How to Get Rid of Beetles in My Pantry?

You want to make a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy for your family. You grab your flour, and you notice that there’s tiny bugs inside. One of the most horrifying experiences for cooks is to find bugs inside their dried goods.

These tiny beetles will riddle your flour and destroy your other pantry storage. With the cost of food constantly increasing in New Jersey and abroad, you can’t afford to let an infestation wipe out your precious supply. You must learn methods to help you prevent and eliminate these bugs from your pantry area.

Common Pantry Beetles in the Garden State

Pantry bugs are not all beetles, though beetles are prevalent. There are other bugs that you must consider too. Here is a list of common pests that love your pantry:

• Weevils
• Indian meal moths
• Worms
• Beetles

• Mice
• Rats
• Saw-toothed grain beetles
• Pharaoh ants

What Do They Eat?

Pantry beetles love dried foods and don’t need the package to be opened to find its way inside. These pests are voracious, so they can devour anything that they can gain access to. Their tiny mouths won’t allow them to chew open packages, as you see with rodents, but the eggs could be inside during the transportation process.

Thus, if they hatch and are inside a bag, they will contaminate the product as they eat their way through it. Here are the most infested food products in your pantry:

•Flour

•Cereal

•Pasta

•Rice

•Spices

•Crackers

•Cake mixes

•Cornmeal

•Sugar

•Oatmeal

•Cracker meal

•Buckwheat

•Bulgar

•Dried fruit

•Tea

•Beans

•Pet food

•Anything powdered

Where Did They Come From?

One would think it’s easy to identify and get rid of pantry beetles, but it’s not always so straightforward. It’s often hard to see these insects, and the eggs they lay aren’t always detectable to the naked eye. Have you ever wondered how these bugs got into your food? If you think that they came from your home, it’s not an accurate perception.

Most of these pantry bugs find their way into your food supply at the warehouse. Warehouses across the country store food for weeks or even months. So, it’s easy for them to get into your goods at these locations. In addition to the warehouse, they can be transported from the processing plant.

Manufacturers that make cereal and other goods must have their facilities sprayed constantly. It’s effortless for mice, rats, and other bugs to find their way into these plants. Most companies store things like flour and spices in grain silos, and it’s the perfect place for a pantry beetle to feast. So, it’s possible the beetles also came from the manufacturing plant.

Another consideration is that they were picked up in transport. Between the manufacturing company, the warehouse, and the grocery store, many variables can introduce them to the food. These places might not realize they have a problem, as the eggs can’t be detected. So, they can pass eggs from one facility to another, and the outbreak occurs when they enter your home.

Many folks don’t know they have a problem right away. They only notice them when they see these tiny brown or black beetles moving around their food supply.

What Do They Look Like?

Identifying them is one of the best ways to resolve an infestation. Here are the most common pantry beetles and other small bugs and their unique characteristics.

Source: https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/home/what-are-the-small-brown-beetles-in-my-home-drugstore-beetles/

Cigarette Beetle

The cigarette beetle isn’t as common in New Jersey homes as in warehouses that store tobacco. Still, there’s a chance they can get into your pantry in dried foods. This bug is small at around 3.5 mm in length. It’s got an oval body and a dark brown color.

Unlike the other beetles, this one is covered in tiny hairs. This beetle is attracted to light, so you might see them flying around and hovering over your lighting fixtures. This beetle is also drawn to sage, so if you store any of this in bulk, you might find them feasting on it.

Pantry Beetles

The common pantry beetle is small and measures about 2 to 5 millimeters in length. They have six legs and a hard shell on their back for protection. They come in colors black, brown, and red. They can fly, but you will likely see them crawling about the shelves in the pantry.

Flour Beetles

There are two varieties of flour beetles, but both look very similar. The other variety is called the red flour beetle. The flour beetle loves bran, flour, and any type of dried fruit.

They have a small oval body with six legs. They’re around 4.7 mm in length. Their body is a rusty color, and they often are found infesting bags of flour. Keep a close eye out for their larva, as they look like small off-white maggots.

Drugstore Beetle

The drugstore beetle measures about 3.5 mm in length. They love to invade things like beans, teas, seeds, and even your pet’s food supply. Their hard shell is brown, and they have hairy wings. There’s also a distinguishing line of dots on their back.

The larva of this beetle is white and hairy. This bug is named the drugstore beetle because they have a penchant for prescription medications. Be careful with this one, as it will also chew on non-food items. They love wool clothing and anything leather.

