Are you seeing these tiny little critters in your kitchen cabinets? Are you wondering if they’re a grain weevil? Well, now that you have a name, I will show you how you can get rid of these pests.
We’ll start with the most effective natural solutions and follow through with a couple of dangerous solutions.
Keep reading and you might be surprised with the results.
What are Pantry Weevils?
Contents
Weevil infestations may go unnoticed for quite a while, even by someone who knows what to look for.
Weevils will put a big damper on your family’s meal plans, so it’s important to find a fix for the problem as quickly as possible.
Weevils lay their eggs in protein-rich food (which is a waste of your hard-earned money, by the way), so you’ll often see the little bugs in a dark, damp place.
The eggs are then left alone, sometimes for months, until they hatch and the larvae burrow their way into the food.
Most households have lots of hidden food that weevils can use to reproduce, so you might want to invest in vacuum sealing for groceries, and maybe even check your pantry for tiny holes and cracks.
They return to the same area to spread more eggs.
They only live a few weeks or months, but in that time they can produce dozens of offspring.
Pantry weevil larvae are dark brown and worm-like in appearance. It is said that weevils are similar to caterpillars, and they are commonly confused with them.
Weevils are most active in warm weather, and as autumn arrives, they migrate again in search for food.
At lower levels, weevils are a nuisance that can lead to food spoiling, whereas at higher levels, the environment can become dangerous.
Weevils are common bugs, and chances are you’ve eaten some without ever realizing it!
They get into your home via gaps and crevices in the walls, or much worse, through store-bought dry food.
Your house is infested through cracks and gaps in your insulating material, inside walls, sockets, and any other place cracks and gaps are present.
How to Know If You Have Weevils in Cabinets?
Weevils may live in a broad variety pf foods, but they’re best known for affecting the grains we eat.
Most of the time, you’ll immediately see signs of their existence: tiny holes in the food that the larvae has eaten. If you find worms in pasta, cereal, or flour, you have a problem.
Don’t throw the food out; just toss out the entire container and buy a new one.
How to Get Rid of Grain Weevils in Kitchen Cupboards
You can never be too careful when it comes to food.
If you have weevils in your kitchen, you should follow the steps below immediately.
Use an insecticide
When it comes to removing weevils from your pantry, insecticide is probably the best way to go about it.
Spraying insecticide into the shelves of your pantry is an easy and effective way to get rid of the pests. The process itself is very simple.
Spray all the shelves of your pantry with the insecticide. Make sure the shelves are completely sopping wet with the insecticide.
Delete all of the food from your pantry. Because weevils thrive in warm, damp environments, it is important that you store all food in sealed containers.
A strong stench from the things you bought may tell you that there’s a problem.
Once you notice the problem, seize the opportunity to inspect it and keep its contents in a safe place. Insects thrive in warm, damp places.
Your pantry may be just the place you were looking for. Spray all the shelves with insecticides and leave it there for at least a week.
Keep the shelves outside the kitchen. Spray insecticides in all the corners and all the places where you suspect the insects are hiding.
Give the pantry a good cleaning before using it again.
Place a match box out
Using something you most likely already possess, staying away from open containers of rice, can be an effective way to prevent weevil infestation in your pantry.
The presence of sulfur also makes bay leaves an effective repellent.
In addition, weevils will not like the smell of bay leaves!
Leave an open box of matches strategically placed in an area where cockroaches are seen.
Other chemicals that are effective include baking powder, which is affordable and readily available.
A similar statement may be made about bay leaf oil, which contains chemicals that eliminate weevils.
Trap the little suckers
Install a pheromone trap in the corners of your kitchen to eradicate weevils.
If there are any weevils in the vicinity, they will die off without reproduction and there won’t be a population explosion.
Using compounds generated by animals is not the only way to destroy weevils. Others just need to use simple glue traps.
After the weevils have been stuck to this trap, lather the trap with hot water. The weevils will practically melt into the trap, fully killing them.
Then, eliminating weevils is more easily achieved.
Put the goods in the freezer.
To eliminate the weevils, just place any objects that were near them. Freezing something for at least two days will destroy any weevils that may be present.
Any weevils that may be present will be destroyed in the cold temperatures of the freezer and won’t have a chance to develop.
This technique has the potential to destroy the eggs and larvae of the beetles, keeping food safely stored.
Be sure to place items such as flour, grains, dry pasta, and cereal in the freezer each time you buy them, and secure the containers after doing so.
If you want to protect your favorite baked goods and confections, place them in sealed freezer bags for extra protection.
The first step in preventing weevils from entering your pantry is keeping them out of your home.
This is because they can live in almost any kind of pantry, whether they have wood, glass, plastic, or metal.
Clean your pantry
You should attempt to clean the pantry in every six months. But it can be a good idea to clean the pantry and cabinets at least once a year.
This is because weevils and other pests like worms and ants can be attracted to dirty food. Clean kitchen pantries well to get rid of pests.
If you don’t properly dispose of contaminated items , then clean every shelf to ensure a safe pantry.
So go ahead and organize the pantry so each food item has a special place. For example, foil packets are for snacks, bags for nuts, and jars for dried fruits.
Also Read: How To Get Rid Of Rice Weevils Naturally
Conclusion
Individuals who have been bitten by pantry weevils in their kitchen cabinets, they are well aware of the potential harm they might do.
You may attempt to manage them in various methods, but if there are a lot of them, it may be difficult to eradicate them. It can be a good idea to hire a pest control firm in this situation.
Various techniques of management may be attempted, but if these fail, chemical spraying may be the only solution.
There are various companies that offer this service, and you can choose the one that offers the most reasonable rates.
