Flour mites

[mayazayanamelia]

Long post!

Can anybody please advise as I am losing my sanity :-(
We have an outbreak of flour mites, i threw out everything opened and unopened in the kitchen apart from tins. Cleaned cupboard with flash bleach and dried out units any new shopping in air tight containers. However 3 weeks in and I am finding several a day especially in bottom cupboards and on plinth. I bought diatomaceous powder food grade and put it in the cupboards and under unit by opening the plinth. Had several days of just finding odd one or even none only since weekend another influx even when i use washing machine i find a few crawling after its been used. I presume its the moisture. Probably ones not hatched long but I am going crazy that they may spread to rest of house from what i have read online. I have broken down crying and checking all cabinets etc everytime i walk in. Can anybody tell me anything else i can do? I work full time have kids and im actually making myself ill with all the constant super cleaning and worry.

Alltoads help I'm desperate into fourth week using the spray you recommended then I find lot of dead ones on benchtop each day I've had insectrol a pesticide man twice now using the spray you mentioned on the thread will I ever get rid of them

Hi, I know it’s been a while and probably won’t get a reply but worth a try! Did you manage to get rid of the flour mites for good? I have had an infestation for 5 weeks now, I cleaned every room as they were also in bedrooms upstairs, and have been staying at my mums for a month. Keep nipping home to check and they just seem like they have gotten worse each time I go back. I am debating moving out but would love to know what did the best job please as my son will really miss our home if we move

@Abbie121213 Whilst you're not staying in your home, I'd go & let off a load of foggers or smoke bombs and leave them to do their job. Or something like the red Raid spray targeted where you see the mites. Really you want products with permethrin in them to kill crawling insects.

Thankyou so much for your reply. I will get all of those things and give it a go. I had pest control in the first week I saw them, but it obviously hasn’t worked. I am at the point where I am avoiding going back home at all, but it seems it’s not going to go away by sticking my head in the sand! There is no food anywhere and I have hoovered every crumb I possibly could so I don’t understand what they are living off. What a nightmare. Thankyou again for your reply

No problem @Abbie121213

I'm not an expert but I have done obsessive level research about this kind of thing and my suggestion is just what I'd do in your situation I think.

I mentioned permethrin, but the other chemical to look for in pest control products is pyrethrin, which is naturally derived from chrysanthemum.

You could also look into Diatomaceous Earth.

Glad it's helpful to you and hope you manage to get the problem sorted out.

I looked up this thread because I’ve got a problem with tiny insects crawling in my kitchen cupboard and my larder ( I started a new thread because I then couldn’t find this one). I wonder if it’s something to do with the weather because I’ve had things in my flour before but they’ve never spread into the cupboards. I’ve found them in cardboard boxes in the cupboard tonight. I’ve wiped the shelves with vinegar and peppermint but was still finding them. Going to buy another dehumidifier and keep it in the kitchen. I think they were even in the pepper. It’s horrible!

Keep things in airtight containers, not open packets. Every six months go through the cupboards and check anything out of date (as in best before and therefore edible, but might not be great) is still looking and smelling okay.

Sounds as though you think there's a damp problem?

I keep everything in either tins or plastic containers but, unfortunately not airtight ones. I was away for a few weeks at a time when it should have been warm and dry but it didn’t stop raining and I’ve found mould in some parts of the house. Have thrown away a lot of food, everything is now in airtight containers ( including spices and stock cubes): I’ve spread diatomaceous earth around in cupboards and have put those disposable dehumidifiers in some cupboards, too ( I hate using anything like that and annoyingly have found some mini dehumidifiers that can be reused; I’ve had the proper dehumidifiers going 24/7 but obviously can’t use them when I’m away from home). Haven’t seen any mites for quite a while now so I’m hoping I’ve got rid of them. I now realise why so much food is what I thought to be overpackaged. It’s to stop them getting in! Lesson learned. All flour is now going into the freezer for a while and the dogs kibble and bonios are going straight into airtight containers when I buy them. And I’ve managed to persuade my daughter not to buy her flour in bulk!

can I ask how long it took you to clear them?
I found loads in 4 of the top cupboards on Friday and in one of the bottom cupboards. I threw everything out of all the cupboard and cleaned them. I luckily had some indorex in the cupboard for emergency dog use that had never been needed so I sprayed all the cupboard with that and left it overnight and there were loads of dead ones the next day that I hoovered up. I sprayed again last night and found more this morning so I decided to take the shelves out of the cupboards to spray the edges properly. I put the shelves in the shed but have since put them in a bin bag in airing cupboard thinking the warm will dry the out but I’m now worried from reading others comments that they will spread upstairs so I’m going to put them back in the shed. At some point I’m going to have to wash the Indorex of the cupboards and shelves before I put the food back in them but I’m not planning on doing that for at least 2 weeks. Everything is now in airtight containers on the side. Ugh it’s gross any advice what to do?

I’m away from home at the moment so I’m hoping they’ll still be gone when I get back next week. It took about three weeks before I stopped finding the odd one crawling around. In the cupboard where most of them were I put frog tape around the edges of the shelves and put diatomaceous earth on the bottom shelf where all of my spices and stock cubes had been. I still found them crawling around the diatomaceous earth for a while. I found an insect spray that was safe to use on cupboards but in the end I didn’t send away for it. I need to look up the name. I’m at my partners at the moment and had some flour here. I checked it out and found some mites in it. Thankfully it had been contained. Now that everything is in airtight containers there will be nothing for them to feed on. I don’t really understand why I’ve lived in the house for over forty years and this has never happened before. Given that they were in my porridge and the dog’s Bonios I wonder if they came in via something else that was contaminated. Or if the wet summer just created a perfect environment for them.

So much for thinking I’d got rid of them. I’ve just got home after a couple of weeks away and couldn’t see any in the cupboard or larder. However, I’d wrapped a box of Bonios in cling film and sellotape and put it in a plastic non airtight box. I found some mites crawling inside the box. I opened the Bonio box and there were none in that so they were obviously trying to find a way into it. Seems to me that, if I drop my guard they’ll be finding their way into any food that isn’t contained properly. The insecticide I’d found that was safe to use in cupboards is called Protector C. I may have to get some. It’s really cold in my kitchen as I don’t have heating there so they obviously don’t mind the cold. The Bonios are now in the freezer just to be on the safe side!