Keeping bugs out?!?

[jpete]

I keep my dog and cat food in big bins (I think they were intended for recycling) that I got from Menards. They have lids on them and the front half of the lid folds open. These have worked great. No issues whatsoever. However, when scooping food out of the bins occasionally some will spill onto my pantry floor (it's carpeted, which probably makes it worse). I keep bottled drinks like gatorade and canned cat food on the floor, so it makes it hard to see what spills. Then, bugs show up! EW! All the other food is up on the shelves and I've never had any bug problems with any of that. I vacuum out the floor of the pantry about once a month, but recently when I go to clean it, there are bugs!!! They start as little black wormy looking gruby things and grow into oval shaped beetle looking things (only about a quarter of an inch long) that are black with a brown stripe from side to side. Since I found them I started cleaning it more often and we're really careful not to spill, but I've noticed that they show up within a day or two of spilling. I don't like chemicals, so I was wondering if is there a non-chemical way to keep them out of there? I heard bay leaves are a natural bug repellant, so I put a few down on the floor in there this morning. As much as I don't like chemicals (mostly because I worry about my animals getting into them accidentally) I dislike bugs even more, so I'll try anything!!! :hectic1:

[Lmnde]

If you have buggies on the floor, then you have buggies on the shelf - sorry - but that is simply how it is.

Bay leaves work well within closed environments [in airtight, sealed or at least hard for bugs to access smaller containers [like totes, buckets w. lids, or large glass jars etc]; they work less well with an existing bug infection that has taken over your pantry and kitchen. And by the way - anybody can get bugs - it is not necessarily a cleanliness issue; I cannot say how many times I have brought bugs home from the grocery store over the last 30+ years or so - sometimes I got lucky [and now trained myself to look for evidence both in the store as well when I unpack and put up] - other times I didn't notice until I had a veritable bug infestation problem on hand and had to throw multiple $100s of dollars of dry goods away because of that.

One way to avoid bringing bugs into the home is to freeze everything in dry good packaging for 3-5 days - rice, pasta, flour, cereal, sugar - the works. Your freezer must be on very low temps in order to prevent moisture issues if you do that. It does work, but is a pain in the you know what. When in doubt or if I know we are talking long term storage, I also open packages and throw away cardboard boxes and mass-repack either in glass jars or in case of ready made mixes, in ziploc bags that get packed in plastic or glass containers with said bay leaf in it.

In regards to non chemical treatment - the only thing that comes to mind is DE [diatomaceous earth] and repeated deep cleaning/shelf washing w. bleach. This works well as a preventative along with making sure that you do not bring in new buggies, but not sure that it will effectively combat an existing major bug infestation.

In regards to my food storage - I'd rather deal with a mild but effective pre-treatment of chemicals [like as in thoroughly emptying out my storage area, scrub and spray the shelves, flooring etc w. a household safe pesticide], than loose my hard earned stock pile... Money is too tight for that right now.

If you think the dogfood spillage feeds your bug population, I would suggest to keep your open dog food container out of your regular pantry storage location, or at least refill from a large bag/container into smaller containers for several daily feedings. Chances are you brought the buggies in with the pet food in the first place [been there and done that too].

[~~Who,Me?~~]

Bugs and mice are the reasons I don't keep anything in the garage. And this summer I'm having a huge ant problem. Actually, the ants themselves are very tiny, but the problem as a whole is a huge! Lol.

I have two dogs and two small children and we spray and treat our lawn with chemicals. It just had to be done. I've just found that nothing "natural" ever worked effectively. Even bleach is a chemical that is horrible for the environment, so there really is no environmental savings there. We treat the lawn once a year and spray twice a year and have no problems with bugs, sans aforementioned ants. We just keep the kids and the dogs off the grass for a few days and we've never had a problem. I personally would rather do that (actually my hubby does the work) than clean with bleach frequently.

I also freeze most of my dry goods like flour and rice. Make sure all syrup/honey containers are wiped off before they go back in pantry. And I vacuum constantly because of dogs and kids. Those darned ants will find one half piece of dog kibble! So annoying!

I would return the dog food, tell them it has bugs in it and ask for a replacement. Then clean out your bins and replace with new food.