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Post by Serendipity on Oct 24, 2009 17:45:44 GMT -5
I have some of these in places where there is no food, I guess at some point there was food there. I think they lay eggs in the cupboard crevices. Has anyone been successful at getting rid of these? Any advice would be appreciated! (I have rebagged the flour)
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Post by wendy on Oct 24, 2009 18:06:15 GMT -5
I'm so glad you posted this, because I wonder if these are the critters I've been battling lately. The bugs I have are very small, round black bugs with hard bodies. They have invaded the cupboard where I keep pasta, cake mixes, rice, etc., and I haven't been able to get rid of them. So I'll be hoping for ideas along with you!!
Wendy
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Post by StuffNoMore on Oct 24, 2009 18:06:16 GMT -5
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Post by StuffNoMore on Oct 24, 2009 18:07:45 GMT -5
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Post by willkeeptrying on Oct 24, 2009 18:55:47 GMT -5
When I was a kid, we had these in our pantry. We discovered them floating in our cereal one morning. Lovely! My mom's house was very clean. We had to get rid of everything like flour, sugar, cereals, cat food and any other package where the little buggers could get in, like pasta bags and boxes. All cans ans sealed items were wiped and moved. We had to empty the entire pantry. Then, we sprayed bug killer in every crack and crevice. After that, we wiped with warm, soapy water. After we determined the pantry was dead of all insects, (some bugs leave eggs that hatch at various different times) we kept everything in tupperware or plastic bags. I thought I was done with that problem until...
I had a parrot in my bedroom. My bedroom was always messy. My vet told me to feed the parrot Monkey Chow. My parrot didn't like it. He liked regular parrot food and human treats. One morning I woke up with the exact same bug crawling on my face! I was horrified. Looking around, I saw hundreds of them crawling in the carpet. I traced the trail to my closet, where the monkey chow was sitting for a few months. The bag was alive and crawling with them! This was extreme infestation.
Now I had war. I threw out the bag and attacked with bug spray and a wet/dry vac. (of course I removed the bird!) I had to spray every nook and cranny of my room and vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. I think I set off a bug bomb in there, as well. It took weeks of checking and vacuuming before I didn't see another one.
To this day, I store anything that can get bugs in tupperware or ziplock bags! Even after you clean, they can come home from the store.
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Post by notsomessyshell on Oct 24, 2009 19:14:18 GMT -5
Thanks so much for those links stuffnomore! I just identified the bug I found a few days ago! It was in the cereal my son poured out.  We emptied the pantry and tossed everything! Now I am going to go put the flour and baking mixes in the freezer to kill the larvae. I have everything else in tupperware and ziplocks. Icky bugs |
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Post by StuffNoMore on Oct 24, 2009 19:17:45 GMT -5
You're very welcome shell. I'll probably be with my head stuck in the kitchen food closet with a flashlight tonight hunting for those little buggers now.  SNM |
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Post by mythreecats on Oct 24, 2009 23:12:20 GMT -5
Ahhhhhhhhhh!
I always have a few of the flour moths hanging around my house, and I store my grains in the fridge or freezer. But some of the bugs in those pictures in the second link! Ack! Probably it's just because I'm not used to them. Please stay away little beetles.
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pammybear
New Member
Joined: August 2009
Posts: 71 
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Post by pammybear on Oct 25, 2009 8:28:38 GMT -5
My grandmother used to keep Wrigley's Spearmint gum in her cabinets to keep the flour bugs away.
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Post by StuffNoMore on Oct 25, 2009 11:07:19 GMT -5
You're right pammy. Also spearmint or peppermint oil placed on a cotton ball keeps all sorts of creepies away including mice.
SNM
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Post by yearning4order on Oct 25, 2009 12:16:51 GMT -5
I'm not sure about flour weevils, because mostly what I have to deal with are food moths. I can tell you what I do for the food moths:
There was a time period where if I saw a moth I didn't attempt to kill it, much as if I had a food wrapper that should go in the trash I would maybe put it on a table or stash it someplace instead of throwing it away.
Since the day I cleaned my kitchen ceiling, I've been much more aggressive about the whole thing. These days I try to kill every moth I see. If they are on the ceiling, I spray them with cleanser. I kill any of the caterpillars I see heading someplace to make a cocoon to become a moth.
I found some of these things in tortellini boxes from the store, so some dry goods do not come protectively packaged enough to keep them out. So I noted the brands like that, and stopped buying them.
Any package of open flour, open grain, etc. I store in the freezer. Period. I just can't mess around with jars anymore. I have great gallon storage jars and they still get in, so until they are gone, I put them in the freezer.
The biggest challenge I have is the chicken feed and hamster feed. I don't want to store the chicken feed outside, as historically, squirrels have chewed through sealed trash cans to eat the chicken feed.
We are trying to remember to keep the hammie food in ziploc freezer bags, and I don't have a good solution yet for the chicken feed.
One thing I have done periodically is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth on the top of the chicken feed, or even in kitchen corners where ants were coming in.
I suggest this, because if you get this at a feed store it's pretty cheap, and it kills all bugs. They crawl across it, and it gives them cuts that infect and they die, die, die. In some cases, it can be placed inside walls of houses for things like severe cockroach infestations.
Ideally people don't want to get this stuff airborne and breathe it, as it's like inhaling dust or dirt, not good, but it's not poisonous. Perhaps diatomaceous earth will help you with your flour weevils too. You could sprinkle some on and around your flour or other dry foods and the weevils will crawl over it.
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Post by wendy on Oct 25, 2009 12:31:26 GMT -5
Aw, shoot! This is all great advice, but what a pain. The last thing I feel like doing is having a big cupboard clean out.....guess I'll have to gut up for it, though!
On the grain moths, there is an easier solution. They definitely looovvve hammie food, and we were plagued by them constantly till I learned about these little cardboard tents you can buy at the hardware store. They have pheromones in them which attract all the male moths and kill them or render them sterile, I can't remember which. But in any case, after removing the infested food and putting a couple of those tents on top of the cabinets, no more grain moths! It only took a week or two for them to disappear.
Wendy
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Post by Serendipity on Oct 25, 2009 21:09:21 GMT -5
Hi there everyone~Thanks for the info on flour weevils.It looks like they are a common problem! Luckily I don't have too many but I better keep on it so they don't multiply!I find them in the crevices in the bottom of the pancake mix box and other places that don't make any sense. I am going to put stuff in the fridge or freezer and get some spearmint gum!
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