Green caterpillar/wormy things in my kitchen!

dandy-candy

Over the last week we are finding little green caterpillar or worm things crawling around the kitchen. We get a few moths in the house and I wondered if these are the babies. I've Googled and the green things might be pantry moth larvae but I don't have brilliant eye sight so I'm not sure!

I've emptied and disenfected the cupboards, and chucked anything opened. I've also inspected the dried goods in kilner jars, but apart from one crawling by some crumbs on the counter, I can't find a "nest" of them.

Everything I buy is usually in sealed bags from supermarkets, but about 3/4 weeks ago I bought a big 3kg paper bag of wholemeal flour from a local mill. I've looked in the bag and can't see anything moving, but I chucked it and my other bags of flour to be safe. Do you think that might have been the source? And will disinfecting be enough to get rid of them?

FairyPrincessk

They might be pantry worms although those are usually a sort of brownish yellow colour. What colour are the moths? Chucking anything that might be infected and disinfecting is a good start. I'd also make sure everything else is in sealed containers--kilner jars are fine for this as are lock boxes and screw top jars. If you can't locate the culprit then that is a good way to narrow it down as a few days from now you'll start to see them in the jar. In future, try putting any flour (supermarket is just as likely as mill flour) in the freezer for 24-48 hours as this kills off any larvae. I've also read that bay leaves can repel them, although I'm not sure if this is 'just' an old wives tale or one of those old wives tales that is around for a reason.

dandy-candy

Tbh we get lots of moths of all shapes in this house, I'm not sure which are which!
I've never bothered freezing branded flour (allinsons, hovis) and not had a problem. Is it really necessary for "pucker" makes?

Softstuff

The pantry moth doesn't read the label before it starts munching

It doesn't matter what brand it is, it can still be affected. I pop any grain based dried good in the freezer. Pasta, flour etc.

Sometimes it's about the length of time it's on the supermarket shelf. So worth going somewhere that you know has a high turnover of what you're buying

FairyPrincessk

I was just going to say what Softstuff says--pantry moths can't read labels . The eggs can be laid at any point, and they have a very variable lifecycle--some eggs take around a moth to hatch, others can take up to a year so it is just as likely to have come from an old bag of flour as from your grain mill flour. I find flour to be the most frequently affected--probably because of the paper bags, and I have very limited freezer space, but if I had more and were storing things longer I'd probably do other grain products as well.

littlepinkbiscuits

Do you think they might be from a vegetable or other foliage (maybe cut flowers) if they are truly green?

I'm just assuming that the caterpillar/worm will have a level of camouflage in its early life so will match whatever it lives on.