Get Rid Of Flour Beetles In Your Lewisville Pantry Once And For All
The flour beetle, Tribolium confusum, also referred to as the confused flour beetle is a common pantry pest that you could find in your Lewisville pantry. Confused flour beetle? We think not! They know exactly what they're doing when they invade your food. But do you know why confused flour beetles get into your food? If you are confused, we have a few facts that will help you get a better understanding of these pests.
How Flour Beetles Get Inside
Confused flour beetles and red flour beetles are the most common flour beetles in the United States. Both are a reddish-brown color. Both are about 3 to 6 mm in length. And both get into homes in one of two ways. They will come in from the outside through gaps, cracks, and holes, or they will be carried in within food packages. The reason the confused flour beetle got its name is because it has often been confused with the red flour beetle.
Food Items That Flour Beetles Infest
The list of food that these insects can infest is quite a long one, but they do have foods that they prefer. Some of the more common items are cereal, spices, coffee, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, and of course, flour.
Flour Beetle Prevention Tips
- There are many pests that can get into your home and find their way into your pantry or kitchen foods, most of which can be kept out of your home with routine pest control treatments performed around your exterior. Flour beetles, and other pantry pests, require a little more effort. Here are some tips to help you keep these insects from being a part of your meals or snack times.
- Closely examine products before you purchase them from the grocery store. If you see the tiniest rip or hole, select another package for purchase.
- Consider storing pantry items in sealed glass or plastic containers. This will serve two purposes. Those containers will help you to see adult insects, mealworms, or eggs in your food before you eat them, and they'll prevent an infestation from spreading.
- Do an inspection of your home's exterior. Seal any gaps, holes, or cracks you find, no matter how small. Replace damaged door sweeps and weatherstripping around exterior doors. Make sure all your doors and windows have no gaps around the outside edges of the frames, or holes in the frames. If wood-damaging pests have created holes in your door or window frames, you can use a caulking gun to patch those holes temporarily.
- Inspect your pantry and food-storage rooms. Use a caulking gun to seal up cracks, crevices, and holes.
DIY Flour Beetle Control
Have you found flour beetles in your home? You might be able to arrest the infestation if you diligently work to isolate the infested food products and throw them out. You can use ziplock plastic bags for this process. If you want to stop an infestation and save your food, you can freeze your food for at least four days or heat your food in the oven at 125 degrees for an hour. This will kill those flour beetles in all stages of development and stop the pest activity. Once you've isolated the infestation, it is important that you use a vacuum to clean your pantry and food-storage cabinets. Pay close attention to crevices. These beetles lay their eggs in tight spaces around a food source.
How Hard Is It To Get Rid Of Flour Beetles In My Pantry?
When you find flour beetles in your pantry, you should know that they can be difficult to eliminate. If flour beetles have deposited eggs in the cracks, crevices, and gaps around the products in your pantry, you could go through a lot of work getting rid of infested products, and vacuuming the area, only to end up with more products getting infested because your vacuuming didn't get all the eggs. This is why it is best to contact a licensed pest control provider, like Adams Exterminating Company. If you live in Lewisville or the Dallas/Fortworth area, contact us for immediate assistance. Our team of licensed professionals knows what is required to exterminate flour beetles.
