The weevil is a pest that enters your apartment at lightning speed and literally spoils your food in a matter of minutes. These parasites can be found in every corner of our vast world. They can't fly, but that doesn't stop them from moving from point A to point B at the speed of light. How exactly, you will read in the article.
If you suddenly find a weevil in your apartment, then this is a signal that you need to immediately take measures to destroy it, since this pest lays a lot of eggs. By the way, you can only find and see adult individuals, since the eggs and larvae are in “seeds”, and it is completely unknown how many eggs are hidden there and what scale of tragedy awaits you after hatching. Therefore, this is a rather important issue that needs to be looked at “under a microscope.”
Appearance of weevil
In general, the history of the weevil began in distant Ancient Egypt. They can be found in any apartment, especially if you store your food incorrectly (we are talking about cereals).
Even then, the pest got into storage, barns where cereals were stored and destroyed everything in its path. In general, weevils prefer tropical climates, but if they find themselves in more severe conditions, they will be able to adapt and survive in such a climate.
Over the many years of existence, these pests have not lost their power and continue to harm humans, causing damage to food. That is why it is important to fight the weevil in the first stages of its appearance.
At the very beginning of its development, the weevil reaches a length of about 3.5 millimeters and has a light brown color. As it grows older, its color scheme changes to darker tones. The pest received such a strange name due to the non-standard structure of its head and elongated nose. He can't fly because he doesn't have wings.
He moves at lightning speed thanks to his paws, with which he pushes off.
A distinctive feature of the weevil and other pests is that with its powerful jaws it can gnaw through any packaging and then begin to spoil the food. The optimal temperature for its existence should be 11-26 degrees, with an air humidity of 65%.
The female beetle simply chews the grains, in which it lays its eggs. Hatching time takes about two weeks, after which the larvae hatch, eat the grains, gnaw through the wall of the cereal and climb out, after which they can be seen. Now you understand that it is impossible to detect and count how many eggs a female has laid.
The structure of weevils differs slightly from their species. They come in two types:
- Short-proboscis.
- Long-proboscis.
Their main feature is the length of the rostrum and the location of the mouthparts. They can also develop inside the plant or in the soil. Pests can reproduce only at warm temperatures. Some species can produce offspring without fertilization. If the climate is favorable for weevils, they can give birth all year round.
How can you tell if there are wood pests in your home?
You can determine that there are “uninvited guests” in the house visually, by touch or by ear. Signs of insect life in wood:
- traces of moves;
- mounds of wood flour;
- excessive lightness of the board;
- rustling sounds coming from the walls.
Important! If the sound of rustling is heard only at night, it means that the larva has climbed deep inside the beam. Do you hear noise during the day? Then the insect settled closer to the surface - under the bark
As a building made from infested wood ages, the number of beetles living in the wood will begin to decrease. The fact is that the larvae of most types of pests prefer damp, fresh wood. After standing for several years, wooden walls will dry out and become hard. Such conditions weakly attract insects that feed on wood or fungus.
Beetles that have penetrated into load-bearing beams pose a particular danger. If such structural elements do not have a safety margin, the structure may collapse.
Types of weevil
It is fundamentally important to know not only how weevils get into apartments or how they harm products, but also the types of pests. In general, there are about 65 thousand species in the world. But in our country there are about 54 thousand of them. There are such types as:
- barn weevil - it cannot fly, but it moves very quickly using its legs. The length of the body is small, but this does not prevent him from eating a lot and often. Prefers to feast on flour, cereals and pasta;
- rice weevil - this type of weevil has wings and thanks to them it also moves quickly. It feeds not only on rice, as the name suggests. Can enjoy bread and other cereals. Also, this type of pest can spoil grains in the fields;
- striped weevil - feeds not only on cereals, but also on leaves and roots of shoots. Mainly attacks legumes. This species can completely ruin your entire garden;
- Fruit Weevil – These pests will cause damage to fruit plants and trees. They feed on everything from the trunk to the tops of branches with leaves;
- nut weevil . Here you can guess from the name what it eats. But it not only eats nuts, but also lays eggs in them. When spring begins, bugs hatch from nuts and begin to spoil everything that comes their way.
