[bugfilter] Worms/larvae on kitchen cookware
June 21, 2015 2:59 PM Subscribe
Found this little thing in our glass measuring cup and 3 little wiggling worms/larvae (no pic) that looked like mouse droppings on our wok lid stored upside down. Both items were washed and cleaned and were sitting on the kitchen counter. Should I be worried?
The household is generally pretty tidy and all dishes are washed as they're used but near both those items there were some bread crumbs from the toaster oven/bread basket. Haven't spot them in the cupboards/cabinets. No carpets in the apartment.
The household is generally pretty tidy and all dishes are washed as they're used but near both those items there were some bread crumbs from the toaster oven/bread basket. Haven't spot them in the cupboards/cabinets. No carpets in the apartment.
Another vote for meal worms. They will sometimes climb some distance when they are getting ready to pupate so can fall from walls and end up some distance from the infestation site. Ugh, so gross. We had an infestation originating from an unopened jar of whey protein mix, and I missed it until they were falling off the ceiling onto the kitchen bench. Blergh.
Check your grains but also any nuts or pulses in your pantry. Sealed and unopened packages as well.
(Called weavil moths here in Australia)
posted by arha at 3:16 PM on June 21, 2015
Check your grains but also any nuts or pulses in your pantry. Sealed and unopened packages as well.
(Called weavil moths here in Australia)
posted by arha at 3:16 PM on June 21, 2015
Nthing meal worms/pantry moths. Check all your grains, legumes, nuts, protein mixes, and dry pet food. After tossing anything infested with larvae, put out some sticky traps (like these) to get any lingering adults.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:21 PM on June 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 3:21 PM on June 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, meal worms. They leave spider web-like clumps in your grains and flours and cereals. Toss everything and start fresh, sealing things in glass jars (they can chew through plastic) or putting in the freezer.
posted by Specklet at 3:59 PM on June 21, 2015
posted by Specklet at 3:59 PM on June 21, 2015
I have had very good results with the pantry moth pheromone traps (like Rosie linked to) once they start flying.
I was reminded by my sister how our mother used to put all items that might carry these critters into the freezer for a short while after coming home from the grocery.
Mom's home remedy was small shallow dishes with water and a drop of liquid detergent to break the surface tension. That still works pretty good.
posted by rudd135 at 5:14 PM on June 21, 2015
I was reminded by my sister how our mother used to put all items that might carry these critters into the freezer for a short while after coming home from the grocery.
Mom's home remedy was small shallow dishes with water and a drop of liquid detergent to break the surface tension. That still works pretty good.
posted by rudd135 at 5:14 PM on June 21, 2015
Ugh pantry moths. You really have to scorch the earth, as far as existing open bags of any kind of grain (including breakfast cereal, crackers, polenta, rice, cake/biscuit mix, etc).
Note: they can chew through plastic bag-type material, but if you want to get hard plastic containers that will be okay. A screw-lid is safer than a Gladware-type snap-on lid as well, and a rubber- or silicone-seal container is the most inviolable.
The gross part is that all your grains (but straight flour is the worst offender) come infested with the larvae, but it takes light for them to grow/hatch. Once they do, they're almost certainly in everything else they can possible access.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:42 PM on June 21, 2015
Note: they can chew through plastic bag-type material, but if you want to get hard plastic containers that will be okay. A screw-lid is safer than a Gladware-type snap-on lid as well, and a rubber- or silicone-seal container is the most inviolable.
The gross part is that all your grains (but straight flour is the worst offender) come infested with the larvae, but it takes light for them to grow/hatch. Once they do, they're almost certainly in everything else they can possible access.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:42 PM on June 21, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks all. I've been googling quite a bit. How do they managed to get into sealed containers and even jars? Do they get in during the packaging process? And how do they survive in the (presumably air tight) sealed packages?
posted by lucia_engel at 6:39 PM on June 21, 2015
posted by lucia_engel at 6:39 PM on June 21, 2015
A useful search term is Indian Meal Moths, their common name.
They're ferociously difficult to get rid of. The pheromone traps catch flying moths but they don't prevent reinfestation, because they don't trap egg-laying females.
I battled them in one apartment for a long time, and only vanquished them when I basically stopping storing any food that they might like anywhere outside the refrigerator. All grains, pasta, etc. went into clean glass jars and then into the fridge. Even things you think they might not like should be put in the fridge - spices, anything with sugar or honey, sundried tomatoes, soup mixes, etc. There's very little they won't get into. If in doubt, throw it out, and put everything else in cold storage. Clean your surfaces thoroughly - cabinet shelves and doors, drawers, etc. Don't store pet food loose - put it in clean sealed containers and make sure they're airtight. Apparently the life cycle is about eight weeks, so you need to keep food they like out of your cabinets at least that long. In the end, when I got rid of them, by the time eight weeks had passed I had grown used to keeping all my food in the fridge or freezer (and keeping less on hand overall) and just continued for several more months. A few things, like oats, flour, and cornmeal, I still just keep in the fridge because I don't use them fast enough to really monitor them and prevent infestation.
