8 Ways to Get Rid of Weevils in the House

It all started one day last week, when my three year old came to me with a tightly closed fist, obviously concealing some great prize. Grinning proudly, she looked up at me and exclaimed, “Look Mommy!” And she opened her fingers to reveal a palm full of little black bugs, scattering in a mad dash for freedom.

a weevil
a weevil

“Xia,” I asked her after she proudly displayed her “friends”, “where are you finding these bugs?” Her bright eyes lit up with excitement as she ran to show me what seemed to be like hidden treasure to her.

“In there,” she grinned and pointed, “in the closet!”

Uh-oh. Her closet.

The closet where I had bags and bags of wheat stored.

I opened the door. There, easily spotted against the contrasting color of white bucket lids, were hundreds of tiny black bugs.

Weevils. Those little funny-nosed bugs that hatch out in bags of rice, beans, and grains, and destroy your food if you haven’t properly stored it.

Luckily, I was able to remedy the situation, but not without a great deal of work and worry that I had ruined my entire store of wheat.

If you want to avoid the stress, waste and headache I went through, keep reading and I will tell you how to deal with the same kind of weevil infestation, and hopefully before it gets too bad. I will also tell you a little bit more about my own predicament!

What Exactly Are Weevils?

Weevils are worldwide and notorious pantry pests. From the family Curculionidae, weevils are technically beetles. There are more species in the weevil family than in any other beetle group, with more than 1,000 different types in North America alone!

Weevils can be found in all kinds of body shapes and colors, but most are a brown to black shade. They are slim and oval, with bodies ranging from about three to more than ten millimeters in length.

If you’re curious about the differences between weevils and other beetles, rest assured that it’s pretty easy to tell the two apart. Adult weevils have unique elongated heads that come to points in snouts. Their mouths are at the end of this snout.

Weevils make their way into your home from the yard, or more commonly, inside packaged foods or other bulk products. Weevil eggs are practically invisible so you won’t realize the foods are infested. Typically – as in our case – they infest grains and starches such as pasta, cereals, flour, rice, and, of course, wheat.

In the adult and larval stages of their lives, weevils feed on plants. They can be incredibly destructive to crops. They are found in fields, gardens, orchards, and even worse, in your home.

Larvae spend their winters in the ground, emerging as adults the following spring. In the spring, adults lay their eggs on the ground near host plants, with the larvae then burrowing back into the ground to feed on roots.

When they live outside, weevils are quite dangerous. They can destroy your garden plants and render them completely useless. Inside, they are equally harmful. Their feces and cast skins quickly contaminate the food they infest, causing significant damage beyond just what they choose to eat. An infestation can leave an entire pantry inedible!

That being said, weevils don’t bite and they won’t cause any damage to wood – which is reassuring to people who assume that weevils will act like termites and infest the wooden structures of their homes.

There are several types of weevils that are infamous for their ability to damage stored seeds and grains, including Granary Weevils, Rice Weevils, and Cowpea Weevils. I’m not 100% sure which kind attacked my wheat, but don’t worry – I knew I wanted to get rid of them. And fast!

Signs of a Weevil Infestation

As you might expect, the easiest way to tell if you have a weevil infestation is you will actually see them gathered inside your home. Typically, you won’t notice that you have a weevil problem until you see them gathered en masse since they are so small.

But lacking that obvious tip-off, look for the following signs:

Food Has a Musty Smell

A sizeable infestation of weevils, even if you cannot see them or they are not alive, will lend your food a noticeable rank odor.

This is because weevils, like most living things, have body odor! You cannot smell one just walking around in the open, but put a bunch of them in a confined space and you’ll soon have a nasty smell building up.

If upon opening any kind of stored food but especially items with a neutral or earthy smell (flour, oats, dry beans, etc.) you detect a tang in the air, start looking closer at once. Of course, the weevils’ droppings also contribute to the odor…

Noticeable, Unusual Debris in Food

This is the grossest thing you are going to read in an already very gross story, but adult and immature weevils alike do their business all up in your food. Yes, number one and number two.

This more than anything is why you should throw out all foodstuffs that have been substantially contaminated. This leavings contain bacteria and God knows what else- things you definitely don’t want to eat!

Look closely for the following gross things in your food. Any of them is a sign that you need to act, or at the very least throw the food out:

SkinsWeevils cast off their skins as they grow. You will find these delicate, wafer-thin exoskeletons mixed in with your food.

HusksPupal stage weevils leave behind a hard husk when they emerge as adults. This looks a little like a tiny tube or bushing. Color varies depending on species, but you can definitely recognize it among grains and other food that aren’t rice.

DroppingsWeevil turds and pee. Incredibly tiny black or dark brown flecks are poop. Might appear as a muddy red smear or stain on flour or light-colored foods. Very noticeable if weevils are present in great numbers.

I know it is almost too terrible to consider, but seeing any of these in your food means that weevils have at least infested the food at some point in the near past, even if they are dead or gone now. It very likely means they are still around.

Holes in Individual Grains

Weevils lay their eggs inside or near your food, and when they hatch into larvae or baby weevils, the little buggers will burrow into kernels to eat them from the inside out.

The larva will then pupate inside the husk of the grain, and finally emerge as an adult weevil to mate and start the process all over again.

This life cycle takes place almost entirely within your food stores, which is why an infestation can often go unnoticed for so long.

But if you look you may easily notice distinct “bullet holes” in individual grains or kernels of wheat, oats, rice, corn, dry pet food, etc. You cannot miss it once you know what to look for!

This is a sure sign of active weevil infestation.

Stored Dry Goods Feel Unusually Warm

If you notice that your stored foods strangely feel warm to the touch, this could be a sign of weevil infestation. As adults congregate and as adolescent stage mature and eat their way out their meager body heat can accumulate, noticeably warming your food.

If there is no other valid explanation for why your food might be warm (like the sun shining on it through a window), this is a cause for concern.

Strange Dampness or Unexplainable Mold

This is a rider for the previous evidence. Rising temps and moisture in or near your food will easily lead to dampness even if the food itself was dry when you stored it.

This dampness will in turn lead to the formation of mold growth where before there was none if it was even possible. If you notice any of your dry goods feeling damp, showing condensation, or developing mold it is almost certainly due to weevil infestation.

Cracking or Popping Sound In or Near Food

As you will learn later on in my story, a truly massive and active infestation can be audible. You can actually hear it even if you would not normally see it. This is caused by the movement and feeding of hundreds or thousands of weevils in your food.

