What Is a Weevil and How Did It Get in My Food?

Weevils, also known as flour bugs or long-snout bugs, infest flour, rice, cornmeal, and other dry goods in the pantry. 

Several types of weevils can multiply quickly and spread throughout your kitchen and pantry, so it's essential to take steps to control weevils as soon as you spot them.

Here's what you need to know about the different types of weevils and how you can protect your food.

What Is a Weevil?

Weevils are a type of beetle with an elongated snout. There are more than 95,000 different weevil species, and the most common types infesting pantries and cupboards are rice weevils (Sitophilus oryzae), granary or wheat weevils (Sitophilus granarius), and maize weevils (Sitophilus zeamais). Other types are called bean, pea, and seed weevils.

Weevils aren’t harmful to humans or pets and don’t carry any diseases. However, they can cause damage to stored food products, gardens, and plants. 

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Weevil Identification

Weevils are 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch long. Their long snouts most easily distinguish them. They can live up to eight months and venture far from the food initially infested. Weevils lay eggs that turn into larvae that appear like little white grubs.

Rice Weevils

• Tiny—about 1/16 inch long
• Color is dull reddish brown to black, with four reddish-yellow spots on the back
• Live up to five months
• Can fly
  

Maize Weevils

• Up to 1/8 inch long
• Color is dull reddish brown to black with four red-yellow spots on the back
• Coloring is generally darker than rice weevils
• Can fly

Granary Weevils

• Look more cylindrical than the rice or maize weevil
• About 1/5 inch long
• Color is reddish brown to black
  
• Snout extends down from its head at about a quarter of its body length
• Live up to eight weeks
• Can't fly
  

How Weevils Get In Your Food

Like other pantry pests, weevils will infest and feed on grains, nuts, beans, cereals, seeds, corn, and other foods.

But unlike beetles that live and feed on foods, weevils live and feed inside the food item. The female chews a hole into a seed or grain kernel and deposits an egg inside.

Then, she seals up the opening, leaving the egg behind. When the egg hatches (inside the grain or seed), the larva feeds on the food item until it is fully grown.

Once fully grown, the adult weevil eats its way out of the grain or seed. The females emit pheromones, so the male weevils will be waiting outside the hole for a female to emerge and immediately seek to reproduce.

Damage and How to Get Rid of Weevils

The rice weevil is considered the most destructive because of its long life and partly because of its ability to fly. But all weevils can cause extensive damage to stored foods. When they infest grain stored in bins, undisturbed, they can completely spoil the entire batch of food.

You are getting weevils in your house because they can be brought in on packaged foods, fly, or crawl in from outside. Once inside, a population can grow and expand to food items stored nearby if the pests are not controlled.

Store grains and other weevil-tempting foods in airtight containers, and always throw out any food where you find weevils.

You can get rid of weevils by clearing out cupboards where you've discovered them and thoroughly cleaning the area using a vacuum before storing food there again. A vacuum can effectively eliminate eggs, larvae, and adult insects. Avoid using chemical treatments to get rid of weevils because most are not safe to use around food.

How to Prevent Weevils

To proactively prevent weevils from getting into your food, try using garlic cloves and bay leaves since these are natural repellents to weevils.

Put a few bay leaves in your dried food containers, and place several cloves of garlic around your pantry to deter these bugs from your kitchen and food storage. These methods should ward off weevils from making homes in your dried goods and pantry.