So today is the day you thought of deep cleaning your kitchen, you start putting out all of the containers but there is something black you see in the rice container, flour as well, you gather the strength to open it thinking if it is a mouse. You open it and there they are, those tiny little critters ruining your food supply for the entire month, the critters are known as weevils.

Weevils a pest that can invade your everyday food item storages and ruin them taste-wise.  Weevils are famous for attacking a variety of grains which includes flour, barley, corn, oats, pasta and most importantly rice.

What Does a Weevil Looks Like?

They resemble to somewhat of cockroaches but tiny in size. Weevil is an insect that has wings with colors variation from pure black to reddish-brown.  They are about 3-5mm long.

Where Do Weevils Come From?

You would probably see these little critters around your pantry in monsoon. It is their season. They need an atmosphere that is damp and has moisture and we all know monsoon does exactly that too our household temperature. So it’s Christmas for these weevils. It is extremely important to take matters into one’s hand at an initial stage otherwise your pantry would be doomed to these weevils.

Types of weevils and do Weevils Fly?

Generally, the weevils can be categorized on the basis of their attack. If they are attacking specifically your rice container then they are known as rice weevils in contrast to the weevils that are attracted to every other type of grain product, such weevils are called granary weevils. Rice weevils are mostly found in humid climate whereas the granary weevils are likely to be found in a slightly cooler climate.

Rice weevils have the ability to fly whereas another weevil cannot.

Can Weevils Bite?

Any type of weevil is harmless to furniture, people or houses. They neither bite nor sting and do not transmit any type of disease.

How to Get Rid of Weevils

Now brace yourself for some deep cleaning and get ready to take these weevils out for good.

1. Pour Boil Water

The first step is to identify whether it is a rice weevil or flour. You can only apply this method when there is rice weevil infestation.  Take a large oval deep plate and spread the rice in it and add boiling water to it. Due to the high temperature of the water, it would burn all those weevils’ even the ones that are hidden underneath. Leave the process for 10-20 minutes and come check back at them later. When you would come back, all the dead weevils would be floating on the surface of the plate. Now either grabs a sieve or even a bowl would do and start removing these critters.

2. Freeze them

There is one thing these weevils hate and that is cold. They fear cold like one fears death. Weevils are susceptible to cold; there is no chance for these little critters to live once you keep them in extremely cold temperature. Now to do this there are two ways, either you put all of the rice in the freezer in one batch or you can make small packets of rice, using plastic bags (seal slightly open) and freeze in sequential batches time after time. You will do this after doing the above remedy, the benefit from this is; it will get rid of the eggs of the weevils or leftover weevils.

3. Sticky Traps

One of the most common ways to attract insects into a trap is to set up a sticky trap. These insects are more attracted to light as compared to darkness. So when you take the containers out and put them in direct sunlight, they tend to come out. This is where you should place your sticky trap. When they crawl back they would get stuck on the glue-based trap easily.

We have arrived at the point where you would not need to put any kind of elbow grease or strength. Below mentioned household items are all the time present in one’s home and they are a very inexpensive method to keep these weevils out of your grocery items for less than 2$

4. Cloves

One of the best ways to get rid of weevils naturally is to put cloves where there are chances of invasion of weevils. Cloves are a strong repellent to weevils. It has the ability to wave off all types of weevils and can even prevent future infestation. The way it works is that you sprinkle weevils around the areas where weevils are most likely to be such as kitchen pantry, shelves, and drawers where you keep the containers. The powerful smell of cloves keeps the weevils away from the items.

5. Bay or Neem leaves

Bay leaf can be regarded as a queen in this matter. This is the strongest and most effective of all remedies in killing/keeping the weevils away. You just simply need to put 2-3 leaves in any container that contains flour, rice, barley, etc. and let bay leaf do its magic.

6. Ginger/Garlic

Now the Gigi has stolen spotlights for decades and it has been a life savior for all of the kitchen problems we have ever faced. Simply place the cloves of ginger garlic (2-3) in the container and tightly seal the containers. Leave it for a day and you shall see all the weevils dead on the next day. You can sieve the weevils out of the container.

7. Boric Acid

Well, look who shows up at the end? The boric acid! Sprinkle across the cupboards, floor and around and inside kitchen cabinets after cleaning out the containers to stop the infestation.

8. Precautionary Techniques

   1. Thoroughly vacuum the shelves and cabinets after removal of containers.
   2. Discard the food items which have been affected by the weevil infestation.
   3. Store the rice, flour, etc. in airtight jar containers or plastic bags. Make sure to completely seal the plastic bag.
   4. Buy the pantry items in small portions that can easily be finished off in a week or two.

And that is it good people, I hope you never get infestations like weevils but if you do, do not forget to come back to our article and find your perfect and permanent solution for riddance of weevils.