Pests We Treat Photo Album: Cigarette Beetles Love the Spice in Millstone, NJ
Insects Flying Around
The owner told us that she saw a lot of "flying insects" in her food pantry, so we examined the area...
Hanging in the Corner of the Ceiling
...and found a ton of insects flying around the pantry and harboring in the corner of the ceiling. We took a close look at these insects and identified them as cigarette bettles.
Cigarette Beetles
Cigarette beetles are stored product pests that don't cause any harm to humans or pets, but they are still a nuisance. The adults are light brown and about 2-3 mm (0.09 inches) long. The female cigarette beetle will lay up to 100 eggs during a 2-4-week life span. Larvae will tunnel through the food product for about 4-5 weeks. The average life cycle will take 6-8 weeks depending on humidity and temperature. Cigarette beetles are excellent flyers and are most active in the late afternoons. It can only survive in warm buildings in temperate regions.
Inside A Spice
The best way to get rid of these pests is to discarded the item that they are infesting! So after checking out many grain and flour items in the pantry, it turned out that they were infesting a spice that was buried under the shelves!
All of It Has Gotta Go
Unfortunately, since there were so many contaminated items in the pantry, we had to dispose of them all! Afterward, we vacuumed up the live ones and did a crack and crevice treatment in the pantry.
No More Cigarette Beetles
With all of the contaminated items properly disposed of and the area properly treated, the cigarette beetles will no longer infest the customers home!