Help - Bug Invasion

Conchman

Conchman

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I recently bought a 40 lbs bag of Dominican dog food (well, it didnt look imported) that was infested with these small black bugs, approxiamately 4 to 7 mm in size. Originally I thought they were small baby cockroaches, but they are not getting bigger, and now they are multiplying in my house and getting everywhere, especially in bread, flour, and other foods. They know how to fly and swim (while I seldom see them do this), and are hard to crush. They are definitly not cockroaches, are slim in shape, and very black in color. Does anybody know what they are, and how to get rid of them?
 
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Acira

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Its a grain beetle, next link may give you some suggestion on how to get rid of them.

Good Questions: How To Get Rid of Grain Beetles? | Apartment Therapy Re-Nest

I must say it is one of my greatest concerns here too but so far we are spared from them. As we have a large pack of dogs, I have quite some dog food in the house and in my home country we used to store them in old non functional freezers but I haven't found one here yet to store the food in.
 
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Givadogahome

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I think I know what you mean, are you sure they came from the dog food? A similar bug often appears in our bathroom and has on occasion turned up elsewhere but mainly near drains and I never know where they have arrived from as they just suddenly appear, and often after a big rain, I think possibly they come up through the drain. They seem to have the parts to fly but I only really see them squirming around as if dying or just being born, I am never quite sure which it is they are doing.

Or maybe not, Acira is no doubt correct in this case.
 
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Acira

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Givadogahome said:
I think I know what you mean, are you sure they came from the dog food? A similar bug often appears in our bathroom and has on occasion turned up elsewhere but mainly near drains and I never know where they have arrived from as they just suddenly appear, and often after a big rain, I think possibly they come up through the drain. They seem to have the parts to fly but I only really see them squirming around as if dying or just being born, I am never quite sure which it is they are doing.
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What you are talking about are flying ants, they appear in swarms after a good rainfall, leaving the nest, most of them die, do not ask me why but they are a nuisance here too.
 
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Givadogahome

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Acira said:
What you are talking about are flying ants, they appear in swarms after a good rainfall, leaving the nest, most of them die, do not ask me why but they are a nuisance here too.
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That would fit the description, I feel kind of sorry for them as they seem so pathetic squirming about, they don't seem to have much quality of life, but they are just ants I suppose.
 
Conchman

Conchman

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I have had them now for several months, they have slowly increased from maybe a dozen (I first saw them inside a newly opened bag of dog food) to now hundreds.
 
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Acira

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Givadogahome said:
That would fit the description, I feel kind of sorry for them as they seem so pathetic squirming about, they don't seem to have much quality of life, but they are just ants I suppose.
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Its life and I suppose in their life cycle its quantity above quality? A few shed their wings and wander outside starting all over again I guess.
I just find them a nuisance because they really come out in a blink of an eye in big swarms so we are not able to stay outside to enjoy the coolness of the air after the rain (happens not always) and I am never able to be in front of them to close the shutters of the house but for one strange reason they all end up in the corner next to the fridge.
 
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Acira

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Conchman said:
I have had them now for several months, they have slowly increased from maybe a dozen (I first saw them inside a newly opened bag of dog food) to now hundreds.
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If its a grain beetle, I would make sure that all your other grain stuff, which you think is not contaminated, is sealed off and you have some real cleaning to do, they can be a real pest. Get rid of all contaminated stuff also.

Its perfectly normal that they were in a sealed bag, grain beetle larves can survive very long.
Do you have a picture of them?
 
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Acira

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We have it with pasta. If I don't keep my dry pasta in a sealed container, I can throw it away because guaranteed, there will be little black beetles in it. I never buy pasta in carton anymore either here because 9 out of 10 times its already contaminated.
 
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juanita

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I keep everything like pasta, flour, cornflakes, ect in plastic sealed bag or tuperrware containers as they get into everything, the worst is when you take a bite in a squishy marshmallow and get the crunchy little buggers ruin it all.
 
Conchman

Conchman

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Givadogahome said:
What, are they actually in the dog food when you open the bag or do they move in once opened?
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They were in the bag when I opened it, I didnt do anything because I thought it was just one or two. The next day I saw more, then I moved the bag outside and whenever I took dog food out of it, I noticed more. At the time it seemed clear to me that the bugs came with this particular bag of dog food. Now of course, they invade new bags of dogfood when they are opened.
 
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Ringo

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Acira said:
Its a grain beetle, next link may give you some suggestion on how to get rid of them.

Good Questions: How To Get Rid of Grain Beetles? | Apartment Therapy Re-Nest

I must say it is one of my greatest concerns here too but so far we are spared from them. As we have a large pack of dogs, I have quite some dog food in the house and in my home country we used to store them in old non functional freezers but I haven't found one here yet to store the food in.
Click to expand...

I think that you got most of your answer from Acira in post #2.

We keep all of our grain products in air tight containers, freezer or refrigerator. We just didn't like having critters crawling around in our rice, flour, pasta or cereal.

Dog food and horse grain are in the garage in plastic garbage cans with the tops on tight and we have been lucky so far as not to have had a problem other then ants getting into the food dishes so we spray the areas as needed.

IF I did have a problem I would either put the whole can into the chest freezer for a couple of days or take it up the the feed store and empty the whole thing onto the owners desk and ask for a new bag. (Just kidding about the desk part; our supply place works well with us.)
 
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windeguy

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The ones I have seen are small and black. With the naked eye they look like miniature stealth fighters with legs because of the triangular shape. The advice given about cleaning them out along with anything that has been contaminated is the best advice. Then keep everything in sealed containers from that point on.
 
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Matilda

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if you have them in rice or pasta you can cook as usual and they float to the top when the water boils and you can scoop them out and no one is any the wiser. Doesn't work with lasagne though as people can tell by all the holes in the sheets of lasagne.

Matilda
 
bob saunders

bob saunders

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Derfish said:
Grain Weevils for sure. They can be in there for months. They'll spread to all grain foods whether the pancake mix, pasta or whatever. Gotta throw out everything and start over after having Terminix or their local clone do the house.
Der Fish
Click to expand...

Been there, done that.
 
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