Here's How Pantry Pests Get Into Your Streator Home & How To Keep Them Out

Do you know what a pantry pest is? If not, allow us to introduce you to a few of them. Today, we're going to discuss cigarette beetles, saw-toothed grain beetles, and Indian meal moths. These are common pantry pests that you should be aware of. While each is slightly different, they share some commonalities that are important for you to know, especially if you want to keep these yucky insects out of your pantry foods.

Cigarette Beetles

Also called cigar beetles or tobacco beetles, these tiny insects can infest a wide range of stored products, not just tobacco. Some of the foods you may find them in are flours, dried fruit, cake mix, cereal, spices, cocoa, coffee, rice, dry dog food and more. A cigarette beetle is an oval-shaped, brown insect that is between 2 and 3 mm in length.

Sawtoothed Grain Beetles

These insects are most likely to be found inside cereal or macaroni. The sawtoothed grain beetle gets its name from the saw-like ridges on each side of its thorax. But you'll have a difficult time seeing these tooth-like bumps because a sawtoothed grain beetle is only about 2.5 mm in length. That's really small.

Indian Meal Moths

You can find these moths hanging out around, or inside, many stored food packages. It's preferred foods are grains, crackers, dried fruits, bird seed, and dry dog food. For a moth, the Indian meal moth isn't much to look at. It is only about 15 mm long. While much larger than than the beetles we've featured, this is still a small insect. You can identify an Indian meal moth by its copper brown coloration and tan band running through the center.