What Do Weevils Look Like?
Weevils are small beetles that like to infest pantries. Typically, these bugs are pear-shaped and 3 to 10mm long when fully grown. Immature weevils, when they are in their grub-like stage, have no legs and feed on plants. One thing to note is that a weevil's body shape and color ranges drastically based on the species.
Weevil Life Cycle
Different species of weevils have different life cycles. Some species lay an average of four eggs per day and live for four to five months. Doing the math, that is a total of 250 to 400 eggs altogether. Laid eggs typically hatch within a week and larvae feed on grain and other dried foods for a few weeks after that. Larvae then transition into the pupal stage which lasts about a week. Finally, adult weevils stay inside infested food for roughly four days before leaving to find food in other places.
Can Weevils Fly?
Some species of weevil that live in our area have the ability to fly, others do not. If the weevils inside your home can fly, they will have an easier time moving from one box of food to another. This allows infestations to spread more easily and makes your problems worse faster.
What Happens When You Eat A Weevil?
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the word evil is found in weevil. Although not intentionally sinister, laying eggs inside stored food products is nothing short of malicious. That said, it is not directly harmful to your health to consume food with weevils in it. It is, however, incredibly uncomfortable and nauseating to look down into your cereal and see little larvae or fully-grown beetles moving around.
Some Prevention Tips For Weevils
Although weevils are sneaky pests, there are still many ways to stop them from invading your home and pantry. To help you with this today, here are some great prevention tips to use.
- Use a caulking gun to fill in entry points around your home’s foundation, like cracks, gaps, and holes.
- Make sure your window/door screens are not damaged and are installed properly.
- Invest in quality door sweeps for all of your exterior doors.
- Repair damage to your doors and windows and keep them closed if they don’t have screens.
- Fix damaged weatherstripping.
- Check boxes of food for damage before purchasing them at the store.
How To Get Rid Of Weevils
If you are trying to keep weevils out of your Oklahoma City pantry or want to know how to get rid of weevils if they get indoors, we are here today to help. At Guaranteed Pest Services of Oklahoma, we treat our customers as we would our own families. We know how gross and disturbing it is to find bugs inside your food and we will do everything in our power to help you prevent pantry pests like weevils.
Contact our team today if you have other questions about weevils and schedule a pest control inspection for your Oklahoma City home.
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