Cable Forum - Evil weevils

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Re: Evil weevils

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 35380822)

Or we do what I did to the weevils in the OP - sit them in their air-tight container outside the back door and wait to see how long it takes them to die. ;)

How long did it take?

Re: Evil weevils

Quote:

Originally Posted by heero_yuy (Post 35381000)

If it's a seeded one then you won't know the diffrence when you get a crunchy bit.;)

It does make for interesting flossing :)

Re: Evil weevils

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey (Post 35381519)

How long did it take?

They didn't mind the outdoors at all, plus they had a lifetime supply of food in the container with them.

We moved house three months after I started this thread, so the container got emptied and thoroughly cleaned so we could pack it away. They were all alive and kicking as they went into the wheelie bin.

Re: Evil weevils

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 35381722)

ah ok. You see I clearly have a terrible mind -I assumed you had meant you'd taken all their food away, and just put them in an air tight container to see how long it would take them to die in some form of experiment....

Re: Evil weevils

Update: the little buggers were indeed meal moths:

http://www.lifecyclepest.com/images/meal_moth.jpg

Things quieted down a little after we cleared out the cupboard, but the buggers didn't go away. I then found an old bag of plain self-raising flour in the back of the (not cleared) top shelf of said cupboard, with one of the buggers in it. A couple of days later, I was going to roast some pine nuts for a salad, and found the pine nuts moved... Larvae :sick:

So I threw out the pine nuts, and opened a new bag (which I stuck in a sealed container afterwards), yet the critters still remained, despite me swatting about five of them every evening. Yesterday, I found out the source of the infection had moved to a different cupboard. Larvae in a bag of pasta we ate from just this week :) and in a bag of bird food lying in there. So I threw those out, and today, for the first time in 3 weeks I haven't seen a moth yet...

Surprisingly, they never seemed very interested in the freshly opened bags of flour that are still in the cupboard they first originated from, but instead opted for an old bag of self raising flour, pine nuts, pasta and bird food instead.

I'm sure they're hiding, hatching a plan to attack a food source I hadn't thought of... :)

Re: Evil weevils

Yes I threw away the opened bag of cornflour this week after mixing some of it with water and finding little dark specks floating on top.

Re: Evil weevils

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf (Post 35392368)

I'm sure they're hiding, hatching a plan to attack a food source I hadn't thought of... :)

Its part of a bigger food stuff invasion :D

Re: Evil weevils

Quote:

Originally Posted by heero_yuy (Post 35392508)

It's probably because the fresh flour etc is too dry for them whereas opened product will have absorbed some moisture from the air.

No it's because it's an open package.The best way to avoid weevils is to place opened bags in an airtight container.Also it's a good idea to follow recipes when they say to sift flour..;)

Re: Evil weevils

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maggy J (Post 35392541)

No it's because it's an open package.The best way to avoid weevils is to place opened bags in an airtight container.Also it's a good idea to follow recipes when they say to sift flour..;)

It's not weevils, it's meal moths. And they went for old flour/pine nuts/pasta/bird food despite there being freshly opened bags of flour in the cabinet that was affected first. Generally speaking they seem attracted to old food stuffs. I think there may be something in Heero's suggestion, though I'm struggling with the concept of dried pasta absorbing much moisture.