Evil weevils

npsmama

Nope. No intruders, despite having had problems with them in a packet of wheat grains a few weeks ago.
Obviously, they don't like oats, ground rice and all the bits of flour/grains/linseeds that are all over my cupboard (which are overdue a clean!)

Or they just don't like me!

Either way, I don't mind!

sallywl

Leonie wrote:

These could well be 'Woolly Bears'! Lava of the carpet beetle - which looks something like a ladybird with the colours reversed, or maybe brown and cream. These like to munch on any natural fibre, you need to get rid of them! They sometimes get in clothes drawers, or airing cupboards. We used to take everything out, wash it all, spray the drawers with insecticide. Now, I usually just put the beetles out as soon as I see any in the house.

If you Google for 'carpet beetle lava' it gives you more info.

I agree, we have a few, gave the hall where we kept seeing them on the wall a thorough hoover, had one or 2 a day after now they have gone ... if not they are hiding....
anyone know where they come from?!

Penny_Watcher

Lil_Dee wrote:

For those of you that would like to know more about Psocids / Book Lice (they are the tiny, weeny ickle things that you may find in your flour) then you may find this article, erm, interesting ? It goes into detail about what seems to be quite an indepth study that someone did to invetigate where the psocids come from ie. are they in the flour when you buy it, or are they already in the home ? :eek: :eek:

If, however, you're a little squeemish about these things, don't click on the link !!!

Click here to read the article

Hi sallywl

You might find the above link useful.

HTH

doorstep

I have just found my first weevil/flour beetle :shocked:

I've cleared out all of the flour and porridge oats and wheatgerm (I'm not taking any chances:rolleyes: ). How far can these things spread? Do I need to check all of my other cupboards too ?

I'm feeling really icky and itchy now...._pale_

Larumbelle

I cleaned out my pantry yesterday and to my horror I found little bugs in some of my food! An unopened packet of bread flour had little holes gnawed straight through it and my lovely truffle pasta had been reduced to powder by them. They also got into a lock and lock tub of pasta that was sealed and is supposed to be airtight.

Now, I didn't actually find any live ones. Only dead ones. They are about 4mm long and reddy-black. They look a bit like miniature beetles. Does anyone know what they are and how to deal with them?

I have thrown out all of the affected food and emptied everything into lock-and-lock style containers to make sure they are not affected. Everything except tins is also in these containers so that I've got a fighting chance of isolating any more of them. I scrubbed down all of the inside of the pantry with bleach and put new liners down. I washed all the tins and stuff as well before putting them back. Is there anything else I should be doing? I can't bear the thought of bugs in my food and I can't stand that people might think I keep a dirty house. I would normally ask my Mum or MIL but I'm embarrassed to in case they think that.

Any help would be really, really appreciated.

lil_me

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ1000.html

http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/comm002/comm002.htm

http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/plantclinic/resources/pdf/pls10cupboardbeetles.pdf

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/home/e300w.htm


I found this, might help

With most of them i's not a case of being dirty, they come in with the food when you buy it, not your fault at all so no need to be embarrassed.

Larumbelle

Thankyou for those. I'm working my way through them now. Some of them look really icky.

Thanks for the reassurance too. I didn't even want to tell my OH about it if I could have helped it.

newleaf

Don't worry, we know you're not dirty! I had an infestation of Indian Meal Moth this summer and it has taken months to get rid of the blighters. We traced the source to a large sack of wild bird seed which we were keeping in the conservatory. If it hadn't been for someone posting about them on this site I never would have cottoned on. I just thought the moths had come along with the freak hot weather and ignored them for a few weeks - by which time they had colonised all of my food cupboards. I had to throw a fortune of storecupboard stuff out and invest heavily in airtight containers. It has made me a bit neurotic unfortunately, and I now freeze everything and seal in airtight containers!

Tuttifruitty_Theresa

omg you poor thing, i had slugs coming in my back door a couple of months ago, every morning when i went into the kitchen i would find slime trails all over the floor, luckily for me they didn't get on to the worktops or cupboard but i did spend a few sleepless nights watching out for the little critters, in the end i found out where they were coming from and got my dad to put a better seal on the door. Please don't feel ashamed, sometimes bugs and things get in and breed, although i've got rid of the slugs i have lots of cheesy bugs (woodlice) in my flat i have now resorted to using a insecticide spary on the carpet, now when they come in they don't last long. Good luck in finding out what they are.


theresa
xxxx

squeaky

Hi all


We have an older thread on this very subject so I'll add these posts on to it as soon as I find it. It will be handy to have those links in there.

There are plenty of suggestions on how to deal with them too.