Insects in food?

[chesca_27]

I was setting up my carrier and cage today for my new hamster (which I'm getting in the next few hours) and getting my food out when I noticed lots of tiny white insects in the food. They're so small you can barely see them. I've binned the whole container and food and put both of my other bags of food in the freezer, but I don't think they are affected. One bag is still sealed and has been kept far away from the container but I'm not so sure about the open bag. The container was kept with my plastic tub of hamster food extras (e.g. chicken, different seeds, dried fruits and veg) so I'm wondering if they could have been affected too? I don't want to bin them unless I have to since they came from Germany and were quite expensive. Any advice?

I don't think any of the insects have got into the cage or carrier since I haven't put any food in there and Jasper passed away months ago.

Thanks

[souffle]

They are probably meal moth larvae. Horrible beasties! The hot weather has made them hatch and lots of foods are contaminated with them. Hopefully freezing the bags will work but I'd check them and bin any that are full of dead bugs or weevils.

[Fluffagrams]

I found some in a bag of food I was using recently with my two diabetic Chinese and even though I was pretty quick off of the mark in getting rid of the contaminated food, I'm still finding the odd meal moth in the hamster room.

I'd certainly check the rest of your food that has been stored nearby and if you see anything that looks like webbing, that's usually a sign that some eggs have been laid there.

[Pebbles82]

I would freeze all foodstuffs for at least a week including the extras. I had the moth outbreak a couple of years ago. Freezing all the foodstuffs for no less than a week will sort it The difficulty is when you have a hamster arriving and the food hasn't been in the freezer for a week. Maybe buy a new bag when you get the hamster (assume you have the hammy now though!) and chance that one being ok. Moths can easily eat their way into plastic bags so best not risk the current ones - although if they've been in the freezer today that might be ok.

[chesca_27]

Thank you all for replying. I've frozen most of my hamster food things by now (doing it in rotations) and I can't see anything moving in any of the other bags. Anything I haven't frozen yet is being stored well away from the rest of my food. I'm going to assume the meal moths were only in the tupperware of food which had been stored separately and so didn't get into anything else. I ended up buying a bag of food for the new hamster anyway (to switch the diets over slowly) and I was feeding that until I was sure the other mix was bug free.

Thank you all again for the extra information

[Drago]

I had a similar issue a few years back. They got brought in with a bag of dog kibble, and infested any dry animal products I had. I ended up having to purchase some traps for the moths, and throw away all bags that contained larvae. Freezing, as mentioned, is also an option. Good idea to nip this in the bud before it becomes too problematic. Best of luck

[Ruth Edwards]

I had a problem with beetles in mealworms bag.