how to get rid of grain mites.

sajjed

hope this is in the right part of the forum.
has anyone had a serious problem with them?
I believe they came into the kitchen via some dried dog food, not noticed straight away until the storage box which is kept inside a kitchen cupboard was infested!
All online advice has been followed e.g hot soapy water, hoover crevices, remove food source, tried dehumidifier, tried bleach .
they seem to be seriously multiplying, everyday the cupboard is scrubbed out following advice online, all seems clean but by the next day the cupboard is crawling again with tiny white dots inside and now starting to spread into neighbouring cupboards that only have pots in, so no food source there.
how do people get rid?

Davesnave

I have no experience with these mites, but I'd imagine that they might be as hard to treat as red mites, which may infest poultry houses.

For red mites, there are strong chemical treatments, and also a product called diatomaceous earth, which is a fine powder made from the fossilised remains of tiny sea creatures. This material, though soft like talcum powder, is composed of microscopic silica pieces which are sharp enough to damage the bodies of the mites when they get between the plates of their exoskeleton. They are literally sandpapered to death/dried-out by this medium. It's simply sprinkled onto surfaces and puffed into corners and cavities.

In the absence of any other treatments being available, you might look at proprietary brands of poultry mite killers or the diatomaceous earth as a possible solution.

I treat my chicken houses with creosote/creocote on a regular basis as a preventative measure, but I'd guess you might not want to do that with your kitchen cupboards!

brightontraveller

Clear shelving and wash entire area well with a bleach and water solution (about 1/4 cup bleach per gallon of hot water), do same with 1 part vinegar 2 parts water.

Let space dry completely overnight hair dryer is good etc (They do tend to like more humid conditions) . Before putting items back freeze them a few days ,Even tins will need labels removed as mites can be found hiding under them....

Keep all flour, cereals, rice, pasta, starch foods in canisters, glass jars with tight lids or airtight plastic containers
Freeze any new dry foods etc s 4 or 5 days before storing (to kill larvae and eggs).


Bay leaf or two inside canister and sprinkle crushed bay leaves throughout pantry supposedly they don’t like them also change supermarket that’s where most are introduced to house from

Anne_Marie_2

Had an infestation in Cyprus a few years ago, although not sure what it actually was, absolutely minute little things...gives me the heebie-jeebies still. Luckily with me, it was only one wall cupboard.
Must have come in on some dried food of some sort. I threw out all food, as I found that they could get into all sorts of packaging.

I tried all the recommended remedies, nothing actually worked, and eventually took to using insect spray, which is not actually recommended, but I was at the end of my tether. I sprayed inside, outside, on top, underneath....everywhere I could.

It took about a week to get rid of all the little blighters, and then when I was sure they were gone, OCD cleaning of the cupboard several times and left for about another week, leaving the doors open, before putting anything back in. Absolutely everything is now put into containers with sealed lids, either in jars, or those lock and seal plastic containers.

My suspect food was flour, although I can't say this for sure, so now when I buy flour, I always put it in the freezer for 4 days, then put into an sealed container in the cupboard.

Not saying that you would have the capacity for doing this with a huge bag of dog food, but putting it into a large sealed container should help in the future.

snowcat75

Unfortunately I've had the misfortune of getting saw toothed Beatle in around 1500 tons of stored wheat a couple of years ago, Treatment involved moving all the grain changeling the temperature rapidly to around 40 degrees dropping it down to bellow 10 degrees then dressing out all the body's and adding a pyrothoid insecticide.

They are a nightmare as one adult can produce half a million juveniles in a year, they can also remain dormant when cold for months on end and are hard bodied unlike grain mites so moving them and useing the abrasive earths tends not to kill them.

It's only really going to be vigilance that kills them removing food sources cleaning with hot water, vacuuming, disinfectants etc, in the fabric of buildings we use OP biased insecticides however I doubt any of these are cleared for domestic use.

Proberbly not much use in a house but cold dry temperatures help as they stop adults breading.

djp64

Would something like Indorex work. It's a household flea spray that you spray on carpets, bedding etc. It lasts for up to 12 months and the only thing (from memory) that its dangerous for is goldfish.
I've just checked and it is sold as being able to kill / control house dust mites. It kills flea eggs etc so perhaps would work for the flour mites?

I buy mine online as it's cheaper but you should be able to pick some up quickly (given the time of year for post delays) from a local vet.

Debbie

sajjed

Thanks for the replies,all very helpful, I have been out tonight and bought a steamer so hopefully that will help.
a very strong bleach solution has been tried. as has the vinegar, 5 days on the trot it has been scrubbed top to bottom yet more and more appear. minute little white dots that can be seen under a magnifying glass lots and lots of them all over the cupboard
the mites are in a below shelf double fitted kitchen cupboard that is used only for dog food, dog biscuits,treats,collar+ lead etc, the food was kept in containers it has all been binned and the other items have been put in freezer.
apparently these grain/flour mites are common but they are taking some getting rid of for us.
Cant use pesticides due to pregnancy

sajjed

so all steam cleaned late last night, they were back again this morning!
so covered everywhere with bug and insect killer and vinegar, let it dry then washed off, they came back
so late this afternoon cleaned with disinfectant,then vinegar then washed with red hot soapy water then dried, steamed everywhere again and dried with hair dryer.
four hours later they were back.
anymore suggestions please or any idea who would I call to ask for outside help?

aggypanthus

They could be whats known as book lice, as they used to feed of the glue in old books, now they are attracted to the glue in packets of food.
when we had them advise from pest control was as well general clean out, buy vapona stripsk cut them in small pieces and put in every cupboard, the vapour will keep killing them.

aggypanthus

Call your councils pest control dept.

LandyAndy

I had flour mites at my previous house.


Despite throwing pretty much everything away and cleaning the whole kitchen as thoroughly as I could several times, I never got rid of them.