Have you ever had the nightmarish experience when you go into your pantry and take out food or supplies only to discover that it is full of bugs? Whether it’s dry oats, flour, or a packet of crackers, and you see way too many little bugs than you’d like to see! You could even have them on the ceiling hovering near food sources on the prowl.
That nightmare has a name: Grain Beetles. Also known as pantry bugs, these tiny insects fall into two main groups: the flightless sawtooth grain beetle and the flightless merchant grain beetle. But it doesn’t really matter what kind of treatment is used to control them and the destruction they cause is the same for both.
Grain beetles have a self-explanatory name, as they are small beetles that love grain. These small brown or reddish pests often enter the home through other food containers. You could be the most tedious housekeeper ever and these aggravating pests show up one day. And it doesn’t take long for them to really establish themselves and then the population explodes.
These miniature marauders are known to be difficult to control for a number of reasons. Mainly because they settle in food, and you can’t ‘spray’ food with pesticides directly, right? The other reason is that they lay eggs with abandon and even if you get rid of the bugs, the eggs are left behind to hatch and continue the nightmare.
But you CAN control them by following these steps:
• Once you identify grain beetles in your food, first and foremost discard all affected food. They are not salvageable. They are full of eggs. It’s frustrating to throw away all that food, but you must – or you will always have to deal with these pests!
• Completely clean the pantry. That means vacuuming the shelves, wiping them down, and making sure you’ve removed all possible signs of these pests.
• Using liberal applications, spray pantry, cabinet, storage area, etc. with your favorite all-natural pest control product designed specifically for use around food. Apply the all-natural pest control product for three consecutive days. Make sure it is completely dry between applications.
• If evidence of an infestation remains, continue to apply for an additional 3 days.
• Continue at three day intervals until no evidence is seen.
• To prevent future infestations, place/store all grains and carbohydrate-rich foods in storage containers, sealable plastic bags, or other impenetrable storage containers. The benefit of storing everything in separate containers is that if you do get grain beetles again (or if they are not fully controlled), you have now isolated the problem within one container instead of the entire pantry being exposed.
• Continue to regularly spray your all-natural pest control product inside the pantry, perhaps once a week to maintain an inhospitable environment for the grain beetle to establish.