I have recently noticed these tiny rod like bugs which seem to have infested one of my kitchen cabinets. They are nearly invisible but I happened to notice them on my white sugar bowl. They move quickly but just look like tiny rods. No head or feet. I feel they must be all over my cabinet and don’t know how to treat them safely without harming food supply. HELP!
If you review some of our pantry pest articles, you’ll see that anytime you’re finding a pest in your pantry, the way to control the problem will involve some cleaning and inspecting.
To start, remove everything and set the items out on a nearby table where you can look over the items removed. Next, look closely at any box of food like pasta, cereal, flour, etc. to see if you can notice anything “alive” on the boxes seams or inside. Anything you find with insects must be discarded. Anything you suspect might be infested should be stored in some kind of zip lock bag or tupperware so that if anything tries to escape, it will be caught.
Next, the cabinets should be vacuumed thoroughly. After cleaning them out, you should do a treatment with some DFORCE or PHANTOM aerosol. Either will do the job no matter what this pest might be; the Dforce will have a bit of an odor but the Phantom is odorless.
D-Force: https://bugspray.com/insecticide/aerosol/d-force-14-oz-aerosol
Phantom: https://bugspray.com/insecticide/aerosol/pt-phantom-17-5oz
After treating, allow the cabinets to “dry” for at least 1 hour and after they’re dry, you may place all your food items back inside safely.
This approach should effectively remove the source of the problem and prevent further activity from prospering. If you still have questions, give us a call toll free at 1-800-877-7290.
connie navare says
I appreciate your assistance. I will certainly do as you advise. I wonder though if you happen to know the name of the bug and how it might have come to domicile itself here. Could I have brought it home from a grocery store or is it an out door bug that was brought in from the outside when drying some home grown vegetables? I just want to practice some preventive medicine and not repeat this mistake if possible. Thanks again so much!
Tech Support says
I don’t want to speculate here but if you send some close up pictures, we should be able to narrow it down a bit if the pictures are good quality.
And as always, if you send us a sample, we should be able to identify it for sure. This is a standard service we provide (no cost) and if you include some basic information on this pest along with a contact phone number, we’ll give you call with details once we get the sample id.