Update!

[telophase]

I believe I have found Patient Zero for the weevil infestation: a box of Torino farfalline pasta. The sell-by date is November 2013, but when I turned it around and looked at the window in the box, it looked like it was covered in mold. After staring at it in fascination for a while, I realized that it wasn't mold, it was pasta dust from the MYRIAD OF HOLES GNAWED IN THE PASTA, so much so that they resembled lace. And then I saw a weevil crawl by.

The box is now being terminated with extreme prejudice and the only reason that it is not on fire is that I do not currently own a flamethrower.

So far I've found evidence of weevils in only one other thing: a half-eaten box of Triscuts, and even then it was only one. I'm tossing everything that we can easily replace, and setting aside other stuff to freeze for a week to kill anything that might have gotten in, and then I'm going to scrub down the pantry shelves and walls with a bleach solution.

And now I have to go quietly freak out as I now think every little breath of air or brush of a hair against my skin is a bug.

Comments

[tessercat]

*shudder* Congrats on finding the source and terminating it. Nasty weevilses.

[telophase]

Thanks. The offending package, after being shown to Toby, is wrapped in MANY MANY layers of plastic and buried in the garbage bin. The stuff that didn't look infested is merely wrapped in MANY layers and in the bin.

And the freezer is officially full, since there's stuff that probably isn't attractive to weevils but which I am freezing anyway stuffed in every nook and cranny. :)

[movingfinger]

Yay! There is usually a Patient Zero for these things.

[telophase]

And now we get to put everything back into the pantry, and give each one a glance and a wipe-down to make sure we don't put any weevils back. Whee.

[green_knight]

Commiserations on the weevils. I used to live in South Germany, where they ran rampant, too, and the habit of keeping everything edible in sturdy containers never quite left me.

Unfortunately it turns out that I am allergic to weevils, so if they got into anything - even if a cursory examination pronounces it to be ok - I will know after I've eaten it.

Good fortune in your fight!

[telophase]

Thanks! And--urgh, that's a sad state of affairs for you!

[riofriotex.livejournal.com]

I am doing something similar in my pantry because of ANTS. I had a closed container of honey that somehow THOUSANDS of ants got into (they drowned of course). I am also using this inventory to pull out high-sodium items as the spouse can no longer eat those, and I shouldn't either. I like your bleach idea; wonder if that will keep the ants from coming back?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That and a bit of scrubbing should certainly destroy the chemical trails they leave behind that other ants follow.

[xebra42.livejournal.com]

WE HAD THEM TOO!!
Little jerks came in on some dry beans. I threw away most of my pantry and we scrubbed everything and sprayed what we could without harming food/pets. I'm glad I'm not alone in my trauma :)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad that they're granary weevils and not rice weevils...rice weevils can FLY.