Pest Control
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Living beside fields, hedgerows and gardens means sharing the area with a great many insects, and some of them end up indoors. A few beetles by the back door or on a utility room floor are common in rural homes. In most cases they are outdoor insects that have wandered in by accident, not an infestation.
What is a casual invader?
A casual invader is an insect that normally lives outdoors but now and then finds its way into a building. Unlike carpet beetles or the beetles that breed in stored food, these are not feeding or breeding inside. They have followed a light, walked in through an open door, or crawled through a gap. One or two beetles indoors does not on its own mean there is an infestation.
Why rural homes see more of them
Grassland, hedgerows, crops, leaf litter, compost and timber support large numbers of insects, and country houses, farmhouses and barn conversions sit right next to them. Weather changes, harvesting and cultivation can all set beetles moving. Around a building they tend to turn up at:
- door thresholds and window frames
- air vents and gaps around pipes
- utility rooms, conservatories and garages
- barns, workshops and outbuildings
Outside lights draw insects towards windows and doors, which makes it more likely some will end up inside.
Beetles you are likely to find
Ground beetles. Usually black or dark brown, often fast-moving, and found wandering across floors at night or in the morning. They live under stones, logs and vegetation and come in under doors. They are not a pest and rarely need any treatment. Our guide to ground beetles covers them in more detail.
Pea and bean weevils. Small, greyish-brown beetles that feed on the leaves of peas and broad beans. In homes near vegetable plots, allotments or arable land, adults sometimes turn up indoors. They are not breeding in the house.
Seed beetles and other crop beetles. Some beetles develop inside seeds. The broad bean seed beetle, for example, grows inside broad beans, so adults can emerge from dried beans or seed stored indoors rather than coming in from outside. If you store animal feed, bird seed, dried pulses or home-saved seed, check the material itself if beetles keep appearing near it.
Visitor or infestation?
Signs that you are dealing with casual visitors:
- one or two beetles now and then
- mostly near doors and windows
- a short burst of activity that then stops
- no damage to food, fabrics, timber or stored goods
- no larvae or other signs of insects developing indoors
Repeated sightings are worth investigating. Beetles emerging in numbers from the same cupboard, roof space or store point to a source, and damage to food, fabric or timber suggests a different beetle altogether. Our guides to stored product insects and carpet beetles cover those.
Keeping beetles out
- Check the seals around external doors and windows, and fit brush strips to doors with a gap at the threshold.
- Seal gaps around frames, pipes and cable entries.
- Fit insect mesh to vents and air bricks without restricting the ventilation they provide.
- Keep doors closed during spells of high insect activity, such as warm evenings and harvest time.
- Keep vegetation, leaf litter and debris away from entrances.
- Review bright outside lighting near doors and windows that are often open.
- Store bird seed, animal feed, pulses and seed in sealed containers.
- Check garages, barns and stores regularly.
Good proofing cuts down the number of insects getting in without treating species that pose little or no risk.
When to call us
Not every small dark beetle needs the same response. A ground beetle that wandered through the back door is a different matter from carpet beetle larvae in a wool rug or beetles breeding in a sack of feed. If beetles keep appearing, turn up in numbers, or seem to come from one place, we can identify them, find the source and tell you whether proofing is enough or treatment is needed. We work with homeowners, landlords, farms and rural businesses. Send us a photo of what you are finding.