What danger do weevils pose to humans and their homes? Pests enter an apartment in different ways, mainly together with cereals, as they penetrate into storage facilities and settle down quite comfortably there. Depending on the type of beetle, they can spoil absolutely everything.
It is important to understand this point: the weevil is not a predator. He will not bite a person. But it causes harm through food. If you eat porridge made from cereals where the weevil lived, you can easily get an intestinal upset.
People with allergic diseases are generally contraindicated from eating contaminated cereals, as this can cause serious illness.
These pests can be carriers of infectious diseases, as well as fungal ones.
Weevils in the kitchen: how to get rid of voracious barn bugs
Almost every housewife always has a supply of cereals and pasta at hand, which allows, if necessary, to prepare quite a few hearty and healthy dishes. Sometimes, while sorting through these products, the owners notice small dark-colored bugs in them, actively eating such valuable supplies. These small and harmless-looking creatures with graceful noses can cause serious damage to the kitchen and household by eating everything. Meet one of the many types of weevil beetles, which can be effectively gotten rid of in various ways.
Ways to combat weevils
If you notice that weevils are living in your cereal, you need to take action immediately. It is possible and necessary to fight them.
After you have discovered a pest in the cereal, you must carefully check all the food products that were stored next to the infected package and immediately throw all the cereals that you think have been eaten by the weevil into the trash.
Those food products that were not in the source of infection must be isolated away from the site of infection and secured. This can be done by sharply increasing or decreasing the temperature. You can place all the “saved” bags of food in the freezer for several days, or, conversely, put them in the oven for several hours. 120 degrees will be enough to destroy the pest.
After discovering the weevil, you need to wipe all the walls of the cabinets, all handles, shelves, doors, etc. with soapy water, then wipe dry and spray with vinegar or a vinegar solution.
This is the first stage of pest control. However, this is far from the end; then either chemical methods of struggle or folk methods will go into battle. This is everyone's business. Important - choose a method depending on how many of these pests you have. Traditional methods will not give the maximum effect, if you have a large number of parasites, it is better to resort to chemical methods.
Getting rid of the problem
If you are wondering how to deal with weevils, you need to consider that any drugs that you are going to use must be absolutely safe for humans. This is due to the fact that insects live directly in the products. And installing any traps or simply placing drugs on shelves are ineffective methods.
But the omnivorous weevil can also attack indoor plants. These pests chew holes in the buds and lay eggs there. As a result of such destructive activity, the plant weakens and begins to hurt. And insects, having multiplied, can reach your kitchen.
You can also learn how to get rid of weevils from folk advice. Most of them advise placing on shelves plants such as lavender, tansy, bay leaf, wormwood, which have a strong odor. Cloves and mint will do.
It's good if you have an extract, for example, lavender. Then you can soak a cotton pad in it and leave it on the shelf. Citrus peel, mint, eucalyptus and even washing powder have a deterrent effect. Unpeeled garlic cloves can be placed directly into the container.
Having discovered a spoiled product, you need to urgently decide how to get rid of weevils. You should be patient and practice proven extermination methods. To prevent infection you need to:
- Conduct preventive inspections of products. Moreover, explore not only cereals, vermicelli flour and pasta. Spices, dried fruits, coffee, lentils, tea leaves are checked. It is a mistake to believe that the weevil will not appear in bean stocks: it gnaws through beans and beans. If elephants are found, the product must be disposed of or used to feed poultry and animals.
- When purchasing a new batch of provisions, immediately place it in the freezer or in the cold, at least for several days, but not less than 3 hours. Bugs, eggs and larvae will die, but useful substances and vitamins will be preserved.
- Process the cereals in the oven at high temperature (50 degrees and above) for at least 20 minutes, but no longer, because Vitamins and proteins are destroyed in the oven.
- Pour a small layer of cereal into a microwave-safe dish, place in the oven and expose to microwave radiation for 1.5 -2 minutes. Then, before cooking, rinse the cereal and free it from the pest.
- Sift cereals and flour, separating the pest if found. Immediately destroy the collected beetles.
- Choose the right containers: food-grade plastic, stainless steel, glass with airtight lids. Paper bags will not work because... The weevil easily gnaws through the walls. In addition, fat oxidation occurs in paper containers.
- Pre-soak canvas bags in a supersaturated saline solution and dry thoroughly, and only then fill with the product.
