Weevils have been known to find their way into the home from outside (in the form of adult beetles or moths depositing their eggs in a food source). However in most cases, they are already present in produce, originating at the processing plant, a warehouse, in a delivery vehicle or even at the store of purchase.

Adult wheat weevils when threatened or disturbed will pull their legs close to their bodies and feign death. Female weevils can tell if a grain kernel has had an egg laid in it by another weevil. They avoid laying another egg in this grain. Females chew a hole, deposit an egg, and seal the hole with a gelatinous secretion. This may be how other females know the grain has an egg in it already. This ensures the young will survive and produce another generation. One pair of weevils may produce up to 6,000 offspring per year.

weevils only eat plants, nuts, seeds, grain, fruits, roots, etc.

Weevils can be very destructive, depending on the species. Crop and agricultural destruction comes from the weevil’s eating habits combined with its reproductive habits. For example, grain weevils – also called wheat weevils – can cause devastating economic loss to stored grain by eating it.

And due to its reproductive habits, the boll weevil almost single-handedly destroyed the southern cotton industry.
This weevil lays its eggs inside the bolls of cotton and when the eggs hatch, the young weevils eat their way out, destroying the crop.

Some species of weevils feed on the same foods that humans do. These pantry pests can include the grain weevil, rice weevil, cowpea weevil, strawberry root weevil and the bean weevil.

Many different types of weevils can get in your home, including some of the most common weevils around your property and garden: the apple blossom weevil, leaf weevil, pea weevil, strawberry blossom weevil and the vine weevil.

When most types of weevils get into your home, they will seek out food. Depending on what they eat, this can be your stored food or the plants inside your home. It isn’t uncommon to find weevils in bags of rice and flour, boxes of cereal or in similar types of foods such as dried noodles and pasta. Suffice it to say, you don’t want weevils in your home or in your food.