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War looms in the distance. The Great Beetle Battle is upon us.
So, some of you may remember a few weeks ago when I posted about finding beetles in some noodles I was cooking.
Since then, they've gone from one or two flying around the house, to having a distressing number of them hanging out on the screens of the house (mainly in the kitchen), around light fixtures, on the stove, and in the cabinets where we store beans, rice, and noodles. Also, they seem to die pretty quick. To quote a Kate "I swear, these things are born dead." Now, assuming the zombie-beetle implication is false, these little assholes have to be coming from somewhere.
I thought it was from outside, but doing some research turned up this. The little bastards sort of look like this:
Apparently called the "drugstore beetle". They're not carpet beetles, and they don't have a head that sticks out as much as some of the other grain beetles. They're not terribly dangerous, but the thought of beetles pooping, dying, and humping (possibly in that order) in my food is less than appealing.
So here's my game plan for today:
1- Get home from work, and wash every dish and utensil out in the open.
2. Clear out pantrys that have beetles anywhere in them and go through every piece of food in there. If there's a beetle inside or a hole in a bag, it's getting tossed.
3. Steam everyfuckingthing. I intend to lay a steam-based holocaust throughout my kitchen. Nothing gets out alive. Every counter, cabinet, can, jar, fork, and piece of food in the fridge will be steamed. There will be so much steaming going on that if there were sprouts left on the floor for a week, even Pete would eat them by the time I'm done. Some say freezing kills the larvae in the rice and grains, but then I'm eating dead beetle larvae. I want mine to be cooked at very least. Malcolm and Zoe may be steam cleaned in this process. I'll be using our new Shark portable steamer and Shark floor steam mop for this. Maybe I'll document it and send it to them if the steamers are effective.
4. Get traps. They make 'pantry traps' specifically for these little bastards, and they'll be all over my kitchen when I'm done.
5. Bay leaves? I may try this, but I've read both bay leaves and lavender drive the bugs off. It certainly can't hurt anything to have a bay leaf in a pantry. Could be woo though.
Since then, they've gone from one or two flying around the house, to having a distressing number of them hanging out on the screens of the house (mainly in the kitchen), around light fixtures, on the stove, and in the cabinets where we store beans, rice, and noodles. Also, they seem to die pretty quick. To quote a Kate "I swear, these things are born dead." Now, assuming the zombie-beetle implication is false, these little assholes have to be coming from somewhere.
I thought it was from outside, but doing some research turned up this. The little bastards sort of look like this:
Apparently called the "drugstore beetle". They're not carpet beetles, and they don't have a head that sticks out as much as some of the other grain beetles. They're not terribly dangerous, but the thought of beetles pooping, dying, and humping (possibly in that order) in my food is less than appealing.
So here's my game plan for today:
1- Get home from work, and wash every dish and utensil out in the open.
2. Clear out pantrys that have beetles anywhere in them and go through every piece of food in there. If there's a beetle inside or a hole in a bag, it's getting tossed.
3. Steam everyfuckingthing. I intend to lay a steam-based holocaust throughout my kitchen. Nothing gets out alive. Every counter, cabinet, can, jar, fork, and piece of food in the fridge will be steamed. There will be so much steaming going on that if there were sprouts left on the floor for a week, even Pete would eat them by the time I'm done. Some say freezing kills the larvae in the rice and grains, but then I'm eating dead beetle larvae. I want mine to be cooked at very least. Malcolm and Zoe may be steam cleaned in this process. I'll be using our new Shark portable steamer and Shark floor steam mop for this. Maybe I'll document it and send it to them if the steamers are effective.
4. Get traps. They make 'pantry traps' specifically for these little bastards, and they'll be all over my kitchen when I'm done.
5. Bay leaves? I may try this, but I've read both bay leaves and lavender drive the bugs off. It certainly can't hurt anything to have a bay leaf in a pantry. Could be woo though.
Comments
Best of luck, you guys. I don't know about that, but I do know that ants hate turmeric. If you sprinkle a circle of turmeric around an ant,he'll just wander around inside it until he dies.
"These are my two friends. *holds up two fists full of flea-killing stuff* I call this one Crash, and the other one Burn."
My mom's a fucking badass.
Our foes were weak willed and stood no chance. The main problem appeared to be a box of mashed potato mix that they somehow got into and looked like their main food source. This morning there were only one or two stragglers, and none in the pantry.
Incidentally, the weapons of choice were the Shark Navigator and the Shark Portable hand steamer. The vac did the most direct damage, and has an awesome reach. The steamer has a really long cord and about a dozen different attachments, and did a great job on the counter tops and stove. I highly recommend any Shark brand cleaning devices, as they are also way, way cheaper than anything Dyson makes.