Mystery Solved By U Maine Cooperative Extension

It is funny how given all kinds of clues and what you think are facts you can come up with a hypothesis of what your situation is that can be so totally wrong. Really, no Scooby snacks for me.

Here's what happened to me recently.  I hate to admit it but more than a year I have seen little brown beetles in my house.  They didn't bite or seem aggressive so I figured I brought them in on some flowers from my garden or something and they'd find their way back out eventually. You see, I'm not really to into killing things, you know everything has a purpose and live and let live kind of gal. Then I started running into them in the hundreds and dang baby that is too many for even me. Perplexed I tried to figure out what they were and where they were coming from...the basement? the plants? I tried spraying insecticide and blocking wholes up from the basement to no avail. That is when a friend said you should show them to the folks at the U Maine Cooperative Extension.

So while on vacation I dropped of fa few to the Bangor office on Maine Avenue and they were great.  A few days later I called their entomologist  up at the University and he told me I had Drugstore beetles. To calm my nerves hew told me they don't carry and diseases and the best way to rid myself of them is by finding where they are nesting. He added that they are called Drugstore Beetles because they like to nest in dried medicinal  herbs like they use to have in drugstores.  However, many people call them bread beetles or biscuit beetles because they favor grains and bread products.  And there I was, on a mission!

Not to creep you out but I found them in a bunch of cheerios, in a bag of unused flour I had kept, some bread crumbs and a therapeutic rice pack I had made. Yikes, no wonder I had so many.

Needless to say I never would have sorted all this out without the U Maine Cooperative Extension's help.  So next time you have a pesty pest or other question give them a call.  I'd bet good money they can help you too.

Not only do they identify insects and garden pests they also help you do everything from raise bees and apple trees to have safe water and can stuff from your garden.  Seriously they have hundreds of programs.