Lean in close and listen occasionally when it is quiet: Consistent popping, cracking, scratching or other furtive sounds coming from your food means it is time to check very carefully for any and all signs of infestation. Don’t worry, you should see them soon enough!

Weevil Larvae in Food

The larvae of a weevil are tiny grubs that look a bit like maggots. They are cream-colored or white and usually (but not always) have brown heads.

You may find them crawling around in food, or occasionally even in the cracks and crevices of cupboards and pantries though this is pretty rare.

If you see these little guys it means that weevils are already present and reproducing in your home! Get to work!

Clusters of Adult Weevils

This is the most direct evidence of an infestation: seeing the adult insects themselves. You will find them mostly near, on and in food sources, and often in groups or clusters as they scurry to and fro.

They will roam all over your pantry and eventually leave to carry on the lifecycle elsewhere. They are attracted to light so you may see them gathering on window sills or near open cupboard doors at night.

Also, if you should notice hordes of weevils outside your home, on a window or near a door, don’t suspect you got off lucky.

Chances are that some already found a way in, and once they do it is highly likely they will breach any unprotected foods you have stored. If you see even a few weevils inside you must suspect that there are more. Investigate at once.

How to Get Rid of Weevils

Throwing out weevil bugs and destroying ruined product is probably one of the fastest and easiest ways to get rid of these pests – but it’s not the only way.

There are a few simple ways to get rid of weevils such as using a vacuum cleaner or a broom, or wipe the pantry shelves and cabinets with soapy water. You can also use bay leaves to repel them.

But there are other ways to get rid of them, or to make sure they don’t set foot in your home in the first place. Here are some suggestions…

Stop Them from Getting In!

The best offense, in this case, is a good defense. If you can keep weevils out of your home you won’t have to deal with gross and lengthy methods of elimination.

Something to keep in mind about weevils is that they will do their darnedest to get into your home during the winter. This is because they are looking for a warm place to spend the cold months, and your food storage is just the ticket they need to beat the chill.

Now, most bugs tend to go where they please considering they can squeeze through tiny cracks, climb sheer walls, and generally reach places you cannot see or expect.

But weevils are shockingly persistent little menaces in this regard: they will sneak in through any crack or crevice they can find and then take a circuitous route through your home before laying up in out of the way places- behind walls, in attics, etc. And where one weevil goes, others go, follow-the-leader style.

This means they often go unnoticed until it is too late. Come spring, you could have a full-blown infestation in your pantry or cupboard. Combine this tendency with your average homeowner’s reluctance to undergo major cleaning and inspection tasks and you can see where this is going.

Seal Up All Outside Cracks, Crevices, and Entry Points

The best defense against weevil infiltration is airtight perimeter control at all times.

Be vigilant: Inspect all potential entry points to your home, no matter how tiny, and ensure they are caulked, trimmed, covered with mesh or attended to in some other way that will prevent weevils from getting in.

Double-check all of the following likely entry points on and around your home:

  • Around doors and windows
  • Under the eaves and soffits
  • Attic and ridge vents
  • Vents and chimneys
  • Cracks in siding or trim
  • Gaps around utility pipes, drains, and electrical lines where they enter your home
  • Any other tiny opening you can find, no matter how small!

If you are truly diligent, you can prevent adult weevils from getting in and setting up shop.

Clean Up the Pantry

First things first, you need to find the origin and source of the weevils. These pests do have the ability to fly, but they aren’t likely to do so. They would rather stay close to their food source.

If you notice weevils in one type of food in your pantry, they are likely to be found in other foods, too. Here are some of the foods to check:

  • Grains
  • Cereals
  • Spices
  • Herbs
  • Crackers
  • Pasta (Especially thicker pasta like macaroni, fettuccini, lasagna noodles, etc.)
  • Dried fruit
  • Chocolate
  • Nuts
  • Candy
  • Dried beans
  • Dried peas

Discard any of the food that has weevils. While you regrettably won’t be able to see any food that has eggs in it, you should be able to see the adults.

Don’t eat any food that has live weevils, even if it’s just a few. If you happen to notice that you cooked weevils into something you already prepared, you can relax – it’s safe to eat, but it’s not going to be super appetizing with dead bugs in it!

After you’ve removed contaminated food, you need to wash and vacuum your pantry. Remove all the food from the shelves and use your vacuum to suck up loose bits of flour or food. Immediately empty the canister outside so the weevils don’t remain inside your house.

Use Vinegar or Eucalyptus Oil

Vinegar and eucalyptus oil are both effective cleaners to guard against and repel weevils. These two ingredients are especially effective if you combine them.

Create a 50/50 mixture of the two and wipe down your shelves with it. Other effective oils include those from neem, pine needles, and tea tree. These will prevent weevils from taking up residence in your pantry.

Switch to Airtight Containers

If you are still storing any of your food in cardboard containers, make the switch to hard, airtight ones. Weevils can easily chew through cardboard boxes, paper bags, and even soft plastic containers, in some cases.

Therefore, you need a hard plastic or tightly sealed glass container that will keep air out. If it isn’t airtight then it might not be enough for smaller weevil species like the wheat weevil. Check all existing cardboard containers for weevils and then make the switch.

Use Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth is essentially just fossilized insect skeletons – it works really well at repelling a wide variety of pests, and you may have heard of people using it in their gardens with great success. It can also be used in the pantry to fight weevils.

To use it, start by cleaning everything from the pantry. Sprinkle a generous amount of food-grade diatomaceous earth along the edges, and then let it sit for a couple of days.

Then vacuum carefully. The diatomaceous earth works by piercing the exoskeletons of the weevils before drying them out completely. While it is deadly to most insects, it is completely safe to use around children and pets.

Buy Smaller Amounts

I know, it can save a ton of time and money to buy in bulk! However, if you know you are struggling with a weevil infestation, it may make more sense to buy your dry foods in smaller quantities.

Flour, in particular, should be purchased in smaller quantities. If you leave flour sitting around for quite some time, weevils are more likely to lay eggs inside. The faster you use up your flour, the better – plus, it will be fresher and more suitable for baking, anyway!

Freeze Your Flour

It sounds odd, but freezing your flour or other dry goods as soon as you get them home can be an effective way to halt a weevil infestation.

Put the flour in a freezer bag and place it in the freezer for at least a week. This will get rid of any weevil eggs or adult weevils that are living inside. After freezing, you can take it out and put it in any airtight container.

Use Herbs

Consider placing herbs inside your dry goods to help repel weevils. Weevils hate bay leaves in particular. Although you will need to replace the leaves every few months (or when they no longer have a scent), placing a few of these inside a bag of flour can be super effective at repelling weevils.
Consider an Insecticide

I’m not a huge fan of chemical insecticides, but there are several options you can use. I would not recommend using a chemical-based one around foods, but that’s your prerogative.

