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My pantry is infested with rice weevils. I've seen them in (unopened) packages of pasta and yesterday in a brand new bag of rice. I could see where they'd chewed into the bag.
Nasty hateful little things. Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I tossed all the packages that had visible infestations (i.e. live adult bugs)... I'll freeze the rest, although I'm almost ready to toss them all.
But food here is very expensive, so that's painful too.
Thanks for the laugh Frisco.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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Yeah. When we had an infestation, we had to throw away a TON of food and we wound up bleaching pretty much every surface of our pantry and neighboring cabinets. It SUCKED.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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We had a similar infestation (it was some sort of moth though) and pretty much had to do what Primal did. It was caused by a comercially packed food for the hedgehog we had. Syn that could be similar to your problem (does your rabbit eat pellets?) because they don't get as well checked.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Oh...THAT was what was in my rice several months ago. I threw it out, but I couldn't figure out how in the heck all those nasty things got in my rice container. Way gross! Now I think I better do some serious pantry cleaning.
Posts: 66 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I've had those things for quite a while, but there's hay here too so maybe... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I don't know why they were in that flour and not the other flour...
Oh, no, what if they got into my RICE which I wanted to fry. Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I live in the South and learned from my mother to always, ALWAYS, put dry goods in tuperware containers. anytime i buy flour, rice, cereal, pasta, chips, crackers or anything of the like goes into the sealed tuperware and so far I have had no bugs in the food problem. Bugs in the toilet, bugs in the bed, bugs in the sink, bugs in the hair, bugs in the clothes, bugs in the pool, bugs in the sofa and bugs in the light fixtures on the other hand... oh we got those. if only there was a giant tuperware that you could put absolutely everything in....
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I've been thinking about the movie "Empire of the Sun" from the mid-80's or so. Christian Bale (who was 10 or 12 at the time) plays a young British boy who ends up in a camp of some sort in Singapore at the start of WWII. In one scene, he counts out the number of weevils in his ration, makes a note on the wall where he's keeping track of the tally each day, then eats the weevils after he's done with the rice or whatever. He mentions that the camp doctor (also a prisoner) recommended he do so for the protein.
I get squicked out whenever I think of it.
I suppose it's my privileged American sensibilities more than anything else showing through. Weevils are harmless. They don't bite. They don't spread disease. I'm sure eating one (or even a spoonful like the character in EotS did) would not cause me any damage at all. But the thought just makes me nauseated.
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We don't have such a big problem here in the Desert, But, we always put dry commodities into quart jars, and put on a tight lid. (Ring, and recycled lid.) It prevents cross-contamination. We haven't had weevil for years now.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I do not want to eat weevils. They look so yucky. I was wondering what the heck those creatures were.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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You can put a small amount of food-grade diatomaceous earth in grain products to keep them from getting infested. It's edible, but prevents insect populations or eggs from being able to survive. Thus, infestations never occur. I think most grain suppliers use this in silos and things, so much of it will already have some.
maui babe, did you lose all your food storage?
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I don't have what I'd call a true "food storage" here like I did when I lived on the mainland. I don't have room for much and the weather isn't conducive to storing too much. I lost 5-6 bags of pasta and about 15 lbs of rice. I'm more concerned about making sure I avoid contaminating any more food.
I'm pretty sure the infestation was here when I moved into my current abode in early January. I never noticed any bugs before that. I talked to a good friend of mine (a local woman whose family eats rice for EVERY meal) and she's never had issues with weevils. I moved the 6 or 8 boxes of pasta I was storing in my pantry into another cupboard (and will put them in the freezer when I go home from work today). I'll clean out the pantry before I buy any more rice etc.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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We have weebils all the time, but everyone here does. There doesn't seem to be anything that can be done to prevent them, considering that they're already in the bags of rice, flour, lentils, or whatever when we get them from the store, and our freezer isn't big enough to freeze everything we bring home. So, everything goes into an air tight so that if it absolutely MUST grow weebils, at least they won't get into everything else.
For rice, we just wash it and most come out. But then, we have to wash rice before using anyway, so this isn't anything special.
Now, that four inch long worm that's wandering around the inside rim of my toilet...
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I thought Hawaii was supposed to be paradise. They forgot to mention that its paradise for more than just humans, the bugs love it apparently.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: I thought Hawaii was supposed to be paradise. They forgot to mention that its paradise for more than just humans, the bugs love it apparently.
Actually, Hawaii was once known as "the land that God forgot to curse"... There are no native predators, biting or stinging insects, poisonous plants or snakes. All of the nasties that we have here today were imported. But yes, our exceptional climate (well, except for the recent rains and flooding ) make this an ideal climate for many arthropods.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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rivka, those are not Weebles. These are Weebles. Those other things are a pale mockery or Weebles, brought out after the originals were pulled from the market due to being a choaking hazard. Bah.Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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This is why I like living up North... We have nice, long, cold winters that kill off most pests. Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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