There are quite a few pests that find the pantry a paradise for feasting, such as rodents, ants, flies, and roaches for example. However, there are quite a few pests that are less obvious that invade the stash of food in your pantry. Most of the pests are even packaged and sent home in the food itself. Today, we at A Five Star Termite & Pest Control would like to share a handful of the common pantry pests to be on the look for.
Types of Pantry Pests
The food staples found in our pantries and cupboards, such as cereals, flours, herbs, chocolates, dried fruits, among others, attract little pests. Going unnoticed, these pests devour your food supply, reproduce, and become a nauseating infestation. These pests include the moths, beetles, and weevils.
How Do You Know if You have Pantry Pests?
Discovered contaminating your cereals and flour, and other similar products are the weevils generally, though the moths are also culprits. The moths typically prefer the chocolates, dried fruits, and dry pet food varieties. The saw-toothed grain beetles are usually the pests taking over the pasta, flours, and cereals, but more can be easily be contaminated these foods. The herbs and spices are generally assaulted by the Cigarette beetles and/or drugstore beetles as they are prone to plant matter.
Can Pantry Bugs Get into Sealed Packages?
Initially, pantry pests are introduced to your home in the packaging of your food. These pests are already lingering in the food you purchased and brought home since infesting the packaged food at the originating processing plants, or the warehouse, delivery vehicles, and on some occasions, the retail stores the food travels to where these pests are already infesting. The longer the packaged food rests, the more likely it will attract these types of pests.
What is the Life Cycle of a Pantry Beetle & Moth?
Beetles and moths have four stages as they mature during their life. They start at the egg, hatch to larvae, evolve to the pupa stage, and eventually become adults. In any of these four stages, they can be inhibiting your food. More often than not, the eggs are too tiny too see and go unnoticed. Once the larvae hatch and continue to evolve is when they become a more serious problem.
Common Pantry Pests
The list below is the most common, but not limited to the following pantry pests:
Merchant grain beetle (Oryzaephilus Mercator) are likely infesting the flour, meal, nuts, cereals, pasta, cracked seeds, and seed dust.
Maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais) are drawn to millet, rye, beans, whole grains, rice, corn, bird seed, and caked meal.
Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella) will be attracted to the dried fruits, powdered milk, candies, dried red peppers, seeds, crackers, nuts, dry pet food, meal, and cracked corn as well as grains and grain products.
Granary weevil (Sitophilus granaries) infiltrate foods such as corn, beans, millet, rye, bird seed, rice, caked meal, and whole grains.
Drugstore beetle (Stegobium paniceum) primarily eat the pepper, flour, spices, meal, cereals, and dry pet foods.
Rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) will be likely discovered in the rye, beans, bird seed, whole rice, corn, grains, millet, and caked meal packaging.
Red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) feast on cereals, flour, and meal.
Confused flour beetle (Tribolium confusum) devour flour, cereals, and meal.
Saw-toothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis) are likely to be seen in flour, meal, cereals, pasta, nuts, seed dust, and cracked seeds.
Cigarette beetle (Lasioderma serricorne) often indulge in pepper, seeds, dates, spices, rice, ginger, raisins, dried flowers and other dried botanicals.
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There are many other examples of pantry pests, when you discover these pests, call A Five Star Termite & Pest Control and let our certified experts do the rest.