In addition, there are several natural insecticides that are non-toxic that you can purchase online. These are designed to be sprayed in the pantry and even on pantry shelves to keep pests out.

Set Up Traps

There are certain weevil traps, known as pheromone traps, that can be used to attract and kill weevils and even pantry moths, too. These traps are equipped with sticky strips that trap the pests. All you need to do is place them around the pantry and change them out once they are full.

Be Vigilant

The easiest way to prevent and get rid of a weevil infestation? Just stay on top of things. Try to get into the habit of checking your pantry for a weevil infestation on a regular basis. Adult weevils can live for a year or more, so it’s good to check at least once or twice a month.

Oh, look! Xia just brought me two more. How lovely.

Whenever one is spotted on the floor, wall, or countertop, we dutifully pick it up and drop it into the potty. Fortunately, their numbers are dwindling to one or two a day. We’re over the hump, it seems.

And that’s how to get rid of weevils. One stinking bug at a time…

Dealing with My Weevil Problems

I was right about the closet door not containing them. Upon closer examination, I found tons of weevils all around the perimeter of Xia’s room.

In the corners of the baseboard, behind her bed and dresser, in the wooden chest full of blankets, and even escaping her bedroom and fleeing down the hallway. Toward the kitchen!

Great. I really should have investigated on Day One. Now they’ve got a lead.

Enlisting the children in the hunt, our first task was to collect as many escaping weevils as we could find and flush them down the toilet. The kids, of course, thought this was great fun, and made a game of who could find the most. I was grateful for their enthusiasm, and their keen eyesight!

We focused on the positives while we worked. At least they don’t sting, bite, or fly.

One female weevil can lay up to about 250 eggs; we had to get every single weevil out of the house to avoid further infestation. Each and every item in Xia’s room had to be thoroughly examined and then removed if I was to find all of the bugs.

As you can imagine, this process took the good part of the day. Every single blanket in the chest, every piece of clothing, every toy, every everything had to be looked over, then taken to another room in the house.

When the room was clear of everything except the dresser and the bed frame, I hauled the vacuum in. With the hose in hand, I readied myself to tackle the closet with a vengeance.

The kids watched from behind as I forcefully sucked up every little black speck I could find. When all but the weevils-in-hiding were enjoying their new home in my vacuum canister, every single item in the closet had to be examined and removed.

I know. Fun times.

About nine hours into the project, I was finally ready to really tackle the issue. The bags of wheat, which I had totally put off storing, had been not-so-patiently waiting for me in two large cardboard barrels.

They have a lovely, locking plastic lid that seals and gives the illusion of safe-keeping. And so, tucked nicely in my daughter’s closet, they had pretty much been forgotten about.

Well, Jada made the observation that one of these barrels’ lid was askew. “That’s how they’re getting out!” she determined. And indeed, she was right. I shuttered at the thought of what was going on in the other, still closed barrel. One disaster at a time.

opening lid on small storage barrel with a bag inside
opening lid on small storage barrel with a bag inside

I cautiously removed the lid from the opened barrel and Jada and I gasped in horror at… not what we saw (we were prepared for that)… at what we heard!

The sound, it was coming from the uppermost bag of wheat in the stack.

Crunching. Crackling. The sound of a million moving and munching insects inside the bag, destroying my grains. It was horrifyingly loud. Like Rice Krispies popping in milk. And the sound continued, even after I quickly covered it back over. How did we not hear this before?!

Jada and I looked at each other. Now what?! I wasn’t about to take that creepy crawly bag out of the barrel to remove it!

I had to get the entire barrel outside before I attempted to remove the infested bag. Problem was, with five 25-pound bags of wheat inside of it, that barrel weighed more than I did! How was I to get it outside?

I remembered Jerry had a hand-truck out in his pickup. Just what I needed! I went and got it, and with a little heaving and hoeing, it was on the dolly and out the door in just a few minutes.

I wheeled the barrel to the water stove. As much as I hated to do it, I was going to have to destroy that bag of wheat. And fire seemed like the best way to do it.

But first. Jada was DYING to see inside of the noisy sack. As freaky as it was, there was some driving curiosity that led both of us to have to know if it was as bad in there as our imaginations led us to believe.

As my scissors got closer to the crunching and crackling bag, I almost couldn’t do it. Did we really have to see what was in there?

Yes. For the sake of appeasing my daughter’s raging curiosity, I did.

bag of wheat infested with weevils
bag of wheat infested with weevils

And yes. It was as bad as I’d imagined. Lovely. Aren’t we glad we looked.

I donned leather work gloves, quickly hoisted the bag up, and tossed it into the open water stove’s firebox. Wheat and weevils spilled out of the open bag, and I grabbed some tinder to start a fire with.

One bag down.

I looked into the barrel to find the other four bags of wheat covered in the crawling black bugs. I determined I had to open each one to know whether or not it was worth salvaging before just chucking them all. And that’s what I did.

I prayed that I wouldn’t have to learn this lesson too expensively.

And to my complete shock and delight, three of those bags had zero weevils in them, and one had minimal infestation. Saved!!

Immediately, I washed four buckets and lids, dried them, lined them with mylar bags, filled them with the clean wheat, dropped a 2000cc oxygen absorber into each bag, sealed them with a hair straightening iron, and covered the buckets with lids.

I did this even with the one with a few weevils in it. The O2 absorbers will kill any living bugs, and will prevent eggs from hatching. I just marked the buckets to remind me to sift the wheat before using it.

DONE.

Thank goodness 100 lbs of wheat was spared!

With that out of the way, I turned my attention toward the other barrel in the closet. ANOTHER 125 lbs of organic wheat. I cringed at the thought of what I would find in there. Would they be infested, too? It took me a minute of struggling with the lid before I finally got it off.

Relief flooded my soul as I found no weevils inside. And again, I quickly got the wheat properly stored.

Nothing like a good ol’ bug infestation to kick you in the hind end with a dose of motivation!

Once the second barrel was removed from the closet, I worked well into the night vacuuming the weevils that kept coming out of the woodwork.

I even had to pull the carpet up in the closet to hurry the process. Those little guys love to hide in the nooks and crannies of the molding, and only come out when they feel it is safe to do so.

We were blessed that not all of our 250 lbs of wheat was ruined!

What’s frustrating is that I KNEW BETTER! I knew weevils could hatch out in my wheat. I guess I just figured I had more time than just a few months. Maybe it depends upon the bag itself, I don’t know.

