Beware the pest that you may not have known existed, for they can be lurking in your stored products containers this very moment! It is important to be able to identify these stored product pests so that you can properly rid your home of them. Read on carefully to imprint in your mind the traits of these dastardly beasts.
What are Stored Product Pests?
Stored product pests, or pantry pests, are those insects that feed on the staple foods of your household and include weevils, moths, bores, and beetles. These pests can be anywhere from a sixteenth of an inch long to a quarter inch long. They also can vary in color, though most of them are brownish to black.
These stored product pests are harmful because they may contaminate your food, as well as cause damage to clothing and furniture throughout your home. They commonly feed on several different kinds of Household Items That Kill Bugs things, such as: spices, books, upholstered furniture, clothes, dried fruits, and grains. Pantry pests easily penetrate packaging materials and can be found mostly in kitchen cabinets and pantries.
Beetles, moths, and mites are capable of infesting whole grains or processed foods in your pantry. The first sign that there is a problem is the appearance of small How To Mix Pesticides beetles crawling around on your counter tops, moths flying around the room, and/or caterpillars crawling up the walls behind cabinets or across the ceiling.
Other stored product pest will feed inside of whole kernels. These pests are typically the granary weevil, rice weevil, and the Angoumois grain moth. The common infested foods inhabited by pantry pests that feed on whole kernels are barley, oats, rye, and corn.
The largest portion of pantry pest insects feed on processed grains and broken kernels, as well as spices. These common offenders include the red and confused flour beetles, saw toothed grain beetles, drugstore beetles, cigarette beetles, and Indian meal moths. The flour beetles and saw toothed grain beetles cannot attack whole or undamaged grains so they feed on a large assortment of processed grains such as flour and meal in addition to dried fruits, dry dog food, dried meats, candy bars, drugs, and tobacco.
Pest Control for Stored Product Pests
Generally, the more pantry pests you find, the older the infestation. This means that the original source of the infestation may be partially used boxes or bags of food staples left forgotten in the backs of shelves and pantries. The infestations typically spread from this original source to find new food sources as time goes on. As you go through your pantry searching for the possible source of the problem, don’t forget to also look at any decorative kitchen items like harvest corn and pet food bags.
The best and most immediate way to rid your pantry of these pests is to remove the food source; find and destroy the infested products where the pests have resided. Wipe down or vacuum all of the shelving in the area to ensure you’ve got everything cleaned up thoroughly. Disposing of the infested materials is the best pest control method for stored product pests. Placing all long-term pantry staples like grains, spices, baking products, dried fruit, and pet food in air-tight containers or zip lock bags is the best pest prevention method.
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