<p>A couple of weeks back we acquired weevils. I tracked down the source (a packed of sweedish crispbread i had not even had that long so they must have been already infested when I bought them). Dumped that plus a lot of other food stuff that one or two had found their way to before I was aware of them. Cleaned out the cabinets. Sprayed with some stinky stuff our bug man gave us when we had grain moths (came with bird seed and really were a problem to get rid of). Put stuff in the sealed storage containers I have. (Ordered a bunch more). Today I see a little larva inching (well more like centimetering) along in my almost empty cabinet. So they are still in there hatching somewhere - but where? I have gone through all the food. So annoying!!! AAAAARRRRRGGGG</p>
<p>It could be that there’s only the one left. Otherwise…wait for it…you may find yourself having to tolerate the lesser of two weevils.</p>
<p>Ha HA! Did you inspect underneath the shelves?</p>
<p>I am sorry about the weevils. I got rid of our infestation fairly easily. Simply got rid of their food source. </p>
<p>However, I had been battling a mealy/grain moth infestation for a year now and I am losing. What kind of spray did your bug man give to get rid of the moths ? </p>
<p>We do the get rid of the food thing and we use traps for the moths. But I keep finding new infestations. Things I never thought the moths would be interested in. Like dried roots.</p>
<p>Are your shelves lined? Perhaps a few are living off the glue on the liner paper?</p>
<p>Try to make room in the freezer for all the grain and flour type products you have. If you live in a climate that is cold in the winter keep them outside in a tightly sealed plastic bin.</p>
<p>A pain in the butt, I know, but the only real remedy I know. From experience.</p>
<p>You might try bay leaves. Someone suggested it to me years ago, I thought it was an old wives’ tale, but they worked. Just put one in any grain/flour product. Haven’t had any problems since.</p>
<p>^Yup, I was just going to say that my family has had success with bay leaves as well.</p>
<p>Lordy…bless you. </p>
<p>The Dad…you are so bad re the “lesser of two weevils” input :)</p>
<p>^my moths must be tougher than normal. I had bay leaves everywhere, on the shelves, in the containers. I just found another one flitting around. Darn things. </p>
<p>Yes, I live in Toronto and moved all the food stuff out to the garage in winter. It’s just that I keep finding new (unlikely) food sources for the darn things. !@#$%^&*()_</p>
<p>Comparatively the weevils were easy to get rid of. I just threw out whatever I found them and they were gone. Moths - it’s like they would get into anything. They love grains and flour - put them in airtight containers. Thought it would be fine from now on. Next found them in the sealed, brand new pasta…so on. I just keep finding them in stuff I don’t expect them to be.</p>
<p>I thought the moths were just the adults of the weevils? At any rate, what I do is make sure every possible moth/weevil food source is stored in a closed glass or metal container. No plastic bags, nothing open.</p>
<p>TheDad - LOL!</p>
<p>There are commercial products available that control the various pantry pests. When I had an infestation of moths and their larvae a few years ago, I bought a product at Sears called “Pantry Pest” by Safer that eventually took care of the problem. This product uses pheromones to attract moths to a strong sticky surface. Now I keep several Pantry Pest traps in my pantry at all times, and I’ve never had another problem, although I often find moths in the trap.</p>
<p>[Pantry</a> Pest Traps, Pheremone traps, moth traps, beetle traps, beetle control, moth control](<a href=“http://www.pantrypest.com/pantrycontrol.htm]Pantry”>Pantry Pest Traps|Pantry Moth Traps|Beetle Traps)</p>
<p>^I have those ! Though I bought mine from Home Depot. I know they work too. Keep seeing new moths in the trap. </p>
<p>That’s how I know I still have the problem. And I found one box of Chinese dried food - ginseng like roots infested last week. I thought those mealy worms only love grains and flour but I keep finding them in the most unexpected places. Before that was a tightly closed glass jar of flax seeds. 
