Acarus siro: effective insecticides and home remedies to get rid of flour mites

What are flour mites

This is a small-sized pest that most often chooses a barn as its habitat, but sometimes it starts up in an ordinary kitchen. The pest belongs to the class of arachnids and is a representative of the order of acariform mites.

Description of the tick

It is impossible to examine the pest with the naked eye, its size is 0,3-0,6 mm. It has 4 pairs of limbs and a transparent, sometimes with a grayish tinge, body. The tick is constantly moving, both in the horizontal and vertical directions. The body is divided by a transverse furrow, which is located between the second and third pairs of legs. The first pair of legs is noticeably thickened. Males are smaller than females - their body length is 0,3-0,4 mm.

Geographic distribution

The flour mite is distributed throughout the world.

Development cycle methods of reproduction

The life cycle of the barn tick has the same stages as that of other ticks: egg, larva, nymph, adult (adult). However, there is a peculiarity: they all pass very quickly - it takes only 2 weeks for the larva to turn into an adult.

During her life, the female lays at least 200 eggs, and if conditions are favorable, then the number reaches 800.

The life cycle of the male ends after fertilization. The life expectancy of a female in winter is 6 months, in summer - 2-3 months.

Features of food

Despite its microscopic size, the mite causes enormous damage: in a short time, it makes grain and flour stocks unfit for food. The parasite eats away grain germs, without which they cannot sprout, so the affected grain is also unsuitable for planting.

Products infected with a tick not only look unaesthetic, but also become dangerous for people and animals. The diet of the barn parasite includes the following products:

Where does the tick start

Under natural conditions, the pest starts up where plant remains are present in large quantities: in bird nests and rodent burrows, haystacks, and so on. Often settles in agricultural lands where vegetables and grains are grown, in livestock buildings.

It can easily get into the home kitchen along with infected cereals and flour.

At the same time, the pest is well adapted to life in various conditions and tolerates both low and high temperatures. For its existence and active reproduction, only one condition is necessary - a sufficient amount of food.

Symptoms of presence

Where ticks live, a specific smell appears, reminiscent of the aroma of mint. If the flour, grain acquired an unnatural smell for them, most likely they are infected with barn parasites. Also, the products acquire a sweetish aftertaste.

How to identify a pest

It is impossible to detect a tick at the time of its appearance due to its microscopic size. However, there are a number of specific signs of infection with this parasite, which can be used to determine its appearance in products:

1. Visual inspection. If a pest has wound up in the products, you can notice an unusual coating in the form of small grains of sand on them. To accurately understand whether there is a tick in the flour, you can use the following technique: pour a small handful of flour in an even layer on a horizontal surface and leave for 20 minutes. If after this time tubercles appeared in the flour, then there are mites.
2. Scotch. Take double-sided tape and stick it on the door of the cabinet where the food is stored. After a few days, evaluate the result with a magnifying glass: parasites will be visible under a magnifying glass.

What effect does it have on people than are dangerous

In addition to the fact that the tick spoils human food, it has a negative impact on human health:

• causes sensitivity to a certain type of allergen;
• the waste products of the pest contain E. coli, therefore, cause diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys, shortness of breath and, in some cases, anaphylactic shock;
• empty shells of dead ticks and their excrement cause severe itching in humans, children are especially susceptible to this reaction;
• eating contaminated feed causes diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders in animals, as a result of which they rapidly lose weight.

Destructive control measures in grain products and raw materials

The fight against the granary parasite is complex, since these pests belong to the annoying class. For this, physical and mechanical methods and grain fumigation are used.

Destructive control measures in warehouse and industrial premises

As mentioned above, insecticidal and acaricidal group chemicals are used to combat flour mites.

Other chemicals

There are other effective drugs to combat flour mites. Among them:

Folk remedies

There are also folk ways to deal with flour mites. Often they are not effective enough on their own, but they can be used as additional measures.

Fragrant herbs lavender bay leaf garlic

As mentioned above, parasites do not tolerate bright odors. In this way, pests cannot be killed, but they can be scared away.

In the cabinets where food is stored, in which bugs often start, lay lavender, bay leaf, garlic.

Lavender is used in dried form, garlic is recommended to be peeled. You can place odorous products in containers with bulk products, this is effective, but then the product itself will be saturated with the aroma of repellents.

Cleaning with bleach

Also, to repel parasites, the use of a chlorine solution is effective, with which you should rinse all surfaces in the kitchen, and then thoroughly ventilate the room.

Preventive measures

Getting rid of barn mites is a long and laborious process. Timely preventive measures will help to avoid infection with this pest and will save money and effort to fight it.

For large enterprises

In the winter season, for large agricultural enterprises, the main task is the disinfection of grain intended for sowing. If a flour mite is introduced into the raw material, then most of the cereals will lose their ability to grow, which means that the crop yield will be significantly reduced.

Necessary preventive measures aimed at combating the barn parasite:

1. Regular inspection and inspection of grain crops in the warehouse, constant monitoring of the state of stocks.
2. Preventive chemical treatment of containers used for grain transportation and storage.
3. Disinsection and cleaning of the premises before laying grain in it. This will not only get rid of already settled parasites, but also prevent their appearance.
4. Grain processing. Before laying cereals for storage, they should be cleaned of impurities and dried.
5. Regular ventilation, maintaining a certain temperature and humidity in the room. This will create unfavorable conditions for parasites, which will deprive them of the opportunity to actively multiply.
6. Lab tests. With long-term storage of grain, it is recommended to periodically analyze its samples. This will allow you to timely detect that parasites have wound up in it.

In a house or apartment

A barn mite in a house or apartment is not uncommon. In order not to have to throw away food stocks due to the appearance of a pest in them, it is recommended to observe the following measures:

1. Do not bring home poor quality flour. The fact that the product is infected can be guessed by its grayish tint and specific smell. Also, such flour is collected in lumps that do not crumble when touched.
2. It is not recommended to choose flour at an extremely low price. As a rule, such products are stored incorrectly or their expiration date has expired.
3. Flour pests prefer to settle in large volumes of products, so it is not recommended to purchase a lot of flour and grain at once. It is better to buy a small amount of these products and store them in airtight containers.
4. Pet food should be stored separately from human food.
5. Food storage areas in which parasites infest should be regularly washed and treated with insecticidal preparations.
6. It is recommended to periodically dry the products in which the flour mite prefers to settle, you can also take them out into the cold or place them in the freezer for a while.

Mealybug confused with flour mite similarities and differences

Representatives of these species settle in the same products and it is very difficult to get rid of them. Other similarities between ticks and worms:

• oval body shape;
• protrusions on the outer shell;
• light color.