But take a tip from me- get it stored properly right away! If you don’t have oxygen absorbers, you can freeze your grains for several days and that will kill bug eggs as well.

It has been five days since the cleanup, and we’re still finding random weevils throughout the house.

getting rid of weevils Pinterest image

108 thoughts on “8 Ways to Get Rid of Weevils in the House”

  1. Actually, the bug you call weevils, as in wheat weevils. Those are really bad news, they actually do carry disease and can make you very sick if you cook the contaminated items that had or still have the bugs in them.

    It’s best to store them in air tight enclosures in the freezer.

    Some high end dried pasta manufacturers have had weevil infestation, they knew it and still sold it to the USA. They’ve been sued by numerous U.S. companies for causes a branching infestations of other products in their store and making people sick, in the process.

    Reply
  2. I am guessing you might have the dreaded Indian meal moth infestation. It is AWFUL,speaking from experience. I have 2 parrots and bought an infested bag of parrot food. (I went back to the store to show them as 4 of their plastic bags were eaten through and the meal moths were having a grand time snacking away.
    Because meal moths are creepy looking worms, they have teeth apparently and can chew through plastic bags.
    And then I thought about the kitchen…sigh..too late, as they had already gotten into grains, cake boxes (yeah I’m lazy sometimes when I need to be but have a cake to make.) Though when my son wanted to make a cake, we unknowingly opened the package and dumped the contents into the bowl along with eggs and veg oil.. and I just about lost it when I saw two worms (larvae) doing the back swim in our cake batter..and had to throw it out while consoling a 5 year old.

    I knew now they could eat through the tough linings of cereal boxes, cake boxes anything– SOOOO… I have everything, in Mason jars and food saver suctioned all of my pantry goods and more.
    They do have these spidery webs but you are even more creeped out when one decides to come from the ceiling and repel down to eye level. They know I fear them. They know I had to throw away $100s of dollars of food (single mom, 2 special needs kids) and has taken years to hopefully eradicate them.

    It doesnt help when I’m terrified of indoor bugs- they can stay outside and I enjoy gardening. But, when they make their presence unannounced…I am seeing a horror show in living color in front of my eyes.
    I told True Value of the bad Parrot food and was not reimbursed for anything.
    Needless to say, I freeze Parrot food for several days BEFORE putting the parrot food into Mason Jars and then vacuum sealing extra. I still put all grains, cereals, cake mixes etc in Mason jars right away when I buy them.
    I can’t fathom starting over.

    I’m sure there are bug sprays you can use (in dont like chemicals) although I have 2 spoiled Parrots that couldn’t tolerate the smell…if you dont know birds, they can’t be in contact with teflon and other common things one doesn’t think about.
    Best of luck with your situation. I hope I am wrong but google Indian meal moths and their stages of development.
    My daughter found a cocoon of these dreaded monsters on her sock in her sock drawer. Egg, larvae,cocoon,moth.
    Ugh!
    And now…someone brought fleas into my home without me knowing it. Yep, another Psycho Thriller.
    All the best! I know you will prevail!

    Jacquie

    Reply
    • This was a very well written and informative article. Thank you for posting it! I have also been battling those wicked weevils and I found diatomaceous earth, pesticide version, killed them. I have a 10 lb. bag of food grade DE that I’ll dust the shelves with after I wash out my pantry. Thanks again for your wonderful post!

      Reply
  3. I just found one weevil sitting in an open bowl of powdered sugar I’d left out overnight and all day as my baking of Swedish Christmas Cookies had been interrupted. What are the chances I have more somewhere? Most of my sugar and flour are in air-tight glass jars, and the bag of sugar had been bought just before using it.. Any information is appreciated. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. I had weevils get in at one point. Called the Extension and they said they nest in the seams of the wood cabinets. They suggested I spray the cleaned out cabinets with a strong Lysol spray and let it dry without rinsing, focusing on the corners and back of the shelves. It works well. Prevents the eggs from hatching.
    Freezing any grain products works well to prevent the infestations.. Storing in hard plastic containers from the Dollar Store helps after freezing. I’ve found that bay leaves are a complete waste of time. Old wives tale.

    Reply
  5. I live in a 20×20 studio apt with my lil dog. I kept seeing these white worms. One here one there. The I woke up at 4am to see 3 crawling up the walls. Now I am determined to find the reason, and kill it. I found it, in the small 4lb bag of dog food. I’ve had in here for two weeks, only open the corner of bags, never again. I found the grossest infested bag, full of cobwebs, crawling swear hundreds of these worms. Everything has been effected, and the bag didn’t expire til next year. It has been 3 days I still am finding worms, crawling. What do they become? I am so grossed out, bought new food (opened bag before leaving store) How long will they be in my life? Remember my world is 20×20! I am disabled on fixed income and am alone with only my dog to help me. Not an ideal life but its mine. I don’t mind sleeping with my dog, but I don’t want us to share bed with worms, too. Yuck, ewe,OMG, beyond augh.

    Reply
  6. One more thing- I have not seen any of the creepy crawly weevils throughout the house… Just the larvae under the dishwasher.

    Reply
    • That’s so strange that the larvae would be under the dishwasher. Are you sure it’s weevils?? To answer your question about storing grains and such, I would freeze the box/bag for 3 days to kill any eggs that might hatch and store them in an airtight container. I suppose they could be under the flooring. Try not to freak out too much about weevils though. They won’t hurt you, just protect your food so they don’t continue to thrive. Good luck!

      Reply
      • Thank you,

        And I am positive it is weevils I saw a huge dead one between the flooring and googled a ton of pictures to make sure.

        Reply
    • That’s not weevils it moth, they also lay eggs in wheat. When the eggs hatch it looks like worms and they make web in your food. Not easy to get rid off, get air tight containers once you’ve gotten rid of the problem

      Reply
  7. Hello,

    I was working on my dish washer trying to figure out why it was leaning. I took the two pieces off that are located at the bottom of the dishwasher. One of the panels as a filter or water absorber attached to it. Between that filter and the metal I found larvae that was already hatched. From all the comments and what you went through with your flour how can I prevent them from coming back?

    I recently purchased this house and just found this issue. I haven’t seen an weevils throughout the house and just in this one area…

    Any recommendations of where I should look to see if there is larvae, etc.?

