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Pest Control 101: Your Guide to Pests in the Pantry

The kitchen pantry is a hotbed for insects and pests of all kinds. 

Pests are attracted to flour, cereal, rice, crackers, and open food containers.  Some pests come from outside while others may have migrated from the grocery store! They invade through boxes, and containers, or by climbing onto fruits, vegetables, or baked goods. Pest control company technicians often see kitchen pantry pests first before they inspect the rest of the home.  

Some pests invade your pantry only during certain seasons. Meanwhile, other pests stay around all year. Here is a list of pests that you may see in your pantry, even now: 

1. Ants. The kitchen pantry is an amusement park for ants. Once they get in your food in the pantry, they are challenging to get rid of on your own. Ants enter open bags, containers, and boxes of food. They can devour food and then move on to the next item.
2. Additionally, ants love pet food. They will raid the dog or cat food bowl. Antes also raid dog or cat food bags that are open. One way to prevent ant infestations is to clean the area around the pet food bowls. Also, clean the counter and remove all crumbs, and other food chards. Keep ripe fruits in the refrigerator. Don’t leave them on the kitchen counter, or ants and other bugs will soon invade. 
3. Rice and granary weevils. Rice weevils attach to grains and rice. The adults fly and are attracted to light. They love to eat corn, wheat, rice, beans, nuts, cereals, rye, buckwheat, stored cotton, wheat products, grapes, apples, and pears. The Granary weevil also infests stored food products. They cannot fly and work in darkness. It attacks any type of grain and grain products. Keep grain products in covered containers. 
4. Flour beetles. These tiny, reddish-brown beetles gather and reproduce in flour, cereal, and dry pet food. They can cause the flour to be discolored and leave a bad smell. Preventive measures would include putting flour in a tightly sealed glass, metal, or plastic container (not paper packaging). Merchant grain beetles typically infest cereals, cake mixes, macaroni, cookies, and chocolate. Deterrents include adding a bay leaf to canisters and dry goods packages. 
5. Cockroaches sneakily invade by riding in boxes, furniture, Amazon packages, and other boxes brought into the home. Cockroaches also swarm from sewers or drains. They crawl into water pipes and electrical lines. Then, they drop into rooms through the walls. They congregate on wood surfaces and eventually make it to the pantry. Once you see cockroaches, empty the cabinet of food so that they can be exterminated easier and quicker. 
6. Fruit flies feed on ripe or rotting fruits and vegetables. They also eat decaying or fermenting food, as they ingest the sugar. They reproduce quickly and invade through grocery bags or from eggs laid in stale food brought home from a grocery store. Use vinegar, salt, pepper, and wine to create a fruit fly trap. ***

Some preventative measures may work. However, if you want to ensure that pests are terminated in your kitchen pantry, call a professional pest control company. 

If you are interested in an inspection, removal, and prevention of pests in your pantry, call Pest Shield, Inc. Our pest control company offers pest removal solutions for the client and the environment in mind. Call us at (301) 829-0060 for a free inspection.

We serve Mt. Airy, MD, Central Maryland, and the counties of Montgomery, Carroll, Frederick, and Howard.

*** Visit the Taste of Home website for the fruit fly trap recipe.

Tags: ants, cockroaches, home pest control, pest control, pest control maryland, pest control Mt Airy MD, pest in the pantry, residential pest control

Posted in Pest Control, residential pest control