Weevils often infest grains and other food items in your kitchen and pantry, and you should throw out the food if you find them there. But do weevils bite humans, or are they harmless to us? Let’s find out.
Imagine you are enjoying a bowl of deliciously cooked pasta, and all of a sudden, you find a tiny beetle-like insect in it. Gross right?
This might seem like a far-fetched scenario, but such things are common when weevils roam around your house.
These tiny insects belong to the beetle family and are notoriously famous for infesting major food sources like grains and seeds.
They are capable of damaging food grains like rice, corn, and more. But how harmful is it to have these insects around your food? Do they cause severe infections and diseases? Are they poisonous? How can one get rid of them?
All of these questions about weevils will be thoroughly answered in this article. So put on your reading glasses.
Do Weevils Bite Humans?
Weevils are a type of beetle that has a pear-shaped body with noticeable snouts. Weevils have their mouths near the end of this elongated snout. It has biting and chewing mouthparts, which they use to eat their food.
These creatures rarely attack or bite humans. Also, they don’t cause harm to your furniture or other household items.
The only destruction they usually cause is to seeds and food grains, and roots that they eat.
However, the female adult weevils can bite while looking for a place to lay their eggs. Therefore be careful while approaching these insects.
Are They Dangerous?
Although weevils are closely linked to the food that we consume, they do not trigger infection or diseases in the human body.
However, they definitely will infest the food grains and seeds in your home, including popcorn, garden seeds, seed decorations, and more.
Therefore try to keep these food grains locked in airtight containers to avoid weevil infestations.
If certain grains are already infested, keep them open in the sunlight to get rid of the weevils. Direct sunlight is harmful to these pests.
Are They Poisonous?
These small beetles are not poisonous. So by accident, if you find a weevil in your food, there is no need to worry.
You will be surprised to know that weevils in your food grain are significant indicators of the presence of pesticides in them.
If you find dead weevils in a sack of grains, there is a high chance of pesticides being present in them.
Some Common Weevils Found in Homes
Weevils are often classified by the food that they infest. There are three main types: fruit and grain weevils, vine weevils, and root weevils. The last two infest plants and are unlikely to be found in your pantry.
We discuss below some of the common weevils found in both grains and gardens.
Rice weevils
As the name suggests, rice weevils live in rice and are a type of granary weevils. These weevils have a reddish brown to black body with yellow or red spots on them.
They originated from the Indomalayan part of the world. The adults show an average growth of 0.125 inches. Both the adults and larvae have a snout that they use to hollow out food grains.
Wheat weevils
Wheat weevils are another type of grain weevils. These insects are usually seen living in food and grains like oats, dry pasta, rice, and more. They grow to about 0.12–0.20 inches in length.
One fascinating thing about them is that when these insets feel threatened, they usually pull their limbs close to the body to act as if they are dead.
They can cause massive damage to harvested grains and crops.
Strawberry root weevils
As the name suggests, these weevils feed on the tiny roots of the strawberry plant. They also eat up the roots of some other evergreen trees and shrubs.
The strawberry root weevil is about 0.25 inches long and has a distinctive dark brown body. If you look closely, you will notice that they have a round abdomen and shorter snouts than some of the other bugs from the weevil family.
Flour weevils
Surprisingly, flour weevils aren’t considered a part of the real weevil family. They are commonly known as flour beetles.
These insects got their name because they infest flour rather than wheat. They can be around 0.118-0.15 inches long and have a reddish-brown colored body.
Apart from flour, they also eat cereals, dry fruits, and more.
Bean weevils
Bean weevils aren’t real weevils, either. This is mainly because of the absence of the snout.
These insects consume grains and are usually seen infesting different beans and seeds. They prefer to live inside a seed for a significant part of their lives.
The bean weevils are found in different sizes ranging from 0.039-0.86 inches. You can find them in brown and black shades.
Cowpea weevils
You must have figured by the name that these weevils like to consume cowpeas. Apart from that, they also eat green grams and lentils.
Similar to the previous two, these insects are not considered real weevils as they do not possess an elongated snout.
The adults have an average growth of 0.125 inches and have reddish-brown elongated bodies. The cowpea weevil larvae usually develop inside dried peas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can weevils be in your bed?
Weevils generally don’t live in furniture, but they can slip into your bedroom through a food source like grains.
When you bring food that might contain weevils to your room, these insects get an excellent opportunity to slip into your beds.
They can also come in from your garden through an open window, or if you have aired your bedding outside, they might cling on and come inside your bedroom.
Can weevils infest your house?
Weevils usually do not cause any harm to the furniture and other household items, but they can easily creep their way in via door and window cracks present in your home.
Therefore be careful with cracks and other openings in your house, and fill them up with caulk. They can also enter through a food source, as mentioned earlier, even packed ones.
What happens if you eat flour with weevils?
There is no harm in accidentally consuming flour with weevils. Even though the thought might gross you out, these insects are not poisonous and will not cause any infections or diseases.
However, this does not mean that you can eat rice or flour infested with weevils. If you find them in your food, either throw away the entire batch or salvage it by leaving it out in the sun.
What do weevils turn into?
Weevils don’t turn into anything. They are a type of nonflying beetle themselves.
You might have seen their larvae inside your packed food, but they grow into small black or brown weevils, and they don’t undergo any metamorphosis.
Wrap Up
Weevils are harmless to humans but troublesome for food. Having these tiny beetles feasting on your food is the last thing you would want.
With the right information, you can handle them with ease. We hope this article provided the information that you were looking for.
Thank you for reading the piece.
1 Comment. Leave new
Just saw one of these guys in Florida, scared the crap out of me