    Reply
    • Also, what do you recommend for storing flour, cereal, & pasta? I have never had this issue when I use to rent apartments and houses. Also I have birds that I put there food into Tupperware- should I move that into a different storage bin as well as freeze the food that is not being used? Ugh I feel lost because of the area they are located in. I love in northern Nevada and temperatures are very cold… Is it possible that they could be under the linolium with it still being cold outside? I keep my house family warm…

      Thank you for any advice and help!!!

      Reply
  8. I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this blog.
    I really hope to view the same high-grade content from you later on as well.
    In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own blog now 😉

    Reply
  9. we had little white grubs crawling out of our acorns and they had long red snount they happened to be called weedles and they live in acorns.squirlls seem to tell if tere good or not so..it took a minute to find some good ones.if they can hurt you tell me please they are in my house,and in my kitchen witch has alot of acorns!

    Reply
  10. I just found your article and at first thought I had found my problem but then I saw where you said they don’t fly. The bugs I found in bags of beans do fly. We had been away from home for several months and came home to an ungodly smell in our house. We got rid of the beans and the bugs and have never seen anymore but the problem is that the odor is still in our house. Can anyone tell me something to spray or clean with that will get rid of the door? We have cleaned with ammonia, lemon juice, sprayed Febreeze,and have set out plates of baking soda and then coffee and still have the odor. We were away from home again for an extended period and went back and in no time being in the house our clothes reeked with that door. I’m afraid our furniture and mattresses are ruined. Any ideas? PLEASE HELP! P.S. We are trying to sell our home and need this odor GONE, not just covered up. Thank you in advance.

    Reply
  11. Recently tried Tea tree oil on cloths and kept in the cabinets after cleaning the up, i find when buying in bulk packages brings them home as they’re stored for couple of months, so then i invest in sealed containers and should be washed every time before refilling them and bay leaves sems so far to keep them at bay, last check on my survival food with bay leaves and cotton balls of Tea tree oil in the cases didn’t find any. also in the crack of your cabinets must be sprayed, me i used tea tree oil sprayed. Upon testing many out door bugs and home bugs have not found one that likes the smell of the tea tree oils.
    good read on here

    Reply
  12. So I have just recently made corn hole bags from corn, and had no prior knowledge of things like weevils until a couple days ago as I was reading an article! If I place the already made corn hole bags in the freezer, should I be okay? Also, would storing the bags in an airtight container or bag work for storing them permanently?

    Reply
  13. Oh!! and another idea, chicken food, the chickens would love the wheat and the weevils would prove to be a bonus protein! Seems a shame to waste such great grain!

    Reply
  14. omfg I’m living your life right now, i’m glad they’re not gross or flighty but MAN they’re an issue, I SCRUBBED the pantry, made sure everything was closed in plastic, then they started boring THROUGH PLASTIC OMFG.

    Thanks for the laugh, I’m going to costco tomorrow to buy a metal shelving unit to revamp our pantry, and buying a ton of sealing containers for quite literally EVERYTHING that is not inside a can!!
    xo

    Reply
  15. Ok I felt like losing my lunch when you described the shuffling as the sounds of loose rice krispies. I imagine that you have a tougher stomach than me. Regardless I’m gald yyou shared

    Reply
  16. I put stick of Wrigleys spearmint gum in my flour , corn meal etc. but now seems smell has changed & not as effective against weevils

    Reply
  17. I recently found these little things in my home. I did not find them in my pantry (luckily), but they were in a guest bedroom and bathroom. After further investigation, I found massive amounts in my Fall decorations. I immediately removed them from the house and threw all the decorations away. But since they were in the closet with all my other decorations… are they going to have the little things all over, too (ex: Artificial Christmas trees, store bought ordainments, etc.). I searched through the boxes (quickly tonight) and did not see anything that looked like they were present (the Fall decorations looked like they had been finely shredded where they were eating some of the decor). Any info is appreciated so I can get this in control ASAP.

    Reply
    • NO COST, CHEMICAL FREE way to rid weavels from your house.
      We noticed one night, small black bugs on the bottom of the shower and didn’t think to much of it at the time as they were dead. A few more days passed and more bugs in the shower,also dead. Then we started to notice an odd one here and there. A few more days passed and noticed more and more, some crawling up the walls, on the couch, window sills. They certainly seemed to be invading our house. As we have pets that live inside and a few chickens that free range outside, we didn’t want to use any chemicals to rid these little invaders. As we sat and pondered on what to do, we realized they were looking for water, hence them being on the shower floor. So we decided to place a few shallow bowls of water about the house. The next morning as we checked our water bowls, there they were, floating in the water and some still in the shower. We continued this until one morning the bowls and shower were weavel free. We did find the source of the problem being from the stored chicken feed outside.
      This does work folks, be patient, as it will take quite a few days to rid them.
      You don’t need to spend money on chemicals, which can be harmful to pets or children. Nor will you need to source a professional who may spray all sorts of chemicals in and around your house.
      ALL YOU NEED ARE A FEW SHALLOW WATER BOWLS!!!!!!

      Reply
      • I travel for work and live alone, so finding the source of this problem has been an ongoing challenge. One morning I found the dregs of the previous evening’s melted cocktail – melted ice, essentially. It had trapped and killed at least a dozen of my little friends. Thanks to your anonymous post I realize they are in search of water.
        Until I find their home in my home, shallow water bowls will at least help with my ongoing infestation. I’ve been in search of their home for at least 8 weeks, but, mostly on weekends because of my job.
        Kendra I also dismissed my random bug sightings for a while. Until I started to recognize the bugs and then realized there’s a pattern here. Indictable to me, but way too many of one thing.
        I am so puzzled by where they may be living. I’ve been through my pantry I am so out of ideas.
        Four years ago I had an attic fire. I didn’t live at home for a year. When that happens a company packs out your home and it’s in their interest to save everything because in part they are paid by the square foot of your belongings. My fear is that somewhere there is still an un-dealt-with box full of 4 year old wheat berries. It is horrifyingly possible. 🙁

        Reply
    • I put in my rice grains, lentils, cickpeas, etc., several bays leafs.
      My beans are in a bucket with ashes mixed with lime; and when you going to used it, only wash them! Blessings ❤️

      Reply
  18. Thanks for this article. We were noticing them in our house and finally found the bag! Praying they aren’t in many of them. We have animals too, so maybe it will all just be animal feed. Oh well. Time to break out the mylar bags and O2 absorbers!

    Reply
  19. It makes me feel so much better to know I’m not the only one with a massive weevil infestation infestation. I searched the Web 2 years ago and never found this website ,just people who had removed the source of the problem and..problem solved. I even contacted a pest control company and they found it very odd to have a house -wide problem. Anyway, it took a long long time, I cleaned EVERYTHING ,and used a lot of a specific bug spray, and eventually stopped seeing the little bugs everywhere .I have recently started seeing the little bugs everywhere again..but none in my food cupboards. I think they must have been in hiding ,and I brought them with me when I moved house ….But so it starts again ..