Spider Beetles

These beetles get their name for their resemblance to spiders. Their bodies are round and can get up to 5 mm in length, which makes them one of the largest. A couple of varieties of this beetle include the smooth spider beetle, American, and white marked.

The American spider beetle differs from the others by having a brown fuzzy coating on its body. However, their legs are a shade lighter. The white marked spider beetle is also dark brown, but it has white spots and tan hairs that cover its body.

Saw-toothed Grain Beetle

The grain beetle is long and slender. They’re similarly colored with red, brown, or black color varieties. They are about 2-3 mm in length. They get their name from their teeth, which have a saw-like shape. Their head is uniquely triangled in form, and they love seeds, chocolate, and cereals. This is one beetle that you can quickly freeze and kill.

Prevention

Pantry beetles are one of the biggest threats to your groceries, and here you thought it was a mouse. The first key to stopping these situations is to use prevention. Preventative measures will save your wallet and sanity from dealing with these bugs.

The best way to keep pantry beetles from getting in from the outside is to use airtight containers. When you keep the cereal and other products in cardboard boxes, it’s like rolling out the welcome mat to the hungry beetle. Plastic BPA-free containers cannot be penetrated by their teeth, and these containers will keep most pests out of your supply.

It’s best to transfer your products as soon as you bring them into your home, as it will help to protect them. Remember, you could have an issue and not know it until it’s too late. Another way to keep these pantry beetles from getting into your food is to ensure there are no open bags.

If your children enter your pantry and spill cereal or other flour around, they invite them to come and dine. Throw out anything that’s out of date, as not only is it compromised, but it’s also a typical hot spot. Another popular way to store dried goods is in the freezer. Did you know that the freezer will kill the pantry beetle and other insects’ eggs?

Spending four days in the freezer is all it takes to kill off anything that might be lurking inside your packaging. Some folks have chest freezers and keep as many dried goods as possible. Thus, they don’t have to worry about such incidents.

The silver lining on this dark cloud is that pantry beetles are not harmful to you. They can’t bite you, and these little pests don’t carry any type of disease. However, you must remember they do use the restroom as they eat. What might make you sick is the mere idea of ingesting a mouth full of beetle eggs, as the thought seems ominous.

How to Get Rid of Beetles from the Pantry

Now that you’ve learned all the types of beetles, what they look like, where they come from, and how you can prevent them, it’s time to learn what to do with an infestation.

1. Toss the Contaminated Food

The first thing you want to do upon noticing bugs in your pantry is to get rid of all the food that’s been contaminated. Remember, these bugs don’t carry disease and are no threat to you, but you don’t want them crawling around in the food you use. Many try to remove the bugs if they see 1-2 and not dump a whole 25 lb. bag of flour.

It’s understandable to want to save food, but you must consider that even if there were only two bugs in the whole bag, there are still eggs sitting in there waiting to hatch. As much as it hurts you, you must throw out the entire substance that was contaminated. Make sure you put the trashed items in a sealed baggie in a container, as you don’t want to cause an issue outside with other animals.

2. Vacuum The Area

Next, you want to vacuum the area to remove any eggs or bugs. Additionally, you want to remove any spills that might cause you issues. Even if you get rid of the pantry beetles, you might still attract other vermin if you don’t clean up the area properly.

3. Wipe Down Everything

Now you want to wipe down the shelves with hot, soapy water. Be sure to mop the floors too. You never know what germs are left behind or what eggs might be lying around. Remember, some of the eggs are microscopic, and you won’t be able to identify them until they’ve turned into larvae.

4. Use a Pesticide

The last step is to use a pesticide that’s food safe. You want to kill off any stragglers and prevent them from returning. If you miss just one bug, your nightmare can start all over again.

Source: https://extension.usu.edu/pests/research/insects-nuisance

Getting Help with Pantry Beetles

Many people try to handle these issues without the help of a pest control professional. Some are successful, and some are not. The problem is that you’re losing food when you have an infestation you can’t get under control. All the lost food and money you spend on methods to do it yourself could have paid for a professional to handle it right the first time.

Don’t let your food supply be in jeopardy. When pantry beetles move into your New Jersey home, give us a call to help. We can get rid of them right the first time around, which saves you time and money.

To learn more:

Our service area
Our carpenter bee control services
Our wasp control services
Our hornet control services
Our yellow jacket control services
Six Common Ticks Found in And Around New Jersey