Grain weevils are a serious agricultural pest, but since they live in whole grains they are found more often in crop storage facilities than in your home. But that doesn’t mean they never invade a kitchen pantry; grain weevils like wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice and corn, so they sometimes enter with infected whole grain products.
These insects are tiny and hard to detect:
- Only .12 to .2 inches long
- Reddish-brown, elongated body
- Elongated snouts
- Equipped with vestigial wings, although they cannot fly
- Larvae are white with a tan head and humpbacked
Females lay between 36 and 254 eggs at a time. They chew a hole in a grain kernel, place one egg inside and then seal the grain with a sticky secretion. The larvae feed on the inside of the grain, leaving it lighter. They bore a hole to the outside once they have emerged from the pupa stage.
It takes about 5 weeks in the summer for grain weevils to go from egg to adult, but it may take 20 weeks in cooler weather. Adults live up to 8 months.
As a Home Protection Plan customer, if you’re not satisfied with our pest control service, we will service your home at no additional cost until your issue is solved or receive your money back from your last scheduled service.
People who are exposed to the dust left behind after a grain weevil has devoured the inside of a grain may have symptoms of allergies or asthma. To prevent them from getting a hold in your home:
- Buy only small quantities of grain at a time and use it up quickly
- Store grains in metallic, glass or plastic containers with tightly covered lids
- Try freezing grains until you need to use them
Since these pests can be difficult to detect, give Brody Brothers a call. We have the tools and the experience that will get rid of grain weevils and other pantry pests, and we’ll share our tips on how you can avoid future problems.