    Reply
  20. If you freeze your grains, not your legumes, for 5-7 days in a deep freeze that will kill any bugs and their eggs. Just make sure your shelves are bug-free and your bug problem should be over!

    Reply
  21. I recently found some in 2 rice bags my mother accidentally left in our closet. I kept seeing one or two on my bed and one on my leg and thought maybe they came from outside. until today when i decided to clean the closet..i notice 2 bags of rice and yes, they were tons of them inside. These were like 2 lbs rice bags each. I threw them away and now there isn’t any other foods they can eat. I’ve stored anything that they like in the fridge. My question is though, will they die off now that they can’t find any more food? Because even though i threw the rice bags away with them. A few did get out of the closet and were exploring my bed. I also noticed that when i shaked my clothes a few dropped off the clothes! (eek)
    So i’m wondering if they will die off and get off my clothes and bed?
    Any tips to getting rid of the remaining ones? I keep seeing a few (like 3 or 4) on my clothes and bed. And i really want them fully gone. They only had seem to be in the closet with the rice.

    Reply
    • I’ve just in the last hour identified what my mystery bugs (yes, weevils!) are. While I know nothing about these bugs, I do know that I went to my storage unit last night and found more of them in those containers than there than in my house. I also know there is no food source in the storage unit, so the answer to your question is, yes, they do seem to be able to live quite a long time without a food source (the clothes were undisturbed since July and it is now almost November)!
      Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how, why or for how long the weevils not only survive, but evidently thrive. All I know is that they were alive and well with nothing to live on but clothing inside of a sealed bag. :/

      Reply
    • Jen,

      I’ve had tea bags stored in the cabinet for years and have never had weevils get into them. I’m not sure if they do sometimes, but I’ve never had that problem. The weevils that are coming from the flour and sugar you’ve stored in containers are probably hatching out from eggs already in the grain. Freezing your grains will help. Good luck!

      Reply
    • YES. I had over ten different types of tea in my kitchen, and I found the little bugs crawling all over & inside the tea bags….. gross!

      Reply
    • I found them in a new box of family size teabags (Luxianne) They had also gotten into other teabags stored loose in the same cabinet. Just started trying to get rid of them today. Had been noticing for about a week what I thought was an occasional gnat like flyer. Then found them in the teabags!

      Reply
  22. In my house I thought weevils were only getting into one cupboard, so I keep most grains and rice in the fridge. I tried putting flour and sugar into air-tight containers in the cupboard, but they got in. So I used my linen closet. That worked for a couple years, but they made it over there too. Buggers! My point being don’t get complacent when you think you’ve killed them, they are sneaky! VERY grateful for the freezing idea! Thank You!

    Reply
  23. Hi Kendra!

    Appreciate finding some good guidance on weevils.

    We just noticed weevils in our high-end bird seed that was stored on a shelf in the garage for three months and always sealed with a binder clip. Its been a decade or two since I’ve had a weevil problem.

    I scooped up a bit, only about 6 oz or so, into a white plastic cup. After a few seconds the weevils were quite evident among the seeds.

    I immediately double bagged the infested bag of seeds in a white 13 gal bag and placed it in a garbage can with a lid and put the can on the curb (today is trash day).

    Fortunately the container with the bugs was never inside the house. However, a cup of seeds was on the patio for several days and we had the sliding doors open on occasion. A few of these critters could have wandered inside to the kitchen about 15 feet away.

    We are placing everything (such as rice) into sealed plastic containers just in case, and I’m undertaking a full inspection of the pantry.

    Just added bird seed (to be stored in a sealed plastic can) and bay leaves to my shopping list.

    Cheers!

    Reply
  24. About how long until you didn’t see any more of these little bugs? It’s been over 4 months and I am losing my mind!! I know they are harmless but they still make me cringe 🙂

    Reply
    • I have them too. They came from the last house I lived in stowed away, believe it or not in the spray top of a can of Raid. They slowly began to infest my kitchen. I was mortified. They made their home under the kitchen sink. I had to remove everything and clean each item carefully. They had gotten under the linoleum lining in the under sink cabinet too. I took it out and scrubbed it too. I sprayed the entire cabinet with the Raid. I kept monitoring the area and it finally paid off.

      Then horror struck the other day when I noticed they had infested my bathroom instead. They nested in the carpet! These things do not give up. I think and hope I finally have them out of my bathroom. I even took the pressure washer and some bleach to that carpet thinking that would get rid of them for sure. I continued to find them in the carpet so the carpet now sits down on the side of the driveway on it’s way to the dump. I caulked around the tub and toilet and I believe the evil weevils might finally be gone.

      Reply
        • I finally won the war with the weevils. I discovered tonight that they have a queen like an ant colony. Once you get the queen, you get them all but she is very hard to find. I drove her out of hiding with bleach and tea tree oil and lots of scrubbing around the areas where I see them the most. I feel confident that they are gone now. The queen is about 5 times the size of the others. Close to the size of a lady bug. I will sleep better tonight.

          Reply
  25. We have weevils in our basement. They started from corn hole bags. They escaped and we are finding them under the baseboards. Any ideas how to eliminate? Been going through this for months. Probably are finding about 20 a week now but still frustrating to vacuum these little creatures up everyday. Any advice much appreciated!

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • D, Thank you for mentioning corn hole bags. You just saved us $400-$700. About a week ago we noticed weevils in our hall by the door that goes to the garage about a week ago. My wife looked them up on the web and we were convinced we had wood boring weevils. So we called two different exterminators and we’re told we needed a quarterly maintenance plan which cost $700 from Orkin and $400 from TNT Exterminating. We were ready to call the cheaper of the two (TNT) and set up the quarterly maintenance plan when I decided to look up “how to get rid of weevils” which directed me to this website luckily. After reading many of the different stories that people posted I read the one about corn hole bags. I looked at my wife and asked if we still had the beach bag with the 16 corn hole bags in the closet by the door to the garage. When we looked in the beach bag, it was infested with weevils. We put all the corn hole bags in sealed garbage bags and pitched them. Thanks so much for your post. You saved the day and a lot of cash. Dan in Valley City, OH

      Reply
      • Holy crap! I find this thread almost two years later and it’s a huge relief!!! I have been struggling with weevils for months and we’ve cleaned cupboards, drawers, counters, etc. sprayed oils, everything! But never once did I think it would be in our corn hole bags stores below our closet!!! That is EXACTLY where the infestation was.

