Bugs in food :(

[Cinnamon Bear]

Last night I saw 2 bugs crawling around in Chloe's food bowl in the bedroom. I think I know how this happened. I had bugs crawling up out of the drains in kitchen and bathroom so I bleached all the drains and the bugs stopped. I cleaned kitchen area real good. But I saw one of my Kaytee Forti Diet bottle wasn't tightly sealed that morning I saw the bugs. I didn't see any bugs in the food so I thought I'd use it for Chloe and Izzy. Both of whom are in my bedroom. The only ones in my bedroom.

So after I saw the bugs in her dish I pulled out everything from the closet and vacuumed and sprayed Ortho hamster safe spray around the base boards. I used so much that I'll have to get another bottle. Anyways, I completely sanitized both Chloe and Izzy's cage and put all those toys and bridges in the freezer for 3 days.
Think that will be enough time or should I toss the toys?

The hammys didn't know what to do with all their scents gone and everything super clean. Even the lids I sprayed with vinegar. Today I plan on further cleaning. I can't have a bug problem in here. So seeing 2 bugs sent me on a frenzy nipping it in the bud. I wasn't going to change the Carefresh and first but then I decided to do it or I'd have a more serious problem. I had to throw out perfectly good bedding though as their cages didn't need cleaning yet.

I gave them new toys for now. But Izzy's cage didn't have any bugs that I could see but she had that food in her cage so I sanitized her cage too. It was a lot of work. But so worth it, I have to keep thing super clean around here.

[alpacassei]

The toys will be fine, don't worry You've sanitised everything so any germs from the bugs will be gone now and it's safe for your hamsters to use their old toys again. The only thing that would need throwing away is any bedding or food that got contaminated.

I hope you've gotten rid of the bug problem now, it sounds extremely unpleasant to deal with

[Drago]

Having experienced *many* different insect infestations through my life, I can tell you they're such a pain to rid of! What type of bugs were they? I had an issue 3 years back with drain moths in my house and they began getting into my fish tanks and breeding there as well, but I doubt they're drain moths if they're hanging about in your hamster cage. I would recommend throwing them away to be honest with you. Unfortunately, it's sometimes the only way to permanently rid of issues. The bugs being in the food like you mention makes pantry moths sound like a more plausible culprit, I just got over an infestation of those after unknowingly bringing home a bag of dog food infested with them I put out sticky traps and vacuumed up any that I could see and I finally have gotten rid of them. If you do see any others, a picture or description of them can help so we can give you more tips

[Fluffagrams]

It could be something like a grain weevil which can come in via a contaminated food store. I had them in my hamster room a few months ago and I think they'd come in via a basic food mix that I'd bought to be mixed in with another. Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do to prevent them entirely but you can take steps to minimise the damage.

Keeping any food items in airtight containers will minimise the spread as they can work their way into even sealed plastic bags and throwing out contaminated foods and bedding will help. I disinfected all the surfaces and walls in the hamster room too but at the time my hamsters were temporarily in the dining room so I didn't have to worry about their cages.

If it is grain weevils then I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that they're not at all harmful to your hamsters and are more of an annoyance to you than anything else.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Drago do you mean to throw out the toys & wooden log bridges? Or did you mean the food? The food is gone, on the dumpster, along with all their bedding.

Chloe & Izzy are elderly hamsters so I hate to put stress on them but it's better than having a bug infestation. The bugs look like very small black bugs, hard to describe they crawl around. They might have wings but I haven't seen them fly. Not sure if they have wings or nor but they are smaller than ants. They are not scary looking just super annoying. Hopefully they are not on Chloe & Izzy?

I can squish them easy with my finger so the are not fast. Hope this helps if you've ever seen them?

Fluffagrams, hard to say but I will throw out flax seeds in baggies. The main seed mix seems ok as I don't see them in the other hamsters food, knock on wood

The seed mix is in air tight plastic storage containers.

[Drago]

I would try to see what they are first, I've actually never encountered what you're describing. If they're smaller than ants, is it possible they're gnats? I unfortunately enough have had gmat problems as well, my crested geckos MRP (Meal replacement powder) would become filled with the pesky little critters! Is there any rotting fruit lying about? They don't exactly sound like they're originating from wood so it might actually be better to freeze them rather than throw them away, but tossing the food was a good decision Perhpas you could try to find an image online that matches their description?

[Cinnamon Bear]

Originally Posted by Fluffagrams

If it is grain weevils then I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that they're not at all harmful to your hamsters and are more of an annoyance to you than anything else.

Glad to hear that whatever the bugs are that they are harmless to my hamsters. They didn't look like it would pursue my hamster, hopefully.

I checked all the hamsters dishes & saw no bugs. I also poured more bleach down the drains in the bathroom, where I believe the bugs were coming from.

[Thin Lizzy]

So sorry to hear about the bugs CB, but it sounds like you've taken every precaution to stop it happening again.

[Pebbles82]

Doesn't sound like food moths or weavils then. Did they have little tails that curled up sometimes? I'm thinking of thunderbugs (as we used to call them - I think the proper name is Cornflies). When they're out there can be masses of them and they're usually attracted to white and yellow. Our sheets hanging on the line were black with them one year (we lived near a pea field in a flat part of the country where they were common). Hot weather or crops being cut can bring a whole batch of them.

They would probably come in through a window though. If you think they're coming from drains they might be some kind of damp mite or mould mite. Anyway you have bleached them to death in the drains and done full cage cleans and thrown away the food and I would think that would be fine. You could freeze wood toys for a week maybe.

[Cinnamon Bear]

They could be mold bugs of some sort, haven't looked for them on the internet yet. Or damp bugs but never heard of either of these bugs nor have I seen them before. They aren't weavils for sure.

But they visited me and I made them exit quickly. I had a brand new 2 bag combo of food in a large plastic storage container but that food didn't get contaminated or the others would have the same problems. I should have washed the containers but now it's too late if there were any in there. I didn't throw it away, only the food where the lid wasn't on tight. That food was exposed for sure. A mason jar of lab blocks which I got rid of.

The seed mixes were just put in the container air tight, the night of the bugs, expensive food to throw out if the bugs couldn't reach it. I don't know why I didn't wash the outside of the container at least. It's in the fridge now but today I'll take the food out and wash the containers, even though it's pointless. It's frustrating, the mistakes I made sometimes, like not washing the containers or keeping the lid on tight.

I'm going to buy another Ortho spray bottle to spray all the base boards like I did last summer and was successful except one mouse. This apartment is going to be cleaned all the time this summer. No dishes in sinks, etc but I'm generally have a clean apartment but could improve