- When reusing containers, wash them thoroughly with soda or saline solution. You can use mustard or vinegar. Place cereals and other products only in dry containers.
- Store dishes with food in a dark, dry and cool (5°C) place (bottom shelf of the kitchen cabinet).
- Ensure optimal humidity by placing a bag of salt on the bottom of the container before placing the bulk ingredients there. You can place dried citrus peel on the bottom (to repel).
- An old and proven method: place steel nails 80, 10 mm long or tin caps from bottles into cereals, flour.
- When deciding how to get rid of weevils in the kitchen, do not forget to pre-treat cabinets, bedside tables and shelves for containers with soapy water and then with a weak solution of table vinegar.
- Another preventive remedy: kerosene, liquid soap, turpentine and ammonia for weevils. All ingredients are mixed in equal proportions. Problem areas are treated with the finished composition.
Treatment of furniture surfaces with special compounds will allow you to get rid of elephants.
Garlic, bay leaves, tansy and lavender flowers, wormwood branches, and chestnuts have a repellent effect. Peeled but uncut garlic cloves are placed in the cereal under the lid, and the herbs and leaves are laid out on the shelves in the cabinet. The spice can be replaced with crushed cloves or a piece of chewing gum with the scent of mint or eucalyptus.
Chemical method of controlling weevils
First of all, it must be said that all the chemicals that will be described in the article are absolutely safe for human health if you strictly follow all safety rules and follow the instructions. Why? because all traps and preparations will simply be ineffective in the fight against parasites, since they live mainly in cereals.
You can use the following products to combat parasites:
- Inta – Vir.
- Furafon.
- Actellik.
- Arrivo.
- Karate.
Use all these drugs strictly according to the instructions and be sure to wear gloves, a mask, and so on.
Preventive methods
Preventive methods are necessary in order to eliminate the risk of re-appearance of “uninvited guests” in your home. So, the first thing to remember is not to make large stocks of cereals. You should keep no more than a month's supply. The longer the cereal sits in your house, the higher the likelihood of weevils appearing in food.
The second preventive method is to decompose all cereals into separate bags and store them in different places (for example, on different shelves). After purchasing cereals, you can place them in the freezer for a day as a preventive measure, and then put them on a shelf intended for storing food.
Use airtight containers to store cereals and be sure to monitor the expiration date of the product.
The kitchen should always be clean and tidy. If you spill something, immediately clean up after yourself. Once a week, wipe all shelves with soapy water or adding a drop of aromatic oil.
You can also place garlic cloves, cloves and other fragrant plants on the shelves.
Ventilate food – this is also an important rule of prevention. If you follow all these basic rules, then there will be nothing left for pests to leave your home, since you will deprive them of food and will also drive them away from your apartment with pungent odors.
Tips and tricks for storing cereals
- Capacity. Avoid disposable bags. They are easy to chew through. Try to use sealed containers or plastic. Before pouring the cereal into the container, be sure to rinse it. You can even use soap or dishwashing detergent. Wait for the cereal to dry completely and pour it into the prepared container.
- Purity. Keep your kitchen shelves clean.
Why do they appear in the apartment and why are they dangerous?
The weevil appears in the home with packaged cereals and grains, which are purchased in the retail chain. If the humidity and temperature conditions in the barn storage facilities were not maintained, and measures were not taken to remove the pest, the grain will be contaminated. It is not immediately possible to notice an insect in purchased products - the egg is neatly sealed with mucus, the larvae resemble sticky semolina. The kitchen attracts weevils with its warmth and abundance of food, so pest control will not be easy.
What is the danger of grain infection by weevil:
- rapid deterioration of food supplies - damaged grain loses nutritional value and is unsuitable for consumption;
- beetles are carriers of bacteria and infections;
- If you eat a damaged product, allergic reactions and food poisoning are possible.
Adult weevils have sharp teeth and easily damage grain and plastic bags.
Barn weevil in the house
It will be much easier to remove weevils from the kitchen if you know how they reproduce. The female lays one egg in the grain, having previously made a hole in it. The fertility of one female individual leaves 200-250 embryos. Having completed oviposition, the female closes the depression in the grain with mucus, which quickly hardens.
After pupation and hardening of the cover, the young beetle independently gnaws a hole in the grain shell and leaves it.