        Reply
    • I tried tea tree oil. Someone suggested it in a previous post. It has a very strong odor,(no wonder the weevils don’t like it) but I would recommend it. I poured some onto a sponge and treated the entire cabinet, floor, air duct, threshold. The odor goes away after a couple days and it’s well worth it to get rid of the creepy little pests. It drove them out into the open..
      They were in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, the carpet and a vase full of sea shells. I thoroughly cleaned everything under the sink, (I found lots of them), I filled the vase full of shells with boiling water and bleach, threw out the carpet, scrubbed the linoleum floor with a bleach and detergent solution, re-caulked around the tub and toilet. Pretty much wore myself out in the process but I believe I succeeded at wiping them out. And yes, the tea tree oil does seem to work.

      I would suggest removing your base molding and treating both the wall and the molding with the tea tree oil and any place else where you have seen them. If the room is carpeted, remove the carpet if it is affordable and treat the sub floor with the oil too. They are very stubborn and will nest just about anywhere. I hope this helps.

      Reply
    • Place shallow water bowls around your basement, they will climb in and drown, it does work and its free and chemical free.

      Reply
  26. Bay leaves never worked for me. Freezing is great, and I freeze as many things as can. Although, in the rush of life, this step is often skipped or forgotten. When it comes to bugs, I’m not one to balk at chemical interference. I heard about something that I have found works great. Animal flea collars! I get mine at the dollar store. Wear gloves and activate them according to the directions. Then cut them into 1-1 1/2″ sections, and scatter throughout your cabinets. I still find the occasional bugs, but they seen to stay confined to where specific package or shelf that the ‘host’ package lives. The effects of the collars wears off after a while, but not as fast as on animals. I replace mine about once a year. I swear by this! Hope this helps.

    Reply
    • I haven’t tried bay leaves. Flea collars often have an unpleasant odor. I know with ants you have to be equally as persistent as the ants or you will always have problems and I’m sure that persistence will pay off with the weevil problem too. The difficult part is locating the actual nest site. There can be several. When you chase them out of one area they will just move to another part of the house so you must be very diligent to the point of being obsessive or they will prevail. I wish good luck to everyone with this annoying problem and hope my input will be helpful.

      Reply
  27. I was trying to look for reviews about Weevil Away and came across various blogs, where “nicole schooper” commented with her identical message featured above. I really don’t know if the product she’s advertising is any good or not. Just saying that she has commented 47 times with the same message about Weevil Away. I too say “hmm…”. Too bad I can’t find any other reviews on the product or any other spray that might help repelling the buggers.

    Reply
  28. i had a weevil problem a while ago. I cleaned everything out and they went away for a while but they came back in a few weeks. I searched the web for solutions on how to get rid of them and came across a product called Weevil Away. They have these little adhesive sticky pads that have a natural/organic solution on them. They repel the weevils which sounded like a great idea to me. I’d rather repel them in the first place rather than wait for them to show up and then try to get rid of them. I stuck one in every one of my cupboards and hoped for the best. The smell is fantastic and it’s been almost a year and still no weevils. Love this stuff!

    Reply
    • When you use a product to repel them, where do they go? If you have them in your home, you want to get rid of them, don’t you? If logic dictates here, repelling them will just move them farther away from the food, it won’t get rid of them. These bugs don’t care where they nest, even if it’s in a box in the basement. Your product, Weevil Away has a pleasant odor but odors can permeate food packaging. I succeeded in getting rid of them with the tea tree oil and persistence.

      Reply
  29. Vickie, jay jay didn’t say put bay leaves IN the food. He said put it in the pantry and food cabinets. I for one am gonna try it. It can’t hurt!

    Reply
  30. explain using the diatamaceous earth in flour to me please. Do you mix it in our does it go in sachets? So you leave it in the flour for cooking? I need details lol

    My freezers stay full of meats from the slaughter house, on sale bacons, bologna, hot dogs, etc. so I don’t have room for dry goods for days.
    When I buy in bulk, I buy a 5 gallon bucket, a couple tablespoons on the bottom, a couple in the center, and a couple on the top..lid hammered on.
    For 4 years, never a bug…yet.
    I do have bay leaf in all my kitchen cabinets.
    Oh, I got ants every spring for 4 years in this house—DE sprinkled under mats at all doorways, around baseboards, no ants–wouldn’t hurt to sprinkle DE in cabinets if no bay leaf.
    Hope this helps.

    Reply
  31. For years everything that I buy, cereals , pancake mix, flour, rice, beans, pasta of any kind go in the freezer as soon as I get home from the store. I have even started freezing potato chips when they are on sale. We live out in the country so a quick trip to town may not be possible when something is needed. Any dry goods goes directly into the freezer and remains until I need it.

    Reply
  32. I was going to offer the bayleaf as well. I have always kept leaves in my pantry (Weevils seem to love Florida). My Momma taught me that when I was a kid – they will also leave if you put bay leaves in the closet.

    Reply
  33. Just wondering if anyone else uses dried bay leaves in their flour and other dried foods. Keeps weevils out. Of course it’s a good thing to take precautions first but for some reason weavils will stay away from anything that has dried bay leaves. Been using this for the last 35 years. No problems. Just suggesting a tried a true method of prevention. Story was amusing though. Good writing!

    Reply
  34. Here in India, rise is a staple food. We store plenty of rice. My grandma mixes boric acid powder to the rice to keep these bugs away. We simply wash the rice before we steam it. And rice is generally stored in earthenware vessels/urns.

    Reply
  35. Put a bay leaf in all grains. It does keep the critters out and away. I store my stuff in plastic tupperware and have never had a problem because I use bay leaves.

    Reply
    • I too use bay leaves. I put a bay leaf in all my dry goods..from cereals to sugar to flours. It doesn’t effect the product in any way. NO BUGS! Works extremely well!

      Reply
  36. I am so glad to learn about the freezing trick. I just lost a LOT of Rice because of those buggers.

    I found out by accident, through soaking the rice to feed the chickens, that the bugs (perhaps only the live ones) float to the top and eventually drown.

    We replaced the rice today and will definitely put it in the freezer, maybe for 2 weeks just to be safe before storing it.

    Thanks to everyone for the tips!