How do they get in? The factory can be a vector. So can neighbors. In my neighborhood, there was a food co-op with bulk goods that was a definite vector - a lot of households picked it up there. They can get into nearly any container, because the females lay eggs on the containers and the larvae hatch and seek food while they're very tiny. Glass jars, once opened, rarely re-seal fully. Closed cardboard boxes like those for cereal and pasta pose no real barrier at all.
posted by Miko at 7:12 PM on June 21, 2015
They're ferociously difficult to get rid of. The pheromone traps catch flying moths but they don't prevent reinfestation, because they don't trap egg-laying females.
I battled them in one apartment for a long time, and only vanquished them when I basically stopping storing any food that they might like anywhere outside the refrigerator. All grains, pasta, etc. went into clean glass jars and then into the fridge. Even things you think they might not like should be put in the fridge - spices, anything with sugar or honey, sundried tomatoes, soup mixes, etc. There's very little they won't get into. If in doubt, throw it out, and put everything else in cold storage. Clean your surfaces thoroughly - cabinet shelves and doors, drawers, etc. Don't store pet food loose - put it in clean sealed containers and make sure they're airtight. Apparently the life cycle is about eight weeks, so you need to keep food they like out of your cabinets at least that long. In the end, when I got rid of them, by the time eight weeks had passed I had grown used to keeping all my food in the fridge or freezer (and keeping less on hand overall) and just continued for several more months. A few things, like oats, flour, and cornmeal, I still just keep in the fridge because I don't use them fast enough to really monitor them and prevent infestation.
How do they get in? The factory can be a vector. So can neighbors. In my neighborhood, there was a food co-op with bulk goods that was a definite vector - a lot of households picked it up there. They can get into nearly any container, because the females lay eggs on the containers and the larvae hatch and seek food while they're very tiny. Glass jars, once opened, rarely re-seal fully. Closed cardboard boxes like those for cereal and pasta pose no real barrier at all.
posted by Miko at 7:12 PM on June 21, 2015
I had these in a previous sharehouse. My method for getting it under control:
x. Threw away any rice/pasta/flour/cereal/etc with meal worms already in.
x. Put anything else into the freezer. I think that it takes at least a week in the freezer to be sure that any eggs or tiny little baby larvae are dead. I left most things in the freezer until the infestation was under control. I put anything new from the supermarket in there too, so that they couldn't get infested / to kill any that could have come in from the processing plant or wherever.
x. I thoroughly wiped down all shelves and surfaces, and even wiped down the outside of cans and jars. As you've seen, they sometimes appear in unexpected places. It's usually pretty obvious, though, because of the webs.
x. I set up several sticky moth traps to catch any moths.
My housemates weren't super helpful, so I'm sure there were still some meal worms hiding in things in the pantry, but I managed to get everything mostly under control with the steps above.
As far as I know, they're only really a problem in Spring/Summer.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:11 AM on June 22, 2015
x. Threw away any rice/pasta/flour/cereal/etc with meal worms already in.
x. Put anything else into the freezer. I think that it takes at least a week in the freezer to be sure that any eggs or tiny little baby larvae are dead. I left most things in the freezer until the infestation was under control. I put anything new from the supermarket in there too, so that they couldn't get infested / to kill any that could have come in from the processing plant or wherever.
x. I thoroughly wiped down all shelves and surfaces, and even wiped down the outside of cans and jars. As you've seen, they sometimes appear in unexpected places. It's usually pretty obvious, though, because of the webs.
x. I set up several sticky moth traps to catch any moths.
My housemates weren't super helpful, so I'm sure there were still some meal worms hiding in things in the pantry, but I managed to get everything mostly under control with the steps above.
As far as I know, they're only really a problem in Spring/Summer.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:11 AM on June 22, 2015
I am not an expert but that's no meal worm. It looks closer to the larva of a soldier fly (WARNING FLY LARVA PICS IN LINK). What size was this? I don't know what a soldier fly would be doing in your kitchen so this may be another type of fly altogether but definitely a fly larva. Which is kind of good news I think because its unlikely to be an infestation (like you would have with pantry moths). Google Pantry Moth Larva and you'll see the difference. But rest assured, its NOT A PANTRY MOTH.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:00 AM on June 22, 2015
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:00 AM on June 22, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks WalkerWestridge. I also couldn't find pantry moth/worm pictures that looked like that, while fly pupae definitely looked more similar. It's about same size as white rice grain but fatter.
The other 3 worms looked exactly like mouse droppings, same size too. If they weren't wiggling I would have thought they were droppings. Can't find any insect pictures that match just yet.
posted by lucia_engel at 12:05 PM on June 22, 2015
The other 3 worms looked exactly like mouse droppings, same size too. If they weren't wiggling I would have thought they were droppings. Can't find any insect pictures that match just yet.
posted by lucia_engel at 12:05 PM on June 22, 2015
Response by poster: Found this larva on the wok yesterday, we moved the wok lid but the wok was still there. There was nothing in the morning but found it after work. Will be checking cabinets tonight!
posted by lucia_engel at 4:58 AM on June 23, 2015
posted by lucia_engel at 4:58 AM on June 23, 2015
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posted by Toddles at 3:05 PM on June 21, 2015