</p>
<p>Are you sure those pheromone traps do not draw new moths to your otherwise moth-free pantry? H bought a mosquito trap for our yard, and we had swarms of $%*@ buggers this summer (never had a real problem until H installed the trap).</p>
<p>^lol at the situation…sorry, don’t mean to make light of your pain. </p>
<p>As for mine, probably not, because unless they are already in the pantry where would they come from ? It’s not the same as the open air where they can come from some place else. Then the box of dried roots and the many many ugly wriggly worms tells me I have an infestation. I bought more airtight(?) plastic boxes from Costco and I am in the process of putting all the rest of the food stuff in them. </p>
<p>I am Chinese and I have the proverbial 20 lb bag of rice and numerous bags of dried mushrooms, ginseng (all gifts) and other dried goods that I am at a loss to find containers to store. </p>
<p>I put them out in the garage last winter but I am sure they are reinfected again. Ummm, I just have an idea, I think I will just empty the pantry this winter and put everything out in the garage. Hopefully that will do it. </p>
<p>I put out oatmeal last winter, I was eating wormy oatmeal all spring… dead frozen worms (unbeknownst to me). Bleh.</p>
<p>We’re having a terrible time with those moths–threw out everything, but they’re still here. Maybe it’s a bad year for them? (or good year, from their perspective.)</p>
<p>I never buy organic grain products. I’d rather take a little of the pesticides rather than the crunch of a weevil.</p>
<p>OTH, a little bit of cretin is good for the skin, fat binding, and nails. </p>
<p>Eat your shrimp, crab, and weevil shells. :)</p>
<p>Oh ,thank you!! Now I know where mine have gone- actually, I don’t care as long as the %&%*$^ things aren’t crawling around in my flour canister. UGH! The bay leaves worked for me and I’ve had success this year with very thin slices of cucumber to keep ants from marching formation across the kitchen. No need for the orange peels in the dog beds this year as rain has drowned the outdoor flee population!
For those of you who want to try something a bit stronger than my home remedies, but who hesitate to hit up Home Depot for the chemical bombs, The Vermont Country Store catalog offers some mild options to keep away the critters.</p>
<p>I wonder if it would be possible to determine if the weevils were worse in some areas in certain years? I live in upstate NY (Rochester) and there were no weevils but ants were plentiful this year.</p>
<p>Getting rid of moths is tricky once you have an infestation. When we had them in our pantry, I almost went crazy trying to figure out where they were laying their eggs.</p>
<p>First, I tried putting all our opened grain products in plastic containers. Didn’t work. A few days later we had moths covering the pantry walls again. Next, I put every opened product in a plastic container and inspected every visible surface in the pantry for moths and larvae. I thought we were clean, but several days later the buggers were back. In frustration, I threw out every opened container. Yep, everything. All we had left in the pantry were cans and unopened boxes. And again, those blasted moths were back in a few days.</p>
<p>That’s when I almost lost my sanity. I took everything out of the pantry and looked at every surface of every item and every surface in the pantry. They were clean, or so I thought, but I knew the moths/larvae had to be hiding somewhere. So I opened the flaps of the unopened boxes and–bingo! Moth larvae on the glue flaps. I ended up opening every previously unopened box and found larvae on quite a few of them. Then I put everything back in the pantry, thinking we’d finally solved the problem. But…</p>
<p>The moths came back! It was a horror story that wouldn’t go away. Again, I took everything out of the pantry, and this time I even removed the pantry shelves. And guess what? I found that those tricky moths had laid eggs on the ends and sides of the shelves against the walls so we couldn’t see them. </p>
<p>I put the shelves back in the pantry, and this time I was absolutely certain there was nowhere else the moths could hide. But wait–we still had cracks where the tile floor met the baseboards! So to avoid future problems, I spent a week caulking every crack in the pantry: on the floor, where the shelves met the walls (top and bottom), and around the light fixture. I also set out Pantry Pest traps.</p>
<p>Finally, FINALLY! Blessed relief. No more moths. Now the traps attract and catch moths before we get an infestation, and I have my sanity back.</p>