Creatures in my cupboards! :o What are they??

[jamandjerusalem]

They are small, maybe 3mm max, tiny beetle-type things, almost clear ie very pale.

Not weevils, I've googled images and ruled them out. These critters look a bit like something that'd crawl out of a dusty book.

What are they and how do I get shot of them?? Yuck

[moosick]

I've just discovered I have a booklice infestation yuck! turning my bedroom upside down to try to fight the issue and having to bin loads of stuff, and attempting to freeze the rest. Only guess is they came with a second hand book.. boooo hisss! prompting a good clean out as well as a few emotional outbursts!
God knows how I'm gonna sleep with all these creepy crawly images floating around my head

[BintOfBohemia]

glitter - are they carpet beetles? We've had these too.

[pollypentapeptide]

Stop fussing, have you not heard of sieves?

My DD's now regularly reach for sieves when baking and take the disposal of mites totally in their stride!

[TheDMshouldbeRivened]

they are only made of flour so you might as well eat them

[crankytwanky]

I have these!
I have a shiney new house too. (Well one year old.)

Touch wood they're just in the bathrooms atm. They seem to be very happy in the weave of a basket that I'm loathe to get rid off.

Blurgh.

[Mummywhereisyourwillie]

We had something where we used to live. Different colour and probably flour mites from the links on here, but they got everywhere. Into tins of cocoa, cereals, they had even started eating into a massive basket of dried flowers we had at the opposite end of the kitchen and a dough decoration (ie made from dough and varnished) someone had given me and I had stuck on the wall. There were little holes in everything.

I was working away at the time and each week-end the kitchen would be littered with them - we would then hoover and clean, only for them to be falling out by the next week-end. In the end my parents had to come around in the week and spray for me.

You will have to be very careful to bin everything remotely starchy.

[glitterkitty]

anyone know what is a small (like baby ladybird size & shape) black and cream mottled beetle that gives you a nip and appears in bedrooms?

[beatiebow]

I haven't seen our book lice for a couple of days-maybe that means winter is on the way?

[chegirl]

We had an infestation of carpet beetles in our council flat. Ewwww ewwww ewww! It was the lavae that were horrible.

When I went into the kitchen at night and switched the light on they would all scurry away ICK.

I lived with them for so long I almost miss them.

[beanbump]

I have learnt not to be so bothered by them as they are fairly harmless!! Got so stressed in the beginning when DS was a baby. And everything is in air tight containers just in case!! Ours are pretty bad around the window sills so I filled in any cracks or spaces and that has helped slighty. The coucil recommended a crawling insects spray to get rid of them and hoovering!! Hoovering is done on a regular bases including window sills but didn't like the idea of the spray with Ds touching window sills. Also stop looking for them!! I used to spend so much time looking to see if I could find them and then get so annoyed when I saw them!! Madness! No matter how clean the house is they are there in the summer months - no idea where they go in winter - somewhere a little hotter!!

[jamandjerusalem]

Hey, that's sort of good news, thanks beanbump! Glad it's no indication of my hygiene habits. On the other hand, every summer?? ] How tedious! Do they just pack up and leave of their own accord come autumn, or do you 'deal' with them?

[beanbump]

Jamandjerusalem - it is the fresh plaster! We have these in our house (new house) I sent a sample to the council and the came back with psocids! Apparently 60% of new homes will have them because of the damp plaster. They are also worse in the summer time when it is hot and humid and thankfully we haven't noticed them in the winter. We have been in our new house for nearly 3 years and they still appear every summer!! Sorry for the news!!

[ejbab]

I live in Australia where all manner of icky creepy crawlies live alongside us. At the moment I'm waging an unsuccessful war against pantry moths. They too arrived in a bag of flour last October when making DD1s birthday cake. The best tip I've had by knowing Aussies since is to freeze all flour, muesli, and other weavil attracting and containing foodstuffs for 48 hours to kill them off, before relocating them to air tight tupperwear. yuk. But just be thankful you don't have cockroaches under your sink and a fist sized huntsman spider lurking somewhere under the fridge.

[jamandjerusalem]

Thanks for the advice, Cyradis

[jamandjerusalem]

Phew, glad it's not just me, wishing chair!

I think the booklice must've been attracted by the fresh plaster in our new kitchen. Yes, that's it, nothing to do with bad hygiene, no siree.

[wishingchair]

OMG - my food cupboards are a right state, and although no creepy crawlies, am now thinking it is only matter of time. Will have major plastic container splurge and a sort out soon.

[LoveTheCarbs]

Cripes! I don't have any of these beasties but am now going to rush out and buy lots of plastic containers before the invasion!

[FourArms]

I got them in one of my cup cupboards a while ago (also stored cereals in there). Changed all cereals to plastic containers, and anti-bacd the cupboard, and they've gone. I've now got them in my baking cupboard. Guess I need some more storage containers in there..... That's my job for when the kids are back to school!

[bumpybecky]

I've had these before. I had some naan bread flour mix, forgot about it and when I came to use it the packet was heaving The flour mites had got into all the flour - yuck.

I binned all the flours in the cupboard, cleaned very thoroughly then swapped cupboards round so something non-food lived in there. Bought new flour and put that into the now empty non contaminated cupboard.

I was told I needed the plastic containers for everything, but couldn't afford to do so. They've not come back, but we have moved house!

[cornsillk]

I had something in my cupboards. I binned everything that they could possible be in and blasted the inside of the cupboards with a hairdryer. They haven't been back since. I reckoned they'd arrived in cheap tesco flour.

[beatiebow]

No, but let me know when you find out!!

[jamandjerusalem]

Bloody hell, that's them beatiebow! Thanks. Any idea what to do about them?

[beatiebow]

Could they be Book Lice? I think we have these.