Kitchen pantries can be hotbeds for unwanted insects since storage cupboards are usually warm, moist and dark — a perfect breeding ground for infestation. Even if you keep your pantry and kitchen clean, these pests can easily find their way into your home. Learn how to prevent pantry pests, which ones are most likely to appear, and how to control them when you have an infestation.
How Do Pests Come Into My Pantry?
Pests, like pantry beetles, are often unsuspectingly brought into your home through containers with contaminated foods that come directly from the processing plant or warehouse. Once in your cupboard, pantry pests can quickly spread to the food items that are already stored. Though most of these pantry pests are not harmful, they can spread through your home and make life unpleasant.
Common Pantry Pests
Indian Meal Moths
These pervasive creatures are often found in food and grains like flour, nuts, dried beans, dried pet food, and cereal. Adult Indian meal moths are pretty easy to spot. They measure about half an inch in length with a wingspan that’s a little longer. If you see a moth, it’s possible that the adult has laid eggs either in the contaminated food or close to it. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae can chew through cardboard and even plastic to spread to other containers.
Weevils
Adults are usually reddish brown or black and are commonly attracted to starches (like pasta) and flour. While they are small, adult female weevils can lay four eggs per day during their lifespan. These bugs make their way into your kitchen through infested food from grocery stores or from your yard. If you notice weevils in your packaged food, we recommend throwing it out.
Pantry Beetles
Like most pests, they originate in foodstuffs at the processing plant or a storage facility. It is also possible they can enter your home through doors or cracks in walls. You can come across different varieties of beetles in your pantry like spider beetles, warehouse beetles, saw-toothed grain beetles. While they are not harmful to your health, it is important to remove them from your pantry and remove any packaged food they are found in.
Pantry Pest Prevention
You can take some steps at home to prevent these pests.
- Inspect your groceries when you come home. Look for damaged cartons and expiration dates. Better yet, inspect your groceries at the store before you check out. Discard the damaged items.
- Use glass or plastic containers to store your food in your pantry.
- Regularly clean your pantry and toss expired foods
- Seal points of entry into home (like cracks).
- Contact a trusted professional like ASAP Pest Control to handle pantry infestations.
Getting Rid of Pantry Pests Professionally
ASAP Pest Control is dedicated to keeping you comfortable in a pest-free home. This includes ensuring that your kitchen and pantry remain free of pests. Since 2015, our London Ontario office has dispatched technicians to locations throughout Southern Ontario. Our comprehensive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a holistic, customized approach that uses pest inspection, exclusion, and monitoring to solve your pest issues. Contact us today to get control of your pantry and remove any unwanted pests.