Unpleasant small animals are found on the street and in the house. The bugs have successfully taken root and are parasitizing on human territory. Most often, insects attack food in kitchen cabinets. The appearance of “neighbors” does not depend on the degree of neatness of the housewife: they unexpectedly appear even in a perfectly clean kitchen. We'll tell you where parasites come from in kitchen cabinets and how to get rid of them.
Types of bugs
First, let's look at the types of kitchen pests. The table contains a photograph to identify the insect and its name. With this data, it will be easier for you to find a means of destruction.
| Suriname mucoedis The most common inhabitant of kitchen cabinets. It has a body up to 2 mm long, hard wings, and a bright red color. It does not pose a danger - it does not eat food and lives little. The main threat is white larvae. They are not noticeable in flour, rice, oatmeal. While feeding, the worms leave behind waste products. This is how food spoils. |
| Bread Grinder Dangerous and voracious. This is a brown beetle up to 3 mm in size, with powerful mandibles. Lives in flour, potato starch. The inhabitant is unpleasant due to the consequences for the person. Spoiled products can cause poisoning. Difficult to destroy due to rapid reproduction. |
| Flour beetle Small brown inhabitants of flour and starch. After reproduction, they migrate to other loose, tasty objects. The spoiled mixture collects in small lumps. If you eat round formations, a person will be poisoned by the waste products of the parasite. |
| The red mule beetle has the appearance of a real beetle with horns, but is distinguished by its small size up to 3 mm. Lives in bulk products, the humidity of which does not exceed 15%. They harm any food, especially white larvae. Insects are identified using their tracks. |
| Rice weevils Dark brown pests reach sizes from 23 to 35 mm. They prefer to eat rice, corn, wheat, buckwheat, barley, and pasta. They chew off the skin and infect the grains. After consuming such a product, a person experiences a severe allergic reaction. |
food moth
One more problem. These are, of course, not bugs, but this misfortune starts very quickly and easily, and getting rid of it is the same problem as with bugs.
The photographer took a clear photo - but it's not a butterfly
It comes to us in the same way as the unfortunate bugs. Except they also fly. So, if you see larvae 1 cm long with a dark-colored head, and, moreover, also flying, take immediate action!
Corrective Action
- Check all products. Those that have been opened - mercilessly throw them away.
- Kitchen cabinets and shelves should be thoroughly washed with soapy water and then with vinegar.
Advice! Don't forget about the cracks - moth larvae may well remain there.
- Ventilate the kitchen. It is advisable to leave the window open for 2-3 days. Then carefully inspect the entire room to see if there are any new insects.
- Place traps on the shelves where you store food. You can put a clove of garlic in jars of flour and cereals. The price is small and the effect is wonderful. They are like vampires - they cannot stand the smell of garlic.
- Check products carefully over the next 2-3 weeks before use.
What to do first?
It is easier to detect insects in flour. It changes smell and turns grey. It is better to throw the bag or bag into a street trash container.
Important! Sifting the flour won't help. The larvae will remain, then turn into large individuals. Adult reptiles will head to a new territory and continue to parasitize.
Throw away any insects you see along with the containers. It is not recommended to leave bags and sacks in the trash bin. Even one surviving individual will create a full-fledged colony in a week.
Why did uninvited guests appear?
Where do insects in the form of flour bugs come from?
Their celebration of life does not begin on its own, and 3 reasons contribute to this:
Contaminated product
You should not think that any “evil spirits” will not appear in a product from a trusted store. It can enter the buyer’s home after contamination of cereals during production, during transportation and directly at retail outlets.
"Gift" from neighbors
Bugs often end up in another habitat in this way. It is enough for them to find themselves in a glass of emergency help when, if it is impossible to visit the store, you ask your neighbors for something. On one landing, people are not averse to sharing flour and other products if they are on good terms. After all, next time they will not be denied their request either.
Tricky used furniture
After purchasing this part of the interior, you should then wait for a problem to appear; a bug may be hiding there. Not in all cases the outcome of events will look like this, but it won’t hurt to prepare for it. In a new place, insects quickly settle down, which is not something to doubt. In this case, it is easy to drive them away by using special methods.
Where do the bugs hide?
Parasites live in secluded places in the kitchen, and not only in grain crops. Preparing a folk remedy for poisoning is not the wisest decision. This is due to the persistence of parasites in the most unexpected places. Here are some examples:
- spices and medicines. Favorite medium: mustard plasters, pepper, seasoning, various herbs. Carefully inspect the drawers and boxes where spices are stored. Check the packages of patches, tablets;
- coffee beans, loose leaf tea, dried fruits. Mucoeds and rice weevils are not visible in a filled dark container due to their camouflage color;
- boxes with vegetables. Living creatures prefer to spoil and feast on the bulbs. Vegetables become soft and smell unpleasant. Go through the box or grid. If you find a creeping buildup, discard immediately;
- walls of kitchen cabinets, cracks, window sills, floors. The light is not pleasant to the winged ones, so they hide in secluded places;
- Appliances. Small creatures nest in mixers and meat grinders, where food particles remain.
