What Are These Fast, Mysterious Pests in My Food Cupboard?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around identifying a mysterious insect or pest found in a food cupboard. Participants share their observations and hypotheses regarding the nature of the insect, its characteristics, and potential solutions for dealing with it. The conversation includes elements of humor and speculation, as well as technical considerations related to insect behavior and structural integrity.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes the insect as fast and elusive, measuring about 3/16 inch long, and living in a food cupboard with sealed food items.
  • Another participant humorously references movie knowledge about insects emerging from mouths, suggesting a need for caution.
  • Some participants propose that the insect could be a flour beetle, noting that eggs can be present in flour and hatch under certain conditions.
  • Others suggest it might be a silverfish, discussing their speed and size, with some expressing uncertainty about the size of the observed insect compared to known silverfish dimensions.
  • One participant mentions the tiger beetle as a fast insect, but another counters that the comparison is misleading regarding speed relative to body size.
  • There are discussions about the structural implications of scaling up organisms, with participants questioning how mass and structural integrity relate as size increases.
  • Some participants share personal experiences with silverfish, noting their presence in different living situations and suggesting methods for control, such as using boric acid.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express multiple competing views regarding the identity of the insect, with suggestions including flour beetles and silverfish. The discussion remains unresolved, with no consensus on the exact nature of the pest.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the uncertainty in identifying the insect due to limited observations and varying descriptions. There are also discussions about the implications of scaling organisms, which introduce additional complexity to the conversation.

wolram
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I have this bug/s living in my food cupboard, what it is living off is a mystery as all the food in there is in tins, bottles or packets, apart from that the blasted thing/s are so fast i can not swot it/them, and it/they disappear if i empty the cupboard.
This thing/s is about 3/16 inch long and quite thin, any ideas?
 
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My extensive movie knowledge tells me that when a loved one comes up to you and opens their mouth, a swarm of them will come out. So make sure nobody opens their mouth around you until you get this under control.
 
WarPhalange said:
My extensive movie knowledge tells me that when a loved one comes up to you and opens their mouth, a swarm of them will come out. So make sure nobody opens their mouth around you until you get this under control.

Great work. Now this thread needs a parental advisory sign for people exchanging bodily fluids with each others.
 
Have threads been mixed up :confused:. movies, bodily fluids, or is it i did not explain that this is a non imaginary insect type thing.
 
could it be a flour beetle?

I've heard flour beetle eggs often get sold with pack of flour and are completely safe for consumption but if the flour gets exposed to the right amount of moisture and heat, they will hatch!
 
wolram said:
Have threads been mixed up :confused:. movies, bodily fluids, or is it i did not explain that this is a non imaginary insect type thing.

Could you provide more data on this insect? Is it sensitive to light, what colour of is it, does it have tentacles etc? I think it would be best if you posted a picture of the beast. It is then easier to make the risk assessment.
 
misgfool said:
Could you provide more data on this insect? Is it sensitive to light, what colour of is it, does it have tentacles etc? I think it would be best if you posted a picture of the beast. It is then easier to make the risk assessment.


Well i only see it for a split second, and i have seen flour Beatles or bugs in flour, they are much smaller than the thing/s in the cupboard, this thing is rod like, i do get the impression of appendages (feelers), but to say it has them is a stretch.
 
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Saw this on Animal Planet. When you take everything into context, the Tiger beetle is the fastest animal in the world. It moves so fast that its brain can't process what it sees fast enough because it is moving so fast. It moves in zig zagging patterns because it doesn't know where it is. It has to stop every once in a while to stop and see where it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_beetle
 
  • #10
They seem a tad small to be silverfish, but maybe. They are a very ancient order of insect.
 
  • #11
lisab said:
Hmmm...not much to go on. My first thought is a http://doyourownpestcontrol.com/silverfish.htm". They're small and really fast.


I looked at silverfish, they fit but seem large up to 1/2 inch, maybe they are baby one's?
 
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  • #12
Vanadium 50 said:
They seem a tad small to be silverfish, but maybe. They are a very ancient order of insect.

This is an old house.
 
  • #13
One of those Devonian houses? I try not to stay in anything built before the Permian.
 
  • #14
Vanadium 50 said:
One of those Devonian houses? I try not to stay in anything built before the Permian.


I live in Warwickshire not Devon.
 
  • #15
gravenewworld said:
Saw this on Animal Planet. When you take everything into context, the Tiger beetle is the fastest animal in the world.
Not true; I can outrun one. :-p

Greatest top-speed to 'body length' ratio is not the same thing as fastest.
 
  • #16
Hurkyl said:
Not true; I can outrun one. :-p

Greatest top-speed to 'body length' ratio is not the same thing as fastest.

Semantics. If the tiger beetle were human sized, it would be able to run at over 300 mph.
 
  • #17
If it were the size of a human, it would probably die trying to run 300 mph. Now that we have that out of the way...
 
  • #18
Office_Shredder said:
If it were the size of a human, it would probably die trying to run 300 mph. Now that we have that out of the way...
Worse, it would probably be crushed under its own weight while standing still!
 
  • #19
wolram said:
I looked at silverfish, they fit but seem large up to 1/2 inch, maybe they are baby one's?

They can be quite a bit smaller too, so if the shape and speed fits, that's probably what you have. I hate those things. It's the speediness that makes them seem so creepy to me. If they just sat still, they're not so bad looking, but when they dash off, you have to smash them quickly, and then there's that bit gray stain on the wall.
 
  • #20
Hurkyl said:
Worse, it would probably be crushed under its own weight while standing still!

so I guess this kind of answers a mechanical engineering question I had. If you scale something up, the mass increases, increases gravity's force on it, but I've always imagined that as you make things bigger, the atoms have to stay the same size, so you're bound to change the structural integrity of it. By your comments here, I'm assuming that it makes the structure weaker. Is this always the case or does it depend on the types of bonds and materials involved?
 
  • #21
Well, the main thing is that weight is generally proportional to volume, but structural strength is generally proportional to area.
 
  • #22
if you want to slow them way down, try some boric acid. it's relatively non-toxic to humans unless eaten by the spoonful.
 
  • #23
Hurkyl said:
Well, the main thing is that weight is generally proportional to volume, but structural strength is generally proportional to area.

what are the exceptions... or, is this the basis for a named theory so I could research it a bit? It's a repeat curiosity of mine. (i hope I don't have to do tensors :/)
 
  • #24
They definitely sound like silverfish, we had them in our flat at university. I suppose they were 5-15mm long depending on their age and position in the silverfish social heirarchy.

I say bleach the little buggers.
 
  • #25
brewnog said:
They definitely sound like silverfish, we had them in our flat at university. I suppose they were 5-15mm long depending on their age and position in the silverfish social heirarchy.

I say bleach the little buggers.

Aha, so size doe's matter, seems like you and MoonB have pined it down, so now they are either going to be blond or dead.
 

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