Three Pantry Pests That Make Spring Cleaning of the Cupboards Necessary
You’ve washed windows and thoroughly cleaned floors and furnishings. You’ve laundered pillow, blankets, and comforters. You’ve dry cleaned curtains. Spring cleaning isn’t over. You need to go through your parent’s cupboards and pantry.
Pantry pests are the biggest reason to do a spring cleaning of the cupboards. A few sugar granules, a little flour, or a forgotten bag of grains is enough to lure pantry pests. Once they’ve found a food source, they will continue to go for any items of interest. Here are three pantry pests to watch for.
Flour Beetles
Flour beetles target items like cornmeal, different types of flour, dried cereals, crackers, and rice. The larvae look a little like mealworms. Once they’ve found a food source, they can be hard to get rid of. It’s important to rid the pantry of items they’ve infested, wipe down all surfaces, and make sure new groceries are secure in air-tight jars, containers, or freezer bags.
Indian Meal Moths
Indian meal moths are one of the worst pests to have. Not only do they go for flour, but they’ll go for dry pet foods, cereals, powdered milk, dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. You may see the small moths flying around your house as they hunt for the ideal location to lay their eggs.
The larvae of an Indian meal moth looks a little like a small maggot. They tend to be no bigger than half an inch in length. To get into foods, they look for small holes or open bags. They can work their way through thinner packaging materials, so keeping bags sealed isn’t always enough.
Odorous Ants
Odorous ants usually appear in the spring and early summer. They come into a house looking for sugary treats. Once one has found something appealing, their fellow ants follow. You might see a black line of ants marching to their target food. In a pantry, they’ll find honey jars, bags of sugar, and jars of jam or jelly.
After a spring cleaning of the cupboards and pantry, make sure your parent takes preventative measures to keep insects from returning. Moving bagged items to an air-tight jar or thick freezer bag can help. Clean up spills immediately. If your parent has a hard time cleaning thoroughly, an elder care professional can help.
Caregivers can cook meals and clean up all dishes and surfaces after. Call an elder care agency to learn more about beneficial elder care services.