With the holiday season just around the corner, you may find yourself getting the urge to bake a pie. However, as the temperatures drop, Florida’s many pests become determined to turn your home and pantry into their personal bed and breakfast for the winter. From feeding on flour to laying waste to your wheat, pests can quickly ruin your pie season and contaminate your food storage with dangerous diseases.
Educate yourself on the intruders targeting your Florida home’s pantry this fall and discover how the pest control experts from McCall Service can stop them.
The Types of Pests Targeting Your Pantry
There’s a wide range of pests interested in nibbling on your pantry’s contents. Whenever you find a pest in your food storage, be sure to throw affected food away immediately. Many pests carry harmful diseases, such as cholera and salmonellosis, which they can spread in your food.
Whether they’re chewing on your dried fruit or burrowing into your flour, keep an eye out for the following pantry pillagers this fall:
Ants
Ants are drawn to sugar, honey, and other sweet items in your pantry. Like many pests, they use their keen sense of smell to find even the tiniest crumb or grain of sugar. Once a scavenging ant finds accessible food in your pantry and alerts its colony, you can expect a steady stream of these insects into your food storage.
Cigarette Beetles
These tiny, brown, oval-shaped beetles are notorious for wreaking havoc on stored food. From grains and flours to cereals and dried fruits, cigarette beetles are determined to devour your pantry’s contents. Florida’s humid climate also makes it even easier for them to quickly lay and hatch their larvae in your food supplies.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are common kitchen culprits, feeding on a wide range of flours, cereals, pasta, and other dry goods. There are many species of cockroaches, from American cockroaches and German cockroaches to Oriental cockroaches. They can contantimate stored food with diseases such as cholera, salmonellosis, and typhoid fever. Trying to get rid of them on your own? It’s best to bring in the pest experts from McCall to protect your home.
Drugstore Beetles
Drugstore beetles are almost identical to cigarette beetles, with the key difference between the two species being their antennae—drugstore beetles have clubbed antennae, while cigarette beetles have serrated ones. They feed on and lay their eggs in a variety of grains, flour, pasta, and more.
Not sure what kind of beetle is making a meal out of your food storage? Contact McCall Service’s experts to identify your pantry pest.
Grain Moths
While they don’t bite or spread diseases like other pantry pests, grain moths are still a frustrating and unwanted addition to any food storage. Grain moths are cream-colored with reddish-brown markings, and lay their eggs in flour and grains. As their larvae develop, they’ll feed on the stored food and contaminate it with their waste.
Weevils
Members of the beetle family, weevils are tiny black pests, measuring at roughly 6 mm. You can identify adult weevils by their long snouts. Once they invade your pantry, they feed on grains, nuts, flour, and even dried fruits. While they don’t carry dangerous diseases, it’s best to throw away food contaminated with weevils to avoid accidentally adding them to your pie recipe.
How You Can Prevent Pantry Pests
There are many ways to prevent pantry pests from ruining your pie baking season. From cockroaches to weevils, protect your dry goods and food storage with the following tips:
- Keep your pantry clean: Wipe down your containers after baking to prevent pests.
- Use proper storage: Always use airtight, plastic or glass containers.
- Separate old and new food: Old dry goods can possibly contain pests. Never combine them with new dry goods.
- Clean your containers: Remember to wipe out old containers before putting in new food.
Protect Your Pantry and More with McCall
While keeping your pantry clean and storing your pie ingredients in airtight containers can help discourage, they’re not guaranteed to keep pests away. Protect your pies and your health with the pest experts from McCall Service. We’re dedicated to making and keeping your Florida home pest-free with effective pest control solutions.
Protect your pies, pantry, and more with McCall Service. From getting rid of cockroaches to keeping out ants, we do it all. Request your free quote today!
