Merchant grain beetles

Merchant grain beetles or Oryzaephilus Mercator are a common insect in storage areas and grain stores all over the world, they may be found in stored grain, fruit and tobacco, they invade homes especially in grain places and food storage places such as kitchens and storage rooms

Merchant  grain beetles attack grains, flour cakes, pasta, biscuits and chocolate, as they live inside cereals, oats, pet dry food, seeds, oily food that contain a huge amount of oils and fats such as peanuts and seeds, they also eat rice, dried fruits, sugar, chocolate, pasta, and tobacco, they live in food stores and homes.

Merchant grain beetles’ identification

Merchant grain beetles have flat body, their size is 2.5 to 3 mm, they have a dark brown color with six projections like a saw on the body sides, Merchant grain beetles may grow until they reach to one eighth or one tenth of an inch.

Merchant grain beetles’ life cycle

Merchant grain beetles female lays about 285 eggs either individually or in groups, they are active insects and move all the time even while eating, they don’t feed on whole grains, larvae and adult insects appear after seven days, it may take from eggs to an adult Merchant grain beetles from 27 to 50 days, depending on the type of food or temperature, females live from 6 to 10 months, they may lay eggs more than once in the year, they develop in large numbers during short periods, they always search for new food sources, and therefore they invade homes, infestation may spread throughout the whole home or area because they can fly from one place to another.

Why Merchant grain beetles enter the homes?

Merchant grain beetles enter homes through food packs that have infestation, many homeowners may not notice this infestation until they open these products and discover larvae inside packs, when homeowners discover Merchant grain beetles, they find that most stored items have been damaged.

How serious is Merchant grain beetles?

When Merchant grain beetles enter homes, all the grain become contaminated and they become unsuitable for human consumption, Merchant grain beetles can also infect the entire home, shops, factories, and food storage areas, they can move from one home to another in the same building.

How to prevent Merchant grain beetles’ infestation inside homes?

• Check dry grains after purchasing.
• Inform the store that you purchased products from with infected products.
• Store grain in glass or metal or plastic boxes tightly to prevent Merchant grain beetles.
• Heat the infected items to 58 ° C for one hour to get rid of Merchant grain beetles.
• Cool all infected items at -18 ° C for 6 days to get rid of Merchant grain beetles.
• Clean the infected areas carefully with, water and soap.
• Discover type of beetles inside your home, and infestation location.
• Examine signs of infestation inside dry food products such as grains, dried foods and pet food especially inside the basement and chimneys.
• Get rid of infected grains in the garbage.
• call a pest control company in Jeddah to get rid of Merchant grain beetles to protect your home and family.