How to identify and get rid of rice weevils

Have you ever opened up a bag of rice and wondered why your rice was moving? We hate to break it to you, but that rice isn’t moving; it’s rice weevils!

These sneaky little beetles love to hitchhike inside your stored grains and seeds, turning your stocked pantry into an all-you-can-eat buffet (leaving you with the bill and the mess to clean up).

While they're not harmful to humans, their ability to play hide and seek with your grains can lead to unexpected surprises in your meals. Even though females only lay 2-6 eggs a day, that adds up to around 300 eggs over their lifetime.

Females will use their long snouts to chew a whole in an individual grain and lay an egg. She then seals the seed with a gel-like fluid, and the larvae grow inside the grain. After about a month, the new adult chews through the seed and starts the whole cycle over again.

Rice weevils are tiny beetles that can be hard to identify. Like most weevils, they have elongated mouthparts that form a long snout. They are dark brown to black in color, and if you look close enough, you’ll see four orangish dots on their backs. Also, along their backs are tiny punctures that give their exoskeleton a textured look.

You'll know you have an infestation on your hands if you find damaged rice grains, where they've chewed through to lay their eggs, or if you notice fine powder at the bottom of your grain containers, you know rice weevils are to blame.

How big are rice weevils?

Rice weevils only get to be about 1/8 of an inch long.

What other beetles look like a rice weevil?

Other grain beetles, especially maize and granary beetles, can look like rice weevils. You’ll probably need a magnifying glass or microscope to tell them apart. To be honest, managing them is nearly the same, and they all eat similar things. Sometimes, they even mate with each other and form hybrids! So, if scientists have a hard time telling them apart, we won’t hold you to it either.

Rice weevils are found across the US, especially in areas where grains are stored.

To get rid of rice weevils from your pantry, follow these tips:

• Freeze suspected infested grains for at least three days to kill any live weevils.
• Throw out any infested grains and take them away from the home
• Keep grains in sealed, airtight containers to prevent infestations.

If you want to prevent rice weevils from eating your stored grains, clean up any grain or flour spills in storage areas. Pay close attention to corners or hard-to-reach areas, and thoroughly vacuum your pantry to prevent reinfestations.