Weevils, also known as Pantry moths, are a certain kind of beetles, which belong to Curculionoidea super family. They are small and don’t not grow more than ¼ inch or 6 millimeters. These herbivore beetles feed only on plants, crops, and herbs. Its larva grows within the seed of grains, cereal products, and nuts and can only be visible when they burst out of the seed casing. Weevils can cause E. coli bacteria. These bacteria live in intestines of people and animals. Even though most E.coli bacteria are harmless, some may cause serious damage to you. It can cause mainly two kinds of diarrhea, travelers’ diarrhea and bloody diarrhea, which can be a reason for kidney failure and even death.
Getting Rid Of Pantry Moths
- First of all, you should check for infestation, grains clumped together with sticky secretions, webbing in corners or small holes in containers are examples for weevil infestation. Sometimes you may see you plug holes are covered by mud colored web. This can be other sign of infestation.
- You need to clean the infested areas. For that, you can vacuum food storage area. Clean shelves with soapy water, paying close attention to corners. Corners have the highest possibility of a weevil web gathering. Also, keep the cleaned area dry. Discard the weevil-infested food. You can also leave a few bay leaves at the cleaned area to prevent bugs.
- Keep the food items in tight metal or glass containers. Give special care for dry food items like nuts. Foods, which you never use frequently, can be kept in freezer to avoid weevils. Grains like flour, oats, cookies, corn meal, and grits should be kept in the freezer for killing the entire bug infested. This kind of a treatment would even kill all the eggs of the bugs.
- Put your foods or seeds on a baking sheet. Heat it up to 120 to 130 Fahrenheit. Keep it there on that heat for one hour, the bugs that is infested in it would burn out. The seeds, which you are going to use for gardening, can't be used in this way. The heat may destroy seed's chances of germination.
- Purchase the goods in small amount that you can use quickly. Keeping the goods in store will be a chance for the weevil’s infestation. Pay good attention to separate old stock from new one. If the old stock is infected by weevils, it will affect the new one too.
- When you buy food packages from stores, just check whether seal is broken or not. In case if you buy that without checking carefully, you can exchange bit for a good one. Unsealed, damaged food packages can be infested by weevil bugs. If you buy a packaged food without any seal damage and if you found weevil infestation in that, it could be the carelessness of food processing factory. Avoid buying the same company product again.
- Clean your shelves regularly to prevent future infestation. Regular cleaning of shelves is very important because these bugs just need a very little time to reproduce and breed. They can live with a small amount of grains, which rest in your storeroom.