Aussie pest controller's shocking find 'coming out of roof insulation'
On a number of occasions recently, he's discovered suspected drugstore beetles that have seemingly come from contaminated roofing insulation.
"It's a bit of a common problem with new builds, for people who are getting fresh insulation installed. Sometimes it's tainted from the warehouse, but there's a range of reasons," pest controller Christopher James told Yahoo News Australia.
If you don't find the source, "they'll run rampant through the house," the self-described 'Roach Sniper' said.
"I've seen jobs where it's been going on for years, that's a long time to have beetles falling through your down lights ... and constantly finding dead beetles in the house."
Related: Harvey Norman bed discovered riddled with invasive bug from China
On Thursday, he shared a video to his TikTok page, showing an infestation of suspected drugstore beetles inside the roof of a Sydney home.
"They're coming out of the insulation ... Sometimes these insulation packages are coming from places we're they're tainted," he said in the video.
Speaking to Yahoo, he said the agricultural pest is "pretty widespread" and is often found in pantry items like grains and oats and "wherever there is going to be stored food products" and produce larvae.
"But it's the second or third job where it's led me back to the insulation".
According to the NSW Department of Primary Industries, the drugstore beetle and the closely related tobacco or cigarette beetle "typically lay 100 eggs over their lifespan of, on average, 25 days".
"Signs of these pesky insects include irregular holes in foodstuff and packaging. Infested material becomes contaminated with pupal cocoons and dead bodies of the short-lived adults," the DPI says.
"Drugstore beetles are commonly found infesting a range of stored products including dried herbs and spices. In addition, as the name suggests, the Cigarette beetle is a pest of cured tobacco."
Whether it's ants, booklice, bed bugs, soldier beetles, cockroaches or the dreaded termite, Australians are no stranger to pests becoming unwanted house guests.
While it's hard to pin down the exact cost, exterminators and pest experts say bugs and invasive infestations cost Australian homeowners more than $600 million in damage and repairs each year with that number much higher when termite destruction is fully accounted for.
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