Smal insects in kitchen-HELP

[malam]

I get these small insects - very tiny, inside grains or powder type of food stored in the kitchen cupboards. I keep throwing stuff away. How can I prevent these insects ?

[dadiOH]

Put the food packages in the oven for a while when you first buy them. That should keep the eggs from hatching.

[jim]

Take all of the food out of the cupboards and cover with newspaper, spray the cupboards with raid also spray in air when you are going out .

[malam]

[HamNCheese]

Bee there, done that. Usually bugs comes from buying some unprocessed grain; usually something like bird seed, or food or spices from a foreign foods market. From my experience with food moths in my cupboards, first throw away anything that looks suspicious. Any old rice, grains, cereal. Inspect for webs or larvae. Even if its in plastic they can eat through it. Glass jars with rubber seals are the only insect-proof way to store food.

If they don't go away, then things get drastic. They are in the walls and you need to starve them out, or have a terminix guy spray poison. I didn't like the idea of poison near my cupboards so I took a safer, but more difficult route. I threw out everything in the cupboard and made do for about 30 days, storing the new stuff I bought in another room. After a month the insects in the walls were dead and I restored the food to the cupboard, problem gone.

[HeyBub]

Probably weevils.

The grain preparation process cannot separate weevil eggs from the good stuff.

Eventually the eggs hatch.

You have, seemingly, two choices:

1. Use the grain product within a reasonable time.
2. Enjoy another source of protein.

[Don Phillipson]

Just take samples to the public health office or the entomology department of your nearest college. The range of beetle species is immense, but the most common household types are well-known.

[malam]

Thanks. I had a couple of boxes of cereal that had the insects in them too. I will throw out all the opened bags and boxes. I find that the bags that are in the freezer are fine.

[malam]

Thanks. I will throw out the old bags and boxes of cereal and grains. I can't seem to eat the cereals fast enough. I'll switch the position with other non-food items for a while. I found by trial and error that the grain and powder bags that I kept in the freezer were ok. Can these devils attack baking flour ?

[malam]

Will freezing for a couple of days kill the eggs ?

[malam]

Thanks.

[franz frippl]

Take critter to your local county extension agent for an accurate ID. Chances are these insects are grain-related. There are traps.

Best way to keep things under control is to keep suspect food items in sealable storage containers. Poisons are not a good idea around food for human or pet consumption.

[Phisherman]

You have "food bugs," possibly weevils. Throw out everything and keep newly-purchased grains in glass jars or refrigerated. Weevils can get through cardboard boxes and some plastics. Bay leaves help repel insects and my mother kept a bay leaf in her flour all the time.

[Cliff Hartle]

They are most likely these.

We get them allot. We throw out everything they get into and then get a no pest strip. The strip seams to kill the adults as they hatch which stops the cycle.

There are also pheromone glue traps that go into the cabinets to grab the adults as they hatch.

[Rodger]

Indeed. Try this trick - put a bay leaf (the dried kind from the spice isle) in with your flour or other vulnerable food - the bugs can't stand it and won't move in. I've done it and it worked in an old apartment I had that had thousands of the things at one point.

You can also spread a few around on the shelves in your pantry.

- Rodger

[J. Davidson]

[Cheri]

And unwrapped sticks of spearmint gum works pretty good on some of them too. Packaged walnuts are notorious for attracting those little moths too, so get them out of there if you have them in the cupboards.

Cheri

[tnom]

[malam]

I shop from the big stores as well as the small local specialty ones. I think the problem could be from the imported stuff from the tropics. Now that I understand the issue better, I 'll be able to deal with it better. I plan on creating a room in my freezer - more like a 'quarantine' area.

[Cshenk]

"malam" wrote

Once you clear out all infected products, start freezing all dry items for 3 days before relocating to the cabinets. Keep larger jars with tight lids once you clean them out, and when you get new dry goods, after freezing for a bit, relocate them in those.