Biscuit Beetle

How to tell if you have Biscuit beetles.

Even though these stored product pests prefer to feed on flour products, they will attack a broad range of food items. Inspection is a must.

• Look in nearby food products such as pet food, birdseed, cake mixes, biscuit mixes, muffin mixes, spices, powdered milk, nutmeats, cornmeal, crackers, insect and rodent baits.
• Use a magnifying glass and flashlight to help with the inspection.
• The biscuit beetle has a humped thorax and a body covered in fine hairs, their wing cases have ridges with indentations. Adults grow to an approximate 2 – 3mm in length and larvae are known to be active in early stages of development.
• Biscuit beetles survive approximately 70 days at 28°C and 200 days at 17°C, adults may live between 13 – 65 days in favorable conditions.
• Infested items often will contain adult weevils as well as dead adults.  Grains will have exit holes from the emergence of the adult beetles.

Upon identifying an infestation,  DO NOT tidy up any evidence just Contact Us and we will help/advise with the next step in preparing an eradication program.

The program will consist of:-

• We would start with a thorough inspection of all known and suspected spots where they might be hiding.
• Customer to try get a sample for us to identify.
• We only carry out a treatment when a confirmed infestation is present as this is the correct thing to do for many reasons, but the main one is cost savings. There is no point in paying to try and kill something that is not even present.
• Identifying the insect species causing the problem.
• We will ask you to start by removing all infested products, cleaning and vacuuming all areas to pick up any loose debris/insects
• Education explaining the life cycle and how their habits, habitat, and behavior affects the control plan.
• Treating affected areas by using safe effective control products.
• Scheduling a follow-up visit if required.

Prevention 

All Stored product pests cause tremendous damage and economic losses to stored grains and seeds, packaged food products, and animal and plant-derived items and products. Besides causing direct damage by feeding.

As there is no easy way to tell if any product you have purchased is infested when you bring it home. It is advisable to buy some air-tight ‘Tupperware’ type of containers, and transfer all your stored products into these as soon as possible after purchase so that if a product is infested, the insects will not spread to other foods. Food stored in this type of container will be protected from infestation.