Most common moth in food. The larvae do all the damage. Identification highlight is the copper colored band on the bottom part of the wings. They will infest all cereal and milled products, dried fruit, vegetables, nuts, dry pet food, chocolates, and confections. Their larvae leave silken strands over infested product. The larvae often travel far from the food area to pupate. You will see cocoons in wall corners. The adult emerges from the cocoon and re-infests food not properly stored. Usually takes 6-8 weeks to complete their life cycle in warm weather.

Angoumois Grain Moth

Small gray colored moth that infests un-milled grain such as decorative corn swags.

Indian Meal Moth

Sawtoothed Grain Beetles (It is a close relative to the Merchant Grain Beetle)

Tiny 1/10” of an inch long beetles. Both beetles are almost identical with tooth like points (6) on both sides of their mid-section (the thorax). The Sawtoothed Grain Beetles can penetrate packaging; will eat all processed foods and often are in bird seed and dry pet food. The eggs are laid on the food surface. When they hatch as larvae they damage the food and eventually pupate covered in a sticky shell of the infested food particles. In warm weather they can go from egg to adult in four (4) weeks.

Pantry Beetle

Very similar looking tiny (1/7” inch long) beetles. The difference is the tiny clubs on the antennae. Almost identical in biology and behavior. They love all packaged/milled products as discussed with previous moths and beetles. The larvae are found inside food packages stuck to the sides and covered with food particles as they transform into the pupae stage. Their complete lifespan in warm ideal climates is six (6) weeks.

Cigarette Beetles - Drugstore Beetles

Flour Beetles

Very similar looking relatives both being 1/8” inch long. The cigarette is more common. The topside of the wings has grooves if it is a Drugstore Beetle and the Cigarette Beetle has a smooth outer surface. As named, the Cigarette Beetle will infest tobacco as well as herbs, spices, nuts, and cereal products, as well as dried meats, pet foods, hair, and wool. The Drugstore Beetle is so named as it loves pills or capsules as well as any dry organic food from cereals to pet foods and spices.

Cigarette Beetles

Look for an extended snout between the elbowed antennae. All weevils are beetle family members. Rice Weevils have 4 lighter spots on their wing covers and the adults can fly. The Granary Weevil has no spots and cannot fly. Both Weevils deposit their eggs inside kernels of grain. They sometimes are found in the home in decorative corn, nuts, seeds, and macaronis.

Fruit Fly(s)

Rice Weevil

A small 1/8” inch long fly with bright red eyes. Look for rotting or fermenting fruits, vegetables, or organic debris in trash cans, drains, disposals, or surfaces where alcohol, fruit drinks, and sodas are used or opened or discarded. Control is 99% sanitation. Retail traps are available.  All flies adn mosquitoes are members of the insect order Diptera.

Storage Practices

Fruit Fly

With a pantry pest problem there is a continuing threat from re-infestation long after you think activity has ceased. Many food pests can lie dormant in the pupae stage for months for various reasons. Strict maintenance of food spills and storage in protective plastic containers is a must. Rarely used flours, mixes, etc. can be stored in the freezer.

Storage

These are scientifically developed tools using the sex scent of particular (not all) problem pests to draw in and trap populations. Contact us to review available traps for specific species only. These are primarily monitoring tools and not elimination tools

WARNING!!
IMPORPER USE OF PESTICICES CAN CAUSE DAMAGE, ILLNESS AND OR DEATH. CALL US THE TRAINED EXPERTS FOR ADVICE, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND SERVICE!

Pheromone Traps

Textiles that are infested and consumed by pests are usually wool-based such as woolen clothing, carpets, and tapestries. Two types of insects are responsible for most woolen fabric damage, but by their nature, these pests – Carpet Beetles and Clothes Moths – feed on a broader diet than wool alone. Besides textiles made of processed wool, they feed on many other substances with high protein content. One particular protein, keratin, is present in wool and other hair or fur. The same material is also found in feathers, skins, horns, and hooves. Other materials that are high in protein are insect bodies, pollen, silk, grains and seeds (particularly the “germ”, as in wheat germ, or non-starchy portions). Insects are the only animals capable of digesting keratin. Only a few microorganisms and fungi in other kingdoms are keratin reducers.

Fabric Pests – Carpet Beetles and Clothes Moths – develop as scavengers, consuming feathers, fur, and hides of dead birds and mammals. Many species feed on dead insects, the molted skins and pupal cases of moths, silkworms, tent caterpillars, mud daubers, yellow jackets, wasps, hornets, and dead bees, and pollen.

Textile pests are generally secretive and develop on food that decomposes slowly. As populations of textile pests increase, individual adults and mature larvae migrate away from the infestation to mate or pupate in protected solitude. This activity often is the only signal that a pest infestation is present. The four groups of Carpet Beetles and two species of Clothes Moths can be identified from specimens of either adults or larvae.

Black Carpet Beetle
1/8" Long Not Shiny

Common Carpet Beetle    All carpet beetles belong to the family Dermestid.

Furniture Carpet Beetle
All Carpet beetle larvae
do fabric damage.
Adults are nectar feeders.

Varied Carpet Beetle
Carpet Beetle Larvae
have hairy bristles on
their bodies.

Other beetles include: Hide Beetles, Larder Beetles, Warehouse Beetles, and Cabinet Beetles.

Clothes Moths – Only the larvae stage eats fabrics, rugs, furniture upholstery, fur, wool, feathers, hair, dead insects, and dried insect remains. Depending upon climate and food conditions can live up to four (4) years.

Webbing Clothes Moth Tineola bisselliella Case making clothes moth

Case-Making Clothes Moth Tinea pellionella Case making clothes moth Case making clothes moth cocoon

Silverfish is about ½ inch long, with a uniform silvery color over the upper surface. Their bodies are long and slender, flattened. The bodies are broad at the front, and gradually tapering toward the rear.

Silverfish Appearance

Silverfish diets are high in protein, sugar, or starch, including cereals, moist wheat flour, starch in book bindings, and paper on which there is glue or paste.

Silverfish can damage book bindings, wallpaper, paper goods and dry foods. They may eat holes, irregular shaped in the wallpaper to get the paste. Silverfish may bite very small holes in various fabrics, including cotton, linen, and silk.