment. Remember to read all product labels, follow the application instructions on these labels, and stay safe by wearing personal protective equipment.

To successfully get rid of hide beetles, you must perform an indoor treatment of Supreme IT Insecticide, Novacide, and D-Fense Dust. Supreme IT is a powerful liquid concentrate that treats cracks, crevices, and entry points.

Novacide contains an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) that treats undeveloped stages of hide beetles. D-Fense Dust should be applied to voids and crevices. When applied, it will last up to 8 months, killing any possible stragglers.

Step 1: Preliminary Cleanup

Before beginning treatment, you need to conduct a preliminary clean-up in preparation for applying control products. You will collect and freeze all the infested items, wash or dry them, or dispose of them to kill and get rid of all the larvae and adult hide beetles that might be hiding in them.

Begin by washing and drying any infested item in high heat. Make sure the items can be washed and heat dried; if not, consider dry cleaning them or disposing of them. For animal hides and skins, freeze them to kill larvae and hide beetles completely.

Also, don’t forget to check your stored food goods, as these could also be contaminated and must be disposed of if you notice beetles inside them. When checking for food goods, don’t forget to also check pet food.

Step 2: Apply Novacide Aerosol

After you have completed cleaning, apply Novacide Aerosol. Novacide comes in a ready-to-use aerosol spray. Simply spray in the areas where the infestation occurred (or where the items infested were found). Spray the flooring by holding the can upside down and spraying 36" off the floor into baseboards and carpeting using a sweeping motion. 

Spray Novacide on baseboards, carpeting, wood flooring, and finished taxidermy, such as mounted animals, drapery, furniture, area rugs, and any hide or fabric. Treat these areas every few months to ensure a preventative barrier and once a month when treating an active infestation.

If you notice contaminated food goods in the pantry areas, clear off the pantry areas of any food goods and spray about 1 to 2 inches for every 1 to 2 feet.

Do not let people or pets enter treated areas until the spray has dried. 

Step 3: Spray Supreme IT Insecticide

Mix 0.33 to 1 fl. oz of Supreme IT per 1,000 sq. ft. with a gallon of water in a pump sprayer. Spray indoors only as a crack and crevice treatment.

Spray in the areas where infestation took place, applying it to baseboards and small cracks and crevices.

Do not spray the whole flooring or use it as a space spray; only apply it as a crack and crevice treatment in areas where infestation took place.

Do not let people or pets enter areas treated until the spray has dried.

Step 4: Apply D-Fense Dust

Finally, treat voids, cracks, and crevices with D-Fense Dust. You will need a handheld duster to help you apply the D-Fense Dust more precisely. Fill the handheld duster halfway with D-Fense dust, leaving ample room for air to circulate inside. 

Apply by squeezing the duster in the rooms where you found the infested items, especially in cracks and crevices where hide beetles might be hiding. Apply along baseboards and any small cracks and crevices in the rooms where you found the infestation.

Prevention

After the hide beetles have been successfully controlled, preventative measures must be taken to ensure they don't reinfest. 

• Start by sealing any possible entry points. Make sure to seal or block all the small openings and obvious entry points around your property with either caulk, copper mesh, or black foam. By blocking access to your property, insects (including hide beetles) and wildlife will have a harder time infesting it.
• Keep food goods in tightly sealed containers. If every food good in the pantry is closed securely, the beetles will have fewer food sources.
• Use an insecticide such as Supreme IT as a protective barrier around the outside perimeter of your home every 3 months. This will ensure a protective insecticidal barrier around the outside of your structure that will repel and kill insects that try to make their way indoors.

Key Takeaways

What are Hide Beetles?

• Due to their destructive eating habits, hide beetles can become an annoying pest when they enter homes and other structures.

How to Get Rid of Hide Beetles

• To control hide beetles, we recommend using professional insecticides such as Novacide Aerosol, Supreme IT, and D-Fense Dust.

Preventing Hide Beetle Reinfestation

• Preventative applications of Supreme IT Insecticide and exclusion measures to block off any points of entry are key to keeping a hide beetle reinfestation from happening.