Weevils in my house.

[Voddas]

Hi all,

I've come to ask a few questions that I hope you can help me with.

I live in Barrow town centre in the Lake District. My house isn't located near any plant life to speak of and I don't have any potted plants of my own. Recently however, I found (what I can only descibed as) a Weevil on my bathroom wall. I had never seen one of these insects before but didn't think much of it at the time.

Since then however I have been noticing increasing numbers of these Weevils popping up around my house? So far I have found 7 in the past two weeks, biggest being the size of a bluebottle fly.

I have scanned the net and the closest match I can find to this invader is the Osier Weevil. Can anyone tell me why this might be happening and whether I should be worried about anything?

Thanks in advance.

[triops]

Please post a picture! Identification is difficult from your description.

[Klaas Reißmann]

As triops says it is difficult to identify a beetle by your kind of description. The typically Weevils appearing in our houses are those of the genus Sitophilus, common name "Grain Weevil". The two most often found species are Sitophilus grannarius and Sitophilus oryzae. These are usually brought into the house with food for birds, Guinea Pigs and other animals eating Grains.

Try to find out, if it is one of those. Those are much smaler than the Osier Weevil, but they might look a bit like this one. If it is one of those, check the food boxes for domestic animals. If the Weevils come out of this, put it in a plastic back, lock the bag and throw it in the dustbin outside.

If it is not one of those two species, we definitely need a picture, even a bad one. The other way, collect some beetles and send them on the postal way (I got beetles send a few times a year to help people), seems to be to expensive in my mind.

Regards
Klaas

[Voddas]

Sorry, I didn't have access to my pictures before. Here's one (the only one) I took last night before bed. I didn't have my camera to hand so had to use my mobile so the quality is less than great.



I don't have any pets and don't have a bird feeder. Infact nothing has really changed in my house recently which is why it's confusing that they would pop up now?

Thanks for the info though Klaas. If this photo is no good, next time I see one I'll get my camera and get a propper photo.

[Johnny81]

Cant tell from pic but does it look like this species (I found coincidently in my house on Saturday), weevils are the largest family in the world so I am just throwing it out there to help maybe

I think this is the Black vine weevil Otiorhynchus sulcatus.

[Klaas Reißmann]

Ok, this is a species of the genus Otiorhynchus. Most of them can't be identified by a picture. Most of these species appearing in houses are taken in by plants in potted plants. So there must be taken in potted plants of you or one of your neighbours. Maybe, if you do have, it is coming from the garden. The larvae feed on roots of many different plants, mostly every species on a special plant or a few plants.

Have a look for potted plants, wash the soil out of the roots, change it and hopefully the spook is over (do you say this in Britain?).

Regards
Klaas

[Voddas]

Johnny, I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm more than sure that is the exact breed that I've found in my house. How strange that you would find one around the same time? Must be that time of year.

I can't think for the life of me how they got into the house. I don't have any neighbours so I know they haven't been planting anything. Although, my fiance did get some flowers gven to her the other week. That can be the only explaination I can think of.

And yes Klaas, I live in the North West of England.

[Johnny81]

Im sure they are pretty common (obviously maybe not be the same species, but sure genus is right as klaas has stated) and I am no expert and have extremely limited knowledge of entomology as a whole.But here is what I read

"You can often spot these black, wingless, beetle-like creatures on the leaves of indoor and outdoor plants. The signature semi-circular-shaped notches along the sides of leaves, caused by adults as they feed, are another tell-tale sign of a vine weevil infestation. The pale cream-coloured larvae meanwhile feed on the roots of plants destroying the root system and causing them to wilt and die".

Or another book states: A widespread pest of many plants. Adults notch the edges of leaves, while larvae eat the roots of crops such as vines and strawberry's.

Why so many in your house is possibly due to potted plants, I have no potted plants in my house but quite a vegetated diverse garden so probably crawled in, who knows?

[Voddas]

Well there's no plants about now so their going to go hungry. Hopefully no drastic action will be required and I'll have seen the last of them. They don't bother me at all but the Fiance is another matter. :P

Thanks for all the help guys. I can at least now rest easy knowing they aren't working their way threw my floor boards.

Regards

Voddas