Rice Weevil Control: How To Get Rid of Rice Weevils

This page is a general is a Rice Weevil control guide. Using the products and methods suggested you will get control of Rice Weevils. Follow this guide and use the recommended products and we guarantee 100% control of Rice Weevils.

Have you discovered little black bugs in one of your pantry food items? It is likely that it is a notorious pest called a Rice Weevil. They are small, dark-colored insects that have little snout noses and have a knack for infesting and contaminating stored dried foods.

No matter how clean you are keeping your kitchen, Rice Weevils can find their way in and begin to mark their territory. Their ability to reproduce is so high that it is a hassle to get rid of them from your home once they have been spotted. If you have discovered a Rice Weevil infestation, you will need to act fast.

Rice Weevils do not bite or sting or transmit diseases but they can contaminate food products. This amounts to a loss of profit for grocery stores, warehouses, and for homeowners whose products get spoiled and ruined.

If you are worried about Rice Weevils in your pantry, follow along with this expert guide which will show you how to get rid of rice weevils and clear out an infestation.

Identification

Before you can carry out a treatment approach to get rid of weevils, you need to make sure that you're dealing with Rice Weevils. Below we'll describe some of the common characteristics that set Rice Weevils apart from other pantry pest species.

• Rice Weevils range between 3 to 4.6 mm in length.
• They have dark brown or reddish-brown to black bodies with lighter colored patches found on the thorax and abdomen.
• Rice Weevils differ from the similar looking Granary weevil which is almost always a solid dark brown in color.
• Rice Weevils have long distinct snouts that extend from their head.
• You can find Rice Weevils in flour, rice and whole grain kernel foods.
• Rice Weevil larvae look like small white grub-like worms.

Use the description and image above to help you in properly identifying Rice Weevils, unsure then contact us by phone, email, or in person at one of store locations where one of our pros will assist you with identification.

Inspection

After properly identifying the rice weevil, you need to know the areas that rice weevils are infesting. During the inspection, you will focus on finding these problem "hotspots" where rice weevils are commonly found.

An important part of the inspection process is conducting a detailed look through all of your pantry stored products. Finding the product they are infesting and throwing it out is crucial, but it is best to throw out everything after finding the infested item to not leave any chance that rice weevils are in a product you deem safe.

Where To Inspect

Start by inspecting your food storage spaces. Check your pantries, shelves, cabinets, garages, and where pet food is stored. Inspect every product packaging that holds pasta, starches, cereals, grains, flour, spices, herbs, and even pet food packaging.

What To Look For

You're looking for infested food products and visible adult rice weevils or rice weevil larvae. If you find any container of food full of adults Rice Weevils or their larvae then you can safely assume you have found the source of the infestation. Once you have determined the food product that is infested, this is where you will be focusing your treatment applications.

Treatment

Once you have confirmed rice weevil activity it is time to begin treatment. Remember to read all product labels and follow the application instructions on these labels and stay safe by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

The best method to getting rid of rice weevils from your home and potential infestations in your pantry is tossing out all your stored dried food products, doing a detailed cleanup and vacuuming, then applying Novacide Aerosol to kill adult Rice Weevils and halt the development of eggs and larvae. Finally, you should place Pro-Pest Pantry Moth and Beetle Traps to capture any straggler Weevils.

Step 1 - Preliminary Cleanup and Vacuuming

If you have found a rice weevil infestation in your pantry, we recommend throwing out every dried food item that isn't in a tightly sealed glass or plastic container, old or new. It may be costly to lose all that stored food, but it's the best way to get rid of a weevil infestation.

Throw away all the food sources in the food storing areas where you found the contaminated package. The best policy is to throw away all the food goods since there's a good chance all of them are contaminated, and you will not be able to tell which ones are contaminated or not with the naked eye. So it is best to throw away all the food goods.

Once items are thrown away and your pantry is cleaned out you should then thoroughly vacuum the pantry. The pantry shelves should be vacuumed from top to bottom as well as the pantry floor and the ceiling if possible. Use a crevice or a brush to ensure that there are no areas that are overlooked. Pay close attention to the edges of the shelves as well as the wall and floor junctures.

And finally, if you have noticed cracks or crevices inside the areas where the food goods are stored, use caulking to seal them, this will prevent the infestation from spreading.

Make sure all food goods are cleared off the cabinets, shelves, or pantries where food goods are stored. Make sure these areas are completely empty before you apply any products.

Step 2: Apply Pyrid Aerosol

Pyrid Aerosol is a ready to use, insecticide aerosol that is used as a flushing agent and is great to use as a crack and crevice treatment inside pantries to get rid of weevils. To use, remove the white applicator from the top of the can and replace it with the red straw tip applicator.

Shake the can and then spray along the length of crack and crevices of your pantry shelving in quick bursts usually at about 1 second of spray per foot.

Step 3 - Apply Novacide Aerosol

Novacide is our top recommended insecticide to control weevils in that can kill adult weevils and comes with an IGR (or Insect Growth Regulator) which affects weevil larvae and eggs. The best part about Novacide is its residual effect as it can remain effective for up to 7 months so you don't have to apply often.

Wearing gloves, a safety mask and protective eyewear, apply a light mist of Novacide in short bursts in the crevices of your emptied pantry shelves where the shelving meets the wall. Next, spray along the baseboards and flooring of your pantry, kitchen, carpeting and the baseboards of your areas adjacent to your kitchen in a downward sweeping motion. Apply in any other areas you may be suspicious of to be on the safe side.

Prevention

Once you have successfully gotten rid of the rice weevil infestation, you will need to carry out preventative measures to ensure they don't make a return to your pantry. Here are some measures to take to ensure rice weevils don't infest again:

• Start by regularly checking food packages before you buy them. Inspect the packages for possible tears, holes, or punctures. Many times these packages will already have an infestation inside. Also, get in the habit of taking out the food products from their original packaging and putting them into tight-fitting plastic containers. By doing this you can prevent future infestations, and if a package is already contaminated, will isolate a possible infestation to just one product.
• Also, try to get in the habit of buying just a week's worth of food supplies to avoid overstocking your pantry. This way you will prevent from having food products stored from months on end, which can open up the possibility of an infestation, especially if they are left undisturbed in the dark. Finally, you can use Pro-Pest Pantry Traps throughout the year to monitor and stop adults Rice Weevils from infesting in the first place.
• We also highly recommend a preventative application of Novacide every 7 months for continued protection.

Key Takeaways

What is a Rice Weevil?

• Rice Weevils are a common pantry pest known to contaminate pantries and create a large infestation with their egg-laying.
• Rice Weevils are small, but contribute to very large amounts of food waste costing hundreds in food damage to homeowners and to grocery stores.

How To Get Rid of Rice Weevils In Your Pantry

• Conduct a thorough inspection to locate the food sources the weevils have infested and then do a thorough cleanup and vacuuming of your pantry and kitchen.
• Remember that to obtain complete control you need to get rid of the source of the infestation. If one of your foods is contaminated, it would be wise to exercise precaution and toss out everything to eliminate the chances of reinfestation.
• Apply Novacide and Pyrid Aerosol to control infestations of Rice weevils. Re-apply Novacide preventatively to reduce the chances of reinfestation.

Preventing Rice Weevil Reinfestation

• Avoid overstocking your pantries with excessive amounts of food to minimize infestation windows and potential damage.
• Examine and observe packaged dried goods for holes or tears in the packaging and place foods in plastic or glass containers that can be air sealed.