Weevils in food

Question
Hi Sheila!

Sorry to be troubling you. You previously answered my questions about my hammies and I greatly appreciate your help.

As the subject suggests, I found my new packet of hamster feed filled with weevils.

I was wondering if that poses any health problems to my syrians as they may have compromised the feed.

And if weevils are even edible?


Looking forward to your reply.

Cheers!

Answer
Hi Edmund

Thanks for your question.

Weevils are often found in grains and other dried food. I understand that you can kill them by putting the product in the freezer.  However whilst it is not nice finding them it does mean that the food has not come into contact with pesticides otherwise they wouldn't be there.

Apparently weevils are not harmful to animals if eaten and  it is also worth noting that in the wild hamsters eat small insects. I therefore doubt that they would make your hamster sick. I'm not sure that I would deliberately feed them to mine as I don't like the idea of it but if they did accidentally do this I'm sure they would be fine.

I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila