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If you find infested products in your pantry, dispose of them immediately in a plastic bag and remove from your house to prevent further spread of these pests in your home. |
December
21
2011
Around this time of year, no one is thinking about pantry pests. Why would you, when there are so many more interesting things going on? The run up to the holidays is keeping most people busy, but when you finally get down to your holiday baking, the concern about pantry pests may put a stop to your holiday preparations.
Pantry pests are pests that live in the dry goods in your pantry. They can be found in your flour, baking mixes, sugar, dried legumes, dried pastas, pet food, bird seed and even just hanging out on your cupboard shelves. Some pantry pests are external feeders, which means that they feed from the outside of the grain, while some are internal feeders that eat the grain from the inside out. Some pantry pests are considered scavengers that feed on grain only after the seed coat has been broken by another insect or through milling and some are considered secondary feeders, feeding on damp products that may already be damaged through mold growth. The common pantry pests that you may find in your home include the cigarette beetle, the confused flour beetle, the saw tooth grain beetle, and the Indian meal moth, and several different types of weevils.
Finding these bugs in your cupboard can be very unnerving, especially if you’ve never seen them before. At Rose Pest Solutions, we want to offer you a few tips on what to do if you should find pantry pests in your cupboards this holiday season.
Tip 1: Look through products in your cupboards for more pests. If you find any more bugs, dispose of the product containing the bugs into a plastic garbage bag and remove from your home.
Tip 2: If you don’t want to throw away infested products, you can do several things, including:
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heat the infested product in an oven at 130 degrees for 30 minutes. This should kill any bugs and their eggs.
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leave infested items in the freezer for 4 days
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microwave the product for 5 minutes
Tip 3: Pull all food out of your cupboards and do a thorough cleaning of the cupboard space, including vacuuming shelves and washing them down.
Tip 4:You can contact the professionals at Rose Pest Solutions for treatment services if the pantry pest problem is acute, or if you just don’t want to deal with these pests by yourself. Our pantry pest treatments will help you get rid of these pests, and we can give you tips on how to prevent these pests from returning.
For pantry pest control in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, contact us today; we will try to be with you within a day or two to resolve your worst pantry pest problems. Call Rose Pest Solutions at or click here to fill out our contact form.
