Help - tiny bettle things in my kitchen cupboards

[losty]

how do I get rid of them - cant work out where they are coming from. Throwing all open packets out and cleaing with dettol everything else but they are still around. think they may be coming in from up between cupboard near where hot water pipe is, but it is tiled in front so cannot be sure. Cannot find the source. (It is not like when we had ants a few summers ago and there was a definite trail to the garden...)

How do I stop them??

This is horrible. I feel so dirty

Please someone offer some advice? DS is having an operation on Tuesday and i just dont need this atm TIA

PS they are v hard to kill as well what ARE they?

Are they tiny and brown? If so, they are biscuit beetles. I had the same problem - cleared all the cupboards etc, disinfected everything and everywhere but to no avail- then a couple of months ago I found a packet of dog treats right at the back of the fridge recess (it's all intergrated) whilst spring cleaning - it was full but open and I noticed there were tiny holes in the biscuits. Broke them open and inside each biscuits were little white larvae. I can only assume this is where they originated from (the packet had been there some time . Anyhow, got rid of that and so far so good....

my mum empties and cleans cupboard, then uses hairdryer on hot, get into all the corners. this seems to work well.

yes tiny and brown

think they are coming in from the back corner of our corner cupboard. Cleaned it out completely but after 10 mins 20 or so back in again. dh thinks we should seal the edges to stop them coming in - but wont that drive them elsewhere??

that cupboard is on an outside wall, so do you thnk they originate outside, or could they indeed come from a food source?

if so, how do I stop them?

This is so horrible. I am itchy all over. And the poor ds have watched 2 hours of tv and are bored stiff.

aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh

Are they these -

pscoids

just googled biscuit beetle - yes this is what we have

I really dont need this atm

From what you've described you need to find a food source. I'd clear out the cupboard completely (including sealed packets - they can munch their way through carboard, plastic packaging etc), completely disinfect, and start again.

BTW it's pretty common to have an infestation like this! It's a regular thread topic! Many names - biscuit beetles, flour weevils etc

I don't know how they get in but they definately lay there eggs in the tiniest crumb the can find. Read up on it and apparently, their eggs can come in to the house IN THE FOOD that you buy..Urgh!!!!!!

I would seal it up tho, it can't do any harm and see if that addresses the problem. Also check dry stuff in your cupboards etc. If you see any tiny circular holes in the packaging - they can go through plastic, paper, cardboard etc - there might well be larvae in there.

I know it's gross but as I said, they can come in on the produce you buy so it's no reflection on your housekeeping!

Good luck with it!!!

so do I need to chuch unopened packets of pasta? unopened biscuits, rice, crsips? this is going cost me a fortune just stocked cupboards high as DS going into hospital and didnt want to have to worry for a while - and it is half term

If they're unopened just check for the tiny holes - if none then I would say they are fine. But do check thoroughly, the holes are tiny - but completely circular so you couldn't mistake them for a rip or something. Check all your store cupboard food including petfood etc.

actually they could be four beetles. The pics on google are v similar

I am sitting in the middle of the kitchen surrounded by trays and trays of all my cupboard contents. I dont know what to do first. The cupboards are cleaned but i dont know what to put back. And they are still coming up in to the cupbards from teh corners.

dh has gone to play with the dss who have amused themselves for long enough.

this is so horrible. does it mean if we were to eat the pasta and didnt know there was the larva in it we would get ill?

aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh

*flour not four

even unopened things need a good wash, though, as the larvae can hide in the seams of plastic bags etc. we had these in a flat i lived in once... they're pretty vile but so long as you're rigourous they do go.

is cleaing with dettol disincfectant ok do you think on the packets? cant see anything but they could be there I guess......

well I need to get back to it now. Half an hour distraction on mn has given me a bit more energy to deal with this problem. Still dont know what to do for the best though. Worried sick about us eating contaminated foods and getting ill. Also lost all sense of appetite although I know I should be hungry now. And cant bear to prepare food in there for the dss tea either. No time tomorrow to go shopping again, and ds1 is supposed to be eating a special diet tomorrow and then starved before his op on Tuesday. aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhh. Feel like crying

We had these - I'll find you my thread if I can. I chucked everything as the first time I didn't and they came back.

Oh and I know it's yucky - but if you did inadvertently eat them they wouldn't do you any harm.

I wanted to cry too though...much sympathy.

thansk marthmoo - I have serached on google re eating the larva or eggs accidentaly but cant find any info

I already ahve one ds with a phobia about food and I am about to join him I thnk

are you sure eating them wont make you ill?? (obsessed emetophobe here)

My thread After that they did come back so I threw out everything (unopened packets and all), used dilute bleach to wipe down inside the cupboards (as per nutcracker's advice), then sprayed insecticide (can't remember what it was - I asked in our local hardware shop for advice) into the cracks and edges of the cupboards (it's not food-safe, so you have to be very careful). I then left the cupboards empty for several days - wiped again with dilute bleach (to remove any traces of insecticide) and only then did I put food back. I am now extremely careful about keeping things in air-tight canisters - not just the packets they come in.

It's horrible, I know - good luck.

Perfectly safe according to my Dad - and part of his job used to be inspecting food factories so he's pretty clued up on all manner of yucky things to do with food.

marthamoo thanks so much that is v helpful. Prob I have is kitchen is tiny so no where to leave remaing food out, and dont want to transfer to rest of house (advice from environment agency website) grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

thansk for empathy - this is horrid isnt it. Dont know if I would be so stressed if it wasnt for DSs op opn Tues. All the stuff I got in for quick easy meals and for babysitters for DS2 has just been thrown out

and all dh is talking about is whether we can claim off the jhouse insurance.....

out of interest, anyone else3 that has had this problem, did you calculate how much it cost youto restock your cupboards? the cost is going to be incredible I think. The dried herbs and spices alone cost a fortune. So maybe dh is right about claiming. That is without the cost of all the cleaning stuff. And I think we shall need to get pest control in tomorrow as we cannot get them out of the chipboard inside the actual shelves....