Beans remain the perfect home for unpleasant inhabitants. By gnawing holes in beans, they lay eggs there. The beans become covered with dark spots and holes. Throw away such beans without regret.
Expert opinion
Tatiana Leontyeva
Professional housewife
I recommend storing your homegrown beans in the refrigerator. Agree that it is unpleasant to cook a dish from beans that have previously been attacked. But they must be consumed quickly after this.
How to get rid of insatiable parasites once they have appeared
If there are bugs in the house, then you need to get rid of them as follows:
- Pests attack many of the food items in the cupboard. Therefore, legumes, cereals, pasta, dried fruits must be carefully sorted and sifted. Since bugs leave their waste products in flour and bulk products, laying eggs and larvae, the contaminated food will have to be thrown away - it is not suitable for food.
- Completely empty the kitchen cabinet and wash it with an acetic acid solution (you can use Domestos or another disinfectant). It is advisable to repeat the procedure at least three times.
- Those cereal products, nuts and dried fruits that are not damaged must be calcined in a hot frying pan and refrigerated for 2 weeks, or can be put in the freezer. After processing, place the products in glass jars or plastic containers and close with lids.
- To prevent cereal bugs from infesting again, it is useful to place peeled garlic cloves, bay leaves, and nutmeg in the cupboard. Pests are afraid of these odors like fire. It is also advisable to place borax purchased at the pharmacy on the shelves.
- To get rid of surviving pests, you can use bait. Unrefined vegetable oil is suitable for it. The caps with oil should be placed on the shelves of the cabinets. The Suriname musk beetle and other insects will follow the smell, but will not be able to get back out.
If there are bugs in the rice, but they were discovered in time, then the cereal must be processed immediately. This way, “uninvited guests” will not have time to migrate to new food supplies. The cereal must be washed and filled with water. Add a little citric acid there. Let stand for two hours and rinse well under running water. Unfortunately, such rice will no longer make pilaf, but it can be used to prepare porridges, salads, puddings, etc.
It is necessary to store cereals, flour, dried fruits, nuts and pasta in large quantities very carefully. A very effective method of protecting against bugs for such a case is the use of steel wire or nails. They are put directly into bags. The smell of metal repels bugs.
How do bugs end up in the house?
Flour lovers come to the apartment from the store. When purchasing grains in bulk, it is important to ensure that there are no pests. If you purchase packages from a store shelf, inspect them carefully. Sealed packaging does not stop voracious parasites. If you notice the presence of living creatures, immediately notify the seller.
The only sad fact is that the masonry is not noticeable. You can try buying bulk products in other, more expensive supermarkets. The price will be noticeably different, but at the same time the likelihood of purchasing environmentally friendly goods increases.
And a little more about prevention
The following tips may be helpful:
- Buy food in small quantities so that you can use it in no more than 2-4 months. Try not to store food longer than this period.
- Use products from older (or opened) packages that were previously freshly purchased/closed.
- When purchasing packaged foods, check the integrity of the packaging and, if possible, the presence of insects.
- Remember that cardboard, foil, paper or plastic bags will not prevent insects from breeding.
- Keep food storage areas clean and do not allow crumbs or food particles to accumulate, as stale food will attract insects. Cleanliness is especially important in animal feed storage areas.
If bugs appear in the kitchen again, check other rooms in the apartment for breeding sites and repeat the described steps. If your pest problem persists, seek help from a home pest control professional.
Ways to combat flour bugs
There is only one solution - after throwing out the products, treat the outer and inner walls of the cabinet, the floor and other dark, inaccessible places with Peritrum powder. The drug of natural origin is safe for humans, but harmful to various creeping creatures. Before use, read the instructions.
Attention! The powder does not destroy eggs. Therefore, it is necessary to re-process several times. Typically used as a prophylactic.
What store-bought insect repellents are there?
We have already written what works best and what exactly can be used to get rid of bugs. But, in addition to such means, there are also all sorts of traps, for example, pheromones. You can buy a couple and place them for prevention purposes and to attract those individuals that have survived the main treatment.
Using only traps is unwise and expensive. They do not act as quickly as we would like, judging by the reviews on the Internet. And as long as there are bugs in the kitchen, the cereal will become unusable.
The danger of cereal bugs
Small creatures reproduce daily, increasing the population. After 2-3 months, a person is completely deprived of healthy food. Colonies gradually move to other rooms. Affected mixtures cause allergies, exacerbation of chronic diseases, poor health, and acute poisoning of the body.
To remove the inhabitants you need:
- freeze the grains in the freezer;
- Heat lightly infected cereals in the oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of +110 degrees;
- Pour salted water over the beans and beans and leave for 5-10 minutes. Rinse and dry the product.
To prevent a heavy invasion of creeping insects, dry the acquired crops in the oven.
