found in a bag of flour. They are tiny, almost invisible to the naked eye, and are a a very very light bright brown/beige in colour, definitely not fleas as they crawl along quite fast but easily squashed. We thought they were weavils that live in flour, but have now found them in books, in food such as breakfast cereals, in the bread bin. Again I thought weavils, because I know that they can be found in old books, they live on the startch in the binding glue. They are very light sensitive and as soon as light is shone on them or you disturb them, they seem to go into hiding within the tiles, work top etc.
My wife is going frantic, and the has sprayed disinfectant onto a clothe and wiped all the areas we've seen them. But they come back very quickly, as soon as they can hide in the darkness.
Can anyone tell me what they are, how did we get them, and most importantly, what we can do to get rid of them? Please help....
2006-08-18 11:21:29 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Food & Drink ➔ Other - Food & Drink
My best guess would be flour beetles - some people do call them weevils. http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2087.html
http://www.pestproducts.com/confusedflourbeetle.htm
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=flour%20beetle&sa=N&tab=wi
They will eat any cereal product and can multiply like crazy.
Get rid rid of any open cereal product, do a major pantry clean up and use a pesticide suggested at one of the above sites or do a google search. Disinfectant won't affect them.
Ironically I have never had a problem with them but I did raise them in tightly lidded boxes as food foe some lizards I was raising at the time.
Good luck!
Now carpet beetles, I have had those and they are a pest!
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/factsheets/carpbeet.html
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=carpet%20beetle%20beetle&sa=N&tab=wi
2006-08-18 11:47:47 · answer #1 · answered by carl l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These sound very, very like bugs that invaded our pantry about 3 months back, though ours were more of a medium to dark brown. We did end up throwing out about 70% of the grain and flour products that we had in there, and I would definitely say, if it isn;t sealed and you think there's the smallest chance of infestation, get rid of it. We did not want to use anything really toxic like an insecticide, so instead, we just cleaned our whole kitchen very thoroughly with standard household cleaners. For about the first week we would go back and clean again every 2 days, and would find a few sickly stragglers, but a lot fewer every time. 3-plus months out, we are bug-free and our pantry is back in working order.
Best of luck. Believe me, I know how yucky this experience is.
2006-08-18 18:50:38 · answer #2 · answered by Leslie D 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don'y know what they are, but try getting a bug bomb. You can usually buy them for pretty cheap and they come in packs of 2 or more. Put any food not infested in the fridge. Throw everything else out. You'll need to put a bomb in all the really bad rooms. Then you need to plan on doing something for about 6 hours because you can't stay in the house or it could kill you. This should take care of your problem and be cheat to boot.
2006-08-18 18:39:18 · answer #3 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Empty out all the cupboards and get rid of anything that can be infested and then get the bug spray man to come in and spray all the cupboards. When you put your food back in line it with cupboard liner paper. When ever I move into a house I always have the bug man come in and spray cupboards, closets, and the attic and the basement. I hate bugs of any kind. Or you could go get a bug spray and spray your own cupboards.
2006-08-18 18:29:31 · answer #4 · answered by T 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That happened to me too, and i went nuts for about 2 weeks untill i found a can of bread crumbs in the way back of the bottomest shelf. I did not think they could get in the containet, because it had a lid, but they did
2006-08-18 18:49:46 · answer #5 · answered by MC 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they sound like weevils and the only thing to do is clean out dry products, flour etc and bin them, emopty cub=pboards and clean. Then I swapped crockery into that cupboard and food elsewhere and problem gone cos nothing for them to live on.
2006-08-22 04:51:28 · answer #6 · answered by crafty ails 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have got weevles, get rid of all your dry goods (better in the long run), buy some kilner jars or any good air-tight containers and store your (newly purchased) flour, etc in them. It's the only way.
2006-08-19 04:11:12 · answer #7 · answered by sarah b 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Have similar problem here with insects in rice- try putting a peeled clove of garlic in with the flour/bread etc...it keeps them away.Worth a shot anyhow...
2006-08-18 23:56:10 · answer #8 · answered by Ru-Shi 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Disinfectant?? Why not bug spray? Whatever they are - get rid of them. You just made my skin crawl thinking about them.
2006-08-18 18:28:37 · answer #9 · answered by GP 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cant identify them but they are probaly easily killed with diazon bengal makes a spray for household use
2006-08-18 18:27:44 · answer #10 · answered by bearbait7351 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