Flour mites

[RainbowRaine]

How do I get rid of them?

I found them on Wednesday in everything, have thrown out all flour and everything else they had got in.

I have cleaned the cupboard 5 times so far and I still keep finding more?

Cupboard is still empty, everything that wasn't infested is cleaned and in a sealed box and on the other side of the kitchen from infested cupboard.

I need to go shopping this evening for replacements but don't want to risk putting anything back in that cupboard yet.

How can I get rid of them once and for all?

Do you mean flour weevils? Tiny brown things with a long proboscis? We had an outbreak of these recently and have managed to get rid of them.

1. we checked through every single container of dried food/pulses/flours/pasta/ground almonds/rice/cereals and threw out anything with evidence of infestation

2. unopened, unaffected packets were put into the freezer for 24 hours to kill off any possible bugs/eggs

3. we bought a job lot of airtight containers, and all our dry food supplies are now kept in these.

4. any new packets that come into the house go into the freezer for a night before being decanted into airtight containers

5. ordinary spray detergent/antibac wipes kill the little buggers, so we cleaned ferociously, spraying any cracks and crevices repeatedly.

It took a few days to get rid of them all, but we haven't seen one in weeks.

No idea, but that's why I always keep flour in a sealed container to stop that from happening.

Spray plenty of detergent on skirtings/beading/cracks in furniture/corners and edges of cupboards, as they will hide and then come out later! You have to persist but you'll get them all in the end

Clean with tea tree oil it seems to kill them off.

Yes to freezing anything that has been in the cupboard (flour freezes fine, I'm sure pasta, pulses and rice will be ok - what was in the cupboard?).
Just keep spraying - although in the country we lived in where we had permanent issues, I used to keep an empty cupboard, and just move all the unaffected stuff out of the problem cupboard into the empty one!).

Do you have to go shopping this evening? Can it wait a day or 2?

We had what are called pharmacy or drug store beetles:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drugstore_beetle

They were very small and dark coloured. We had to throw everything out and thoroughly clean. I love to cook and I am pretty certain they came in packages of spices such as cumin and paprika, some of which I kept in the little stainless steel bowls in a tray.

They even got into a can of paprika that had a lid.

The grossest part was they infected a large wicker basket in our bedroom where I kept spare blankets/throws. Our little dog hides his treats and he had hidden a chew stick in the basket. Well, the beetles found it. I had to throw the basket away and hot temp wash the contents.

Good luck!

We had

13 cake mix packets (various flavours)
11 bread mix packets (various flavours)
5 packs of flour
Baking soda x 2
Bi carb x 2
Pretzel mix
Cake tray liners
Loaf of bread
Wraps

It was the cheap flour DH bought

I always buy the home pride flour in the click top lids, he decided flour was flour so just bought the cheapest he found.

DH didn't realise we had some so his bag just sat in the cupboard.

I didn't realise till I went to make more bread and cakes on Wednesday.

sadpapercourtesan

No they were/are smaller than weevils, so definitely flour mites.

Urgh, I feel for you. Had rice weevils in arborio rice from Tesco. They were inside the rice grains.
I have done pretty much as @sadpapercourtesan suggests.
I still check everything in a sieve before using. Never had a problem before but Tesco were not interested . I generally keep well stocked cupboards and had the unopened packet in there about a month before I found them.

I'd freeze any of that you think hasnt been infected. They are bastards for hiding out for a bit.

Mites can survive freezing and heating.

You need to ventilate, ventilate, ventilate - they love the damp so make sure there's no water in cupboards etc and always use the fan, or open windows.

Store things in good containers.

We now keep bulk spices in the little jars with screw on lids you can get at Ikea. They can't get into them.

I have bought a couple of replacement cake mixes and have put them in individual storage boxes with lids and put in the freezer.

Still finding them!
I have been cleaning the cupboard every day between 1-3 times a day.
Where the fuck are they still coming from, still the same cupboard but on the bottom shelf.
I have just drenched the cupboard in dettol in the hope it drowns anything I know that's sounds horrible
My monthly shop comes tomorrow, I need that cupboard space.

Oh my goodness I didn’t know this was such a thing, they sound worse than fleas!!

I had them once, I now realise that luckily they were in a glass jar (had no idea they were so hard to get rid of!) I had poured the flour into a cake mixture before I’d realised though

I just had a thought..... what about something like this:
Rentokil RKLPS136 Insectrol Insect Killer 250ml Aerosol www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000TARC7A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_NCSXPBVTW3FYGQ3QEHN3?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Freezing the flour kills the eggs I thought.

I had to throw everything out last year.

They had nibbled all round the edges of lasagna sheets.

I once ate some thinking they were nutty bits in my cereal. Until they started swimming.

Feeling a little sock. Made a road in the hole to fight and sieving the floor noticed a few small black specks but am still trying to convince myself it was a few stray coffee grounds from washing sieve last time. What I am not doing is going to look at my baking and other dry and pulses/nuts cupboard now or I will possibly be up all night. It can wait.
Oo er. !

‘Sick’ and ‘toad’ all thumbs through slight fear here.

your cupboard backing and bases will be made from plywood, this type of wood is in layers so thats where they go and lay eggs

its the devils job if its an older property as damp and wear and tear separates the wood so its no longer sealed. or if theres been leaks previously then wood would be affected

It's bit necessarily cheap stuff. I'm pretty sure my infestation came from some organic farm shop barley.

It took me a year to completely get rid of the little critters. The probable breakthrough was realising that they were in some of my carrier bags.

@Newfor2021

I just had a thought..... what about something like this: Rentokil RKLPS136 Insectrol Insect Killer 250ml Aerosol ]]

Not around food. It's pretty toxic.

Just been reading up on weevils. Apparently, they are harmless to eat and live ones indicate that there is no residual insecticide in the flour.

@HeronLanyon

Feeling a little sock. Made a road in the hole to fight and sieving the floor noticed a few small black specks but am still trying to convince myself it was a few stray coffee grounds from washing sieve last time. What I am not doing is going to look at my baking and other dry and pulses/nuts cupboard now or I will possibly be up all night. It can wait. Oo er. !

I'm sorry I didn't understand a word of this?!?

It took me a year to completely get rid of the little critters

A year!