Last week I bought a big bag of seed from the pet shop. I only just opened it today to find bugs that looked like tics crawling through it! I will be getting seed from my club as soon as their order goes in but was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? I took it back to the pet shop and he gave me another bag (great...not) which I have checked and is bug free. The owner says he buys in bulk and bags it himself and we checked many of the other bags and did not find bugs?

They sound like Weevils, they can be a big problem for Granaries. If you freeze your seed for a day after you buy it that will kill any eggs off.

They sound like Weevils, they can be a big problem for Granaries. If you freeze your seed for a day after you buy it that will kill any eggs off.

 

 

I just looked up wevils on Google Image Search and that is exactly what they were. I have been freaking out and cleaning because I thought they might be tics, I have two beautiful doggies inside and thought they were in danger! Thanks so much for your reply and I will freeze seed from now on, thanks for the suggestion.

I wouldn't buy seed there anymore who knows how long they have had it in my opinion if it has bugs it probably is not fresh.

I really depends on the time of year, they can't harvest seed all year in all parts of Aus so it's inevitable that at some times of the year seed will have been stored for some months. It is not necessarily the fault of the person you bought it from, may have simply been seed sent from a different supplier up north via the wholesaler because it's not warm enough to harvest locally yet or something like that. If they've never had a problem before I wouldn't worry too much unless it becomes an ongoing issue.