Tiny,brown,hairy larva for ID please

[BarbaraEmma]

I need some help to find out what this tiny thing is please.It's about the size of a small grain of rice and it moves quite quickly.Terrible photos,I'm sorry but they had to be cropped a great deal.Barbara

[Lance Morgan]

beetle larvae - Carpet!
Where did you find it?

[loripo]

If you look up 'carpet beetle' in the Insect Gallery, you will see what the adult looks like and also the Woolly Bear, which is what your's are known as.
They are usually considered a household pest. I had one of the adults and was told to put down sticky traps, but then I caught a black beetle instead (still alive) and threw them all away

[BarbaraEmma]

I found it on the bathroom floor ,it's a tiled floor and so are the 3 rooms adjoining it. What else would this kind of larva live on?I'm thinking of towels perhaps, or old shedded skin,yuk! My bathroom is quite new,tiled walls and floor and is kept as clean as normal use allows,but it's in for a good scrub now.Barbara

[loripo]

I found this...

Adult beetles of this family are pollen eaters, but the larvae feed on a variety of animal matter. The reddish to yellow-brown carpet beetle larvae feed on wool, fur, leather, and on plant fibers that are soiled with grease, doing more damage to household goods than the clothes moth.

Before carpets(!) they lived around birds nests. If you look it up search on Carpet Beetle as there are caterpillars called Woolly bears too.

[Vincent86]

More info:

Carpet beetle

The carpet beetle larvae start to feed as soon as they hatch. They are carrot shaped and heavily covered with setae especially in their posterior end. The number of instars differ from 5–11 and in some cases reach up to 20. The black carpet beetle, Attagenus megatoma, larvae may grow up to 1/2 inch (12 mm) and be yellow to brown in color. Other types of carpet beetles are regularly 1/4 to 1 inch (6 to 25 mm) in length and covered with dark setae. Certain species have distinctive tufts of setae extending from their posterior end. These beetles are attracted to soiled fabrics and crevices where dead insects may serve as a food source. The larvae of the carpet beetle are often referred to as Wooly Bears.

[Dutchess]

We had those in the house in the hot summer of 1990. I hadn't realised what they were at first, thinking they were just ladybirds of some kind. I never associated the little furry creepy things with them, we'd only been in the house for three years so was unsure as to whether they were regular residents or not! It was as soon as I rang Environmental Health that I found out the worse...."My dear! You have woolly bears!" said the official at the other end of the line

Once I started looking, they were found everywhere! In the wardrobes, drawers, carpets (and yes, tiled bathroom.)

Never would I be lenient with them again, I can tell you . Everything that was washable had to be washed....

D.

[Ensoniq]

Can anyone of you helpful folks confirm that this too is a carpet beetle larvae?

It fell into the cat's water bowl, so is somewhat drenched - but it looks very like some of the carpet beetles in the Gallery.

My poor missus is now worried and is wondering whether to start hoovering the inside of the wardrobe!!

Thanks in advance

[loripo]

I found one Woolly bear in the bathroom yesterday. Did take photos but it was exactly the same as BarbaraEmma's. Can there be just one? I have wool carpets and rugs so don't want them chomping thru them, Maybe I'll just get some sticky traps

[Venger]

Ensoniq, you're looks more like a larder beetle larva, (or other similar Dermestid)
Is you cat food dry by any chance?