Angry larva

It's been a long, long time since I saw carpet beetles around home. Maybe they were just hiding out; I shampooed the carpets a couple of days ago, and this afternoon, I found a larva heading up the wall. I collected him, of course, and put him in a container with a pill of wool from my sweater for food. He should have been grateful.

He wasn't. He led me a merry dance tonight, when I tried to take his photo. See:

Carpet beetle larva, tail end.

He kept running away, even though I tempted him with a nice dead amphipod to eat. He wouldn't slow down, so I flipped him over with a paintbrush.

Belly up, and squirming.

He was fast; I had time for at the most one shot only each time I flipped him. Then he was up and running again.

I noticed something I'd never seen before; the larva was getting annoyed. Every time I put the paintbrush in front of his nose, he lifted up a bunch of tufts on his tail for a second or two, as a threat gesture. So I annoyed him even more, trying to get a photo of that. The best I could do was very blurred.

Angry larva, still running.

Now he's sulking in his jar; won't even touch his wool and yummy amphipod. Ungrateful wretch! I could have squashed him, couldn't I?