Korean Job Discussion Forums

[grandpa]

There are these small bugs wandering around our apartment.

Here is a photo of one of them -> http://imgur.com/w7C2P.jpg

Some questions:
1. What bug is this?
2. Are they a health concern?
3. How does one get rid of them?


grandpa

[The Goalie]

I believe it's a maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais). I doubt it's a health concern (I don't have time to look into it now) but somewhat strange, I would think, to find in an apt. unless you have stored grains. Check any rice or whatever you might have, looking carefully as eggs are laid in individual grains, and get rid of anything that might be attracting them or from where they may have emerged.

[crisdean]

[blackjack]

Yes it is a weevil.

Make sure all grains (well pretty much everything, teabags, herbs, spices) are stored in air tight containers.

Fly spray will kill them but really they are a pain to kill. No health risks

[grandpa]

Thanks blackjack, crisdean and The Goalie. They were coming from a bag of rice.

[mugen13]

Check under your mattress. I hear they like to crawl under.

[CapnSamwise]

recon that's an Eastern Reticulated Murderbeetle. They're harmless.

[Steve_Rogers2008]

it's a cootie-weevil.... only comes from elementary boys or girls.... one bites you and youre dead... but only if youre the opposite sex of the kid who gave it to you.....

[fortysixyou]

Whoa! I started a thread JUST LIKE THIS two years ago about the exact same bug!

It's a weevil or some sort that hatched from some grain supply in your house. In my case, they were marching out of a sack of wild rice I had left open in the pantry.

They're totally harmless, but understandably annoying. Rid yourself of the grain, rid yourself of their presence.

[orosee]

Just adding that during my Thailand years I learnt that these little critters and some of their cousins love more than just rice. I didn't stock rice but I had lots of pasta in sealed bags and containers, they still got in there somehow and in the end flooded my pantry. Since then I store everything that's not canned or bottled in the fridge.

[JD_Tiberius]

Weevils hate both heat and the cold. You can kill them all by either freezing the little buggers, or microwaving them/ submerging them in boiling water.

[nautilus]

All I hear is KILL KILL KILL!

You're afraid of a tiny bug the size of a pea???

Your default setting should generally be to pick it up and put it outside.

[fortysixyou]

[orosee]

You're right. That's one of the main reasons I use the fridge now - with low temperature, those guys will probably not get the command to hatch. I'm a slow eater (a carton of milk can take up to 3 weeks, eggs 3 months - they don't even need cooking after that long) so at room temperature, the insects will always beat me.

Not a pretty sight when you have an avalanche of newly hatched beetles drop from the pantry to your counter. Too small to carry them out by hand. Hard to lure them into the microwave.

[reactionary]