Insect aside?

June 19, 2018 8:59 AM

Someone in our new-to-us condo had put down tape in the kitchen to block some buggies. I pulled the tape out during renovations and saw they caught some victims in the glue. What are these guys? Looks like some some wormy guys and some kinda ants. Specifically what was infesting this place and how should we protect against future incursion? (Note there is no sign of living bugs right now.)
posted by seanmpuckett to Science & Nature (7 answers total)

The wormy casings look like they might have been meal moth larvae (years ago I lived in a place where we ended up getting them). If that's what they are, they would have arrived via grain brought into the kitchen. If you're not seeing any living larvae or moths, they're likely long gone.

In terms of prevention for those guys, keep all cereal and grain products in sealed jars.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:26 AM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I believe the wormy casings are from a type of carpet beetle larvae (different species look very different, but some look exactly like your photo). In every house I've lived in, I see identical casings and occasionally live larvae if I leave clothes in undisturbed corners for too long (socks under the bed, etc). I find them super gross but they haven't seemed to cause any problems or grow in number. I only see them occasionally so I haven't bothered to do anything, but apparently they eat fabric and can cause allergic reactions in some people, so watch out for that (and try to be less of a slob about leaving clothes on the floor than I am).

It's always a good idea to keep dried goods etc in sealed containers anyway, though. Lots of different pests can get into them.
posted by randomnity at 11:51 AM on June 19, 2018

The larvae could be from some sort of moth, as mandolin says above, or a beetle. We had flour beetles once about twenty years ago, mostly because we were out of the country for about three months.

We've also had ants as well. They may live in any rotten or decomposing wood in your building. They are attracted to anything with sugar in it. So, we had ants climb up through the wall, exit through the baseboard heater, troop across the living room, up the wall, into the pantry, to eat some sugar of some kind. A secondary expedition traveled all the way into the cupboard to get at another stash of sugar.

We used some powder and some bait traps to beat back the ants.
posted by JamesBay at 11:55 AM on June 19, 2018

Best answer: 1. what was infesting this place?

A. Darkling beetle larvae

AKA mealworms, only the shed exoskeletons of which appear in picture

B. Carpenter ants

Indentifying feature: black gaster

2. how should we protect against future incursion?

A. Mealworms

Larvae hatch from eggs, and air-tight storage jars will keep egg-laying adult female beetles out of foodstuffs. So no cereals/grains/flour/rice/pasta in original store-bought packaging

That said, most eggs are laid before or during processing/packaging, on the raw crop itself. They're already there, unhatched. And they're generally too small for the eye to see.

(FWIW, Mealworms are an excellent source of protein, and eaten throughout the world)

B. Ants

Ants are impossible to keep out. Caulking, sealing windows and doors is futile; the two primary pathways for ants are drains and exterior ventilation ducts.
posted by BadgerDoctor at 12:09 PM on June 19, 2018 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Pulled the cabinets out and found more, different buggies! All dead though. Scale is about the size of a quinoa grain. These were on the wall behind framing members.

There was a report of pharaoh ants a few years ago in the building blog, but nothing lately. I noticed someone also jammed steel wool around the kitchen plumbing cutouts, what’s that about?

This is certainly an exciting time here in nouveau chez moi.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:18 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Those ARE NOT carpenter ants. Look like normal sugar ants to me.
posted by humboldt32 at 12:56 PM on June 19, 2018

Best answer: I noticed someone also jammed steel wool around the kitchen plumbing cutouts, what’s that about?

That's for keeping out rodents.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:23 PM on June 19, 2018 [3 favorites]