Have you ever had the nightmare experience when you go to your pantry and take out food or supplies and find that it is full of insects? Whether it’s dry oatmeal, flour, or a packet of crackers, you see too many little bugs you’d never want to see! You could even have them on the roof floating near lurking food sources.

That nightmare has a name: Grain Beetles. Also known as Pantry Bugs, these small insects are divided into two main groups: the sawtooth grain beetle that cannot fly and the merchant grain beetle that can fly. But it doesn’t really matter which type you have as a treatment to control them and the destruction they cause is the same for both.

Grain beetles have a name that is self-explanatory, as they are small, grain-loving beetles. These small brown or reddish pests usually enter the home through other food packaging. You could be the pickiest housekeeper ever and these aggravating pests only show up for one day. And it doesn’t take long for them to really settle in and then the population explodes.

These miniature marauders are known to be difficult to control for a number of reasons. Mainly because they settle on food, and you can’t ‘spray’ food with pesticides directly, right? The other reason is that they lay eggs with abandon and even if you get rid of the bugs, the eggs are left behind to hatch and continue the nightmare.

But you CAN control them by following the steps below:

• Once you identify grain beetles in your food, the first thing to do is discard all affected foods. They cannot be saved. They are full of eggs. It’s frustrating to throw away all that food, but you must, or will be dealing with these pests forever!

• Thoroughly clean the pantry. That means vacuuming the shelves, cleaning them, and making sure you’ve removed all possible signs of these pests.

• Using generous applications, spray pantry, cabinet, storage area, etc. with your favorite all-natural pest control product specifically designed for use around food. Apply the all-natural pest control product for three consecutive days. Make sure it is completely dry between applications.

• If evidence of an infestation remains, continue applying for an additional 3 days.

• Continue at three-day intervals until no evidence is seen.

• To prevent future infestations, place / store all grains and carbohydrate-rich foods in storage containers, sealable plastic bags, or other impenetrable storage containers. The benefit of storing everything in separate containers is that if you have grain beetles again (or they are not fully controlled), you have now isolated the problem in one container instead of the entire pantry being exposed.

• Continue to spray your all-natural pest control product inside the pantry on a regular basis, perhaps once a week or so to maintain an inhospitable environment for Grain Beetle to become established.