    Reply
  37. I too have experiences this! And sadly there are bugs in alot of things, even pastas and cereal! Anything I bring home that is grain/rice based I freeze for a few weeks before I repackage to store. I even opened stored cake mix and found creepy crawleys, so they go in the freezer too! Remember also that food grade Diotomaceous Earth can be sprinkled in your grains to deal with this also. It is safe for people and animals, even if ingested. The one thing you need to watch is it is a fine powder, like flour and is hard on the respitory system so wear a mask if spreading it and causing a “dust cloud”. Works well for fleas too, cover critters, floors, kennels, carpets, mattresses, etc. Glad you didn’t lose much! Lessons like this tend to work well at keeping us more deligent though!

    Reply
  38. About the meal moths…I use diotomaceous earth, but I also dustbacillus thurengis around jar and bucket lids, and in the corners of cupboards where the little moths love to hide. BT is accepted on food crops as organic and only affects moths and butterflies. I use BT on my wool yarn and in the bags of fleece as well.

    Reply
  39. We got the dreaded pantry moths in a bag of corn we had. I had stored most of it in buckets, and the “mostly empty” bag fell behind the buckets and got forgotten. We started getting pantry moths and couldn’t figure out for *weeks* what it was. When I finally did find the bag, it was… moving. Yeah. It went in the compost bin. So gross! We re-packaged all our grain in 2lb heat sealed bags after that, then froze the bags for 72 hours each. I do NOT want those things back. Icky!!!

    Reply
  40. explain using the diatamaceous earth in flour to me please. Do you mix it in our does it go in sachets? So you leave it in the flour for cooking? I need details lol

    Reply
  41. I run a grain company- if youre not ready to store the grains in an oxygen-free enviornment yet, you can add diatomaceous earth (we use 10 lbs/ton) and it does a good job. It doesnt do anything against grain moths, but weevils hate it. Make sure the DE is food grade. Make SURE you keep the DE dry, its water soluble and doesnt work if you mix it with water.

    Reply
  42. Hi i have some kind of critter that gets into my dry goods but it looks like a single maggot then comes out as a small white moth do you know what they are and how to get rid of them? thank you.

    Reply
    • Leslie,

      Sounds like you have meal moths. Same kinda thing as weevils. They hatch out in your dried goods. They come from stuff like cereal, rice, flour, grains, pasta, nuts, and other dried grains/meals. You need to freeze these items for about three days before putting them into your pantry to avoid infestation. If you have bulk items, store them in jars or buckets with oxygen absorbers.

      If you already have an infestation, you can try traps to catch the moths, or use a good ol’ butterfly net 😉 Sift your foods to remove any larvae, then freeze to avoid further eggs from hatching.

      Reply
  43. You don’t want to use bay leaves in your grains. USU extension studied it and said they are not effective at preventing bugs. I knew someone who inherited a bucket of flour with bay leaves in it, and the flour tasted so strongly of bay leaves that she couldn’t use it for anything but gravy. I also used bay leaves in some buckets of food once years ago, and the bay leaves actually introduced bugs into the grain. (I only got the bugs in the buckets with the bay leaves in them.) Bay leaves is just an old wives tale.

    Reply
  44. Thats alotta wheat? I dont even use 5lbs of flour a yr. Diatomaceous Earth will get rid of those bugs. Its also all natural product. Killed the bed bugs we got from traveling this summer n we havent had stink bugs in our house since sprinkling it around the window sills n doorways. Kills all ectoskeleton critters!

    Reply
    • Katie,

      Well, keep in mind, we’re a family of six, and I grind all of our wheat and make all of our bread and baked goods, so we go through a lot 🙂 Plus, I always want to have an emergency supply on hand. Not to mention that I look at buying commodities like wheat and sugar in bulk as an investment. They’ll store almost indefinitely, and you KNOW the price is only going to go up! Why not stock up while it’s cheap? 🙂

      Reply
  45. Spray Diatomaceous Earth in your closet, around your base boards, etc.
    All gone in no time.
    Put D.E. in all your dry goods.
    Kills parasites–bugs!!
    Keep bay leaf in all your kitchen and pantry cabinets.

    Reply
  46. I read in one of these very informative Prepper websites (can’t remember which one)that weevils can be stopped before they start by putting your flour in the selected container, add a whole bay leaf on top of the flour, then seal the container. I have not tried this myself yet, but I will be as I begin stocking beans, wheat and various flours.

    Reply
  47. Wow, great that you can share and chalk to a good lesson to learn. I had something similar happen years ago except we had these larvae which turned into little flying insects in our oat groats bag. I was blessed to be able to return the bag and get a credit for it since these bugs were already in the bag before we opened it.

    Reply
  48. I have beans and flour and sugar in quart and half gallon jars with no oxygen absorbers. But, I put the beans and flour in the freezer first. Hopefully, all will be well. I figure that I could only lose it to bugs in quarts.

    Pantry moth lures only catch males. And, only one in eight males that flies near the traps actually goes in the trap. I am still clearing up pantry moths. I found birdseed full of it. So, the chickens will enjoy it.

    Reply
  49. I should add that pantry moths can also be a problem with grains, breakfast cereal, tea bags, pastas. Don’t ask me how I know. Sigh.

    On the bright side, the pantry moth traps do work well. They have a phermone lure attached to a sticky trap. Makes one sick to see the number of moths that can end up in a pantry stuck to the trap. Better dead than alive.

    I think many of us have been guilty of procrastinating on such issues at some time or another. Thanks for the reminder to each of us…and so delightfully told too!

    Reply
  50. Oh how awful! I nearly lost two bags of grass seed to mice but rescued it in time. But I do have lots of dried goods in the basement just sitting in bags. Sad part is, I’ve got a box of half-gallon glass jars sitting right next to them waiting to be filled. DUMB!

    Well, I think we all learned a lesson from your mistake today. I’m so glad you didn’t lose your entire stash!

    And with everything going on out East, it’s a double reminder not to dilly-dally in our prepping efforts!

    Reply
  51. I now just how you feel, I had to toss 10lbs of corn meal the other day because I found it infested with weevils. Thankfully all of my wheat is in storage buckets already, so is my corn for grinding……..just not the already ground. Live and learn I guess, thank God it wasn’t all of your food storage!

    Reply
  52. Hahaha… been there! When I was a girl my mom kept her wheat in a rubbermaid container in the kitchen and had the same thing happen because the lid wasn’t airtight. I think I probably ate more than a few ground up in our flour (oops). Now I am much more cautious about keeping my wheat in airtight buckets, and its probably all due to the problems my mom had.

    Reply
  53. Oh girl, this reminds me so much of our flea situation. Nothing is quite as humbling as be overtaken and taught lessons by bugs. Thankful it didn’t turn out too bad 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Comment