What do pantry bugs look like

Most pantry pests also infest stored grain and may be found outdoors. Food products that are left in storage for a long time are prone to infestation. But foods of any age can become infested. Washing areas with detergents, ammonia, or bleach will not prevent insect infestation. There is no evidence that placing bay leaves or sticks of spearmint gum in a cupboard will prevent or get rid of stored food insect pests. Not all small beetles or moths found indoors are pantry pests.

If there is not a direct association with food, be sure the insects are identified correctly by an expert to determine whether they are a stored product food insect. When you know a stored product problem is present, be sure to examine all susceptible food as there could be more than one infested source. When inspecting, look at the top surface of products with a flashlight or pour the package contents onto a cookie sheet.

Use a vacuum cleaner to thoroughly clean cabinets and shelves, especially in cracks and corners. This will pick up crawling insects and spilled or infested material.

Empty the vacuum cleaner or discard the vacuum cleaner bag after use to prevent re-infestation. Washing shelves with detergent, bleach, ammonia, or disinfectants will not keep pantry pests from returning and could be dangerous if the chemicals come in contact with food. To prevent re-infestation, store foods in sealable glass, metal, or heavy plastic containers or in the freezer or refrigerator until you are sure the infestation is gone. It is not unusual to see an Indianmeal moth flying for up to three weeks after the infested food has been thrown out.

However, if you continue to see Indianmeal moths after three weeks, that means there is an infested food source that you haven't found yet. If you have older food products and you are not sure if they are infested, you can put them in the freezer at 0 degrees for at least four days or in shallow cookie sheets or pans in an oven at degrees for at least 30 minutes. These temperatures will kill any eggs or insects. If insects are infesting ornaments or decorations made with plant products or seeds, place the items in a freezer for at least four days.

Plodia interpunctella are the most common moths infesting food in homes. When at rest, they fold their wings behind themselves, over their bodies. The base of the front wing is pale gray or tan and the rest is reddish-brown with a coppery luster. The wing markings are distinctive, but may be less clear if the scales have been rubbed from the wings. Indianmeal moths may be found inside infested products or flying around homes.

Only the larvae feed in stored products, which can be any dry stored food or whole grain. Foods infested with these insects will have silk webbing present on the surface of the product. Get Your Quote. How did I get pantry beetles? Where Did They Come From?

What Attracts Them? How serious are pantry beetles? Food Contamination Pantry beetle infestations ruin stored goods, and it can become expensive to replace infested products. Appearance Pantry beetles refer to a large group of beetles that infest stored products in both residential and commercial settings.

Diet Diets vary greatly depending on the species of pest. Internal Feeders Internal feeders are beetles that complete their larval grub stage inside the seed, kernel, or beans they damage.

Some of the commonly encountered internal feeders are: Lesser grain borers Granary weevils Rice weevils Weevils are relatively easy to identify since they have a long snout that sticks out from their head and has its functional mouthparts at the tip of the snout. External Feeders External feeders complete their life cycle outside the grain. Some commonly encountered external feeders are: Cabinet beetles Cigarette beetles Drugstore beetles Warehouse beetles Warehouse and cabinet beetles will feed on animal hair, taxidermy skins, dried fruits, milk, and dead insects.

Secondary Feeders This category of pantry beetles infests old, wet, and moldy stored products that may be damaged by other groups of stored product insects. Some commonly encountered secondary feeders include: Foreign grain beetles Mealworms Spider beetles One of many possible causes of a secondary feeder infestation is old rodent baits set out, but not gathered up after the rodent problem was solved. Scavengers This group of pantry beetles cannot infest whole grains or kernels unless the product was damaged by an external or internal feeding beetle or in the harvesting or storage process.

The more common and damaging pantry beetles in this group are: Confused flour beetles Red flour beetles Sawtoothed grain beetles The most likely situations causing a scavenger beetle infestation are broken pieces of whole grains, grain product, or processed products made from a particular type of grain.

Connect with Us Our customer care team is available for you 24 hours a day. Find a Branch Our local technicians are the pest experts in your area. Method 1. Inspect all of the food packages stored in your pantry and cupboards for bugs. Grain beetles and weevils are tiny black or brown bugs. Indian meal moths are gray with brown or bronze wings. Also, look for silk webbing left behind by moth larvae.

Remember that the pests might not always be visible right away, so stir around the contents of packages or empty them out onto a baking sheet to check.

Many types of pantry pests can squeeze through very small spaces to get at your food. Throw away any infested food and open packages. Remove everything from your pantry and vacuum the shelves. Get into all the shelves, corners, and crevices of your pantry with the hose of a vacuum cleaner. This will suck up any remaining bugs or cocoons, as well as spilled crumbs or grains.

Wash the shelves with warm soapy water and a clean cloth or sponge. Do this to clean up any remaining crumbs, dust, and bugs or cocoons that the vacuum missed.

Get into any corners or cracks as best as you can. Wipe down all the shelves with a water and white vinegar solution.

Vinegar acts as a repellent to deter pantry bugs from coming back. It will also kill any bugs that may still be hiding in your cupboards! These chemicals will prevent infestations but can be dangerous if they touch any of your food.

Remove the trash from the house immediately. Tie up any bags of trash where you threw out contaminated food items and take them out of the house. If you leave them in the kitchen there is a high chance that the bugs will re-infest your pantry. Take trash out of your kitchen frequently to lower the likelihood of attracting pests.

If you dumped any infested food into your garbage disposal, run the garbage disposal under hot water for 1 minute. Method 2. But what happens if you eat flour mites or weevils — are they harmful? It is also possible to be allergic to mites, which can make the skin itch and, in very rare cases, cause swelling of the throat and difficulty breathing if consumed. In this case, call a doctor immediately for medical attention. Both flour mites and weevils will have come into your kitchen through your flour or wheat products.

A few flour bugs can lay many eggs, and if your products are being stored for a long time, these eggs can hatch and cause an infestation. Other factors, such as heat, can increase the reproduction rate of kitchen mites and weevils, making the problem much worse. The best way to completely eradicate the problem is to throw out any packets in your cupboard or pantry that may have come into contact with the infestation as the flour insects could have crawled into any of the packaging and begun another infestation.

Thoroughly clean the cupboard with soapy water — you can use bleach, but be sure to take care — and make an effort to get right into the corners of the cupboard. Pesticide is the most effective way to get rid of the pests, although it can be very dangerous to use the chemical around food supplies and should only be handled by a professional.