How to remove the bread grinder and its larvae

Bread grinder - A nondescript bug that can do devastating damage to food supplies. The insect eats flour, cereals, breadcrumbs, cookies, animal feed, medicinal herbs, as well as books, herbaria, biological collections. With a small infection for a long time, the presence of a bread grinder goes unnoticed.When the beetles become too many, they begin to crawl around the house in search of a new food base. Detailed instructions on the recognition of insects and how to combat them will help to quickly get rid of pests.

What does a bread grinder look like?

Bread grinder differs in small body size and brown color, shades can be from light brown to dark brown. The length of an adult individual is from 1.5 cm to 4 cm. The back of a cylindrical form and like a hood is pulled over the head. The whole body is covered with thick yellowish fibers.

Interesting!

Insects have developed wings and are able to fly. Flight abilities are manifested mainly at night. Sensing danger, the bread grinder demonstrates the wonders of disguise and pretends to be dead.

Bread grinder

Adult beetles do not eat anything. They fill their energy needs with the reserves accumulated during the period of maturation. The harm of adults lies in the deterioration of the products in which they make through holes. Grinders are temperature resistant. The optimum temperature for them is + 25-30 ° C, at a temperature of + 4 ° C the larvae retain their viability. Therefore, the conditions in apartments for beetles are the most favorable.

Reproduction Features of Grinders

The female lays in a nutrient substrate from 60 to 80 whitish eggs. After 1-2 weeks, they turn into fleshy off-white larvae with developed teeth, which allow them to gnaw through even the hardest materials. Young voracious individuals are not distinguished by intelligibility in food and eat the product in which they find themselves. The grain grinder larvae gnaw through the tunnels, leaving behind them excreta. In the package, visited by the pest, everything is covered with dust and traces of life. Notice how the bread grinder looks in the photo, its offspring and products damaged by pests.

The development of young animals depends on the ambient temperature and lasts from 30 to 100 days. During this time, the larva undergoes several molts. For pupation, the mature caterpillar constructs itself a cocoon of food microparticles, gnaws a cradle in hard substrates. After 15-20 days, a young beetle emerges from the cocoon. To get out, he gnaws his flight hole. Adult bread grinders live for about 30 days.

Bread grinder larvae

Interesting!

An adult individual after pupation has an impressive abdomen, in which fat reserves are concentrated, ensuring the vital activity of the insect. With the passage of life, it is noticeably reduced in size.

Where are bread grinders hiding?

Bread grinder absorbs literally everything that comes into its field of vision. The only thing that he does not touch in the apartment is wood and building materials. The priority of insect food:

• bread, crackers, cookies, waffles;
• pasta from all types of wheat;
• cereals;
• sugar, confectionery;
• dried fruits;
• Tea coffee;
• pet food;
• medicinal herbs, including poisonous.

In addition to the provisions, a bread grinder can be attracted to herbaria, bouquets of dried flowers, books, stuffed animals, and tobacco. It is possible to determine that pests have started in the home library by the presence of abundant paper dust. The larvae gnaw through the moves in the books, they eat up some of the paper, just grind a part into dust. Grinders can live anywhere in the apartment. An old bundle of newspapers and magazines, a forgotten paper souvenir, an anxiously stored wedding bouquet - all this can become a habitat for pests that will not give out their presence for a long time.

Important!

Grain grinders, crawling on the walls, window sills, on the floor - a clear sign of severe contamination. This means that they are too divorced and they are looking for a suitable nutrient substrate.

Insects get into the apartment in 2 ways:

1. Penetrate through the vents, window slits.
2. They are brought along with purchases, cereals, dried fruits are most often infected. If the purchased products were not poured into an airtight container, the grinders multiply, gnaw holes in the plastic bag and infect another food.

How to get rid of pests in the kitchen

Bread grinder

Breeding bugs is much easier than annoying ubiquitous cockroaches or ants. Before you get rid of the bread grinder in the kitchen, you should understand that this insect does not hide in secluded places and does not go hunting with the onset of night. The grinder lives and breeds directly in the substrate, mainly in food. It is enough to find the source of infection and dispose of it.

Important!

Foods infected with a bread grinder should not be drunk! They are filled with the waste of the insect, which can provoke food disorders, poisoning.

The plan of measures for getting rid of pests is reduced to a revision of all kitchen utensils. It is necessary to scrupulously check the contents of all jars, boxes. You can not ignore the decorative ornaments made of natural materials, standing on the lockers.

Feedback

One night I saw a wandering little bug on the table. It became curious what kind of creation it was and began to look for information on websites about domestic pests. Having compared my copy and photo, I was surprised to find out that it was a bread grinder. I checked all the cereals, dried fruits, but did not find anything suspicious. And only during the general cleaning of the kitchen she found a decorative whisk-charm on the top cabinet. The cellophane with which it was packed resembled a sieve, and the broom itself turned into fine dust with telltalely crawling fat white caterpillars.

Victoria, Volgograd

The success of the struggle with grinders is determined by the thoroughness of the search for spoiled products. If we managed to find a cluster of beetles in one place, this does not mean that they are no longer anywhere and that they were completely eliminated. The whole food needs inspection. Detected contaminated products must be disposed of, and the beetles are destroyed by mechanical action, that is, by crushing.After completing the search and liquidation work in the kitchen, the inner surfaces of the cabinets should be washed and treated with a solution of vinegar, soda. Banks in which contaminated products were found, soak in soapy water, wash. Getting rid of bread grinders with insecticides is irrational.

If you suspect that the products are infected, but there are no obvious signs, the following measures are taken:

• the cereal is sifted and warmed in the oven;
• Infected products should be placed in the freezer for 12 hours, then fry in a pan for 15-20 minutes;
• pour the beans and peas with cold water; in case of infection the larvae will float to the surface.