Chocolate, Pests, and Valentine’s Day: How Do They Mix?

Chocolate, Pests, and Valentine’s Day: How Do They Mix?

Happy early Valentine’s Day from Pointe Pest Control! We hope you have a fun day of celebrating every type of love in your life. There are plenty of fun activities and treats to make tomorrow a celebration, whether it is with your partner, friends, family, or by yourself. No matter what your Valentine’s plans include, we can almost guarantee that it will not involve pests of any kind. Nothing kills the fun quite like a pest invasion, which is why it helps to know what attracts them and how to prevent them from making your home their own. 

Out of all the sugary treats offered on Valentine’s Day, one of the essentials for many people is some type of chocolate. Whether it’s in a bar or a heart-shape, filled with peanut butter or left plain, or primarily milk or dark, chocolate is definitely a fan-favorite dessert. It’s no secret that pests love our food as well, but do any of them share our love for chocolate? This is what we aim to uncover today before sharing some of our favorite pest-related Valentine’s puns that you can write in your very own card to that special someone!

Humans Aren’t the Only Ones Who Love Chocolate…

Many pest species are not very picky when it comes to the food they eat, but everyone has their preferences. For the pests that love sweet substances, a bit of chocolate can be quite appealing, especially when there is plenty to go around on a day like Valentine’s Day. Let’s look at four pests commonly found near chocolate and why they favor it.

Ants: These pests may invade most food items, but even ants have their preferences. In transitional seasons, like right now, ants are more inclined to find sugary foods than usual. Sweets are stored as fats for a longer period of time, which means that the ants who consume the sugar will retain the fat content and not require as much food when it is not readily available in the colder months. Since ants are scavengers whose only food criteria is that it’s not poisonous, they are attracted to all kinds of sugary treats, including honey, candy, baked goods, sodas, and sugar granules. Chocolate can also go on this list, but it has an interesting caveat for ants in particular. The caffeine and cocoa contents in chocolate may be deliciously appealing to humans, but is actually lethal to ants. Their tiny bodies can’t digest either component, so ants that consume chocolate will likely die immediately. But that doesn’t mean they will not try their luck if they come across some chocolate. Any food that is not properly sealed and is left out is at risk of being invaded by ants, including the treat that is more deadly than sweet for the tiny pests. 

Rats: If that certain animated movie about a culinarily-talented rat taught us anything, it is that even rodents can enjoy certain types of food. Real rats are opportunistic scavengers that will eat just about anything they find, and have grown to recognize some of the oldest rat poisons around before it is too late. Their strong noses allow them to detect the chocolate long before they see it, and may be even more drawn to the treat in a rural setting where it is not readily available. When searching for food, rats follow their noses to the source and then investigate to see if it is safe to eat, as far as they can tell. Rats differ from other pests in that they can eat all the chocolate they want without any harm. Their bodies can digest the cocoa and caffeine content easily, to the point where people who own rats as pets will often feed them chocolate! But as for the rats who invade our homes, it is best that they do not have access to any chocolate treats, as they will never leave after tasting this delicacy. 

Mice: Mice are also attracted to chocolate, but they do not have the strong stomachs of rats. Similar to ants, a mouse that consumes chocolate will likely perish immediately afterwards. The compounds in chocolate are poisonous to mice of all species. This is quite the conflict for a common mouse, as they love chocolate and cannot resist the temptation of sinking their teeth into a piece of it. In fact, mice are more drawn to chocolate than they are to cheese, despite what the cartoons have shown us over the years. The main reason for this attraction is because mice, as well as rats, like to consume carbohydrate-heavy items. The favorite foods of mice include chocolate, nuts, peanut butter, meats, and pet food. They like to conserve energy and eat enough to feel satisfied for while, especially if they have offspring in their nest to also care for, so mice will eat up to 20 times a day. But despite their nest’s proximity to food, mice can go without sustenance as long as they need. House mice can live without food for a couple days, but the allure of food is often too strong to resist. A house mouse will find themselves meeting a quick end if someone leaves some chocolate out for the taking.

Pantry Pests: With a group name that relates to food, it should come as no surprise that pantry pests also enjoy the sweetness of chocolate. They will consume just about anything that is edible, but they favor dried goods that are commonly stored in the pantry or cupboards, unsurprisingly. It can be difficult to trace these pests back to their source, as most of them can fly and will leave their hatching sites in favor of new foods. Certain types of beetles in this group will invade chocolate if it is kept in the pantry, leaving behind small holes in the chocolate as they burrow inside. This was the topic of a horrific news story in 2017, where a family enjoyed some non-expired Ferrero Rocher chocolates that had fillings unapproved by the FDA. When the children found that there were larvae inside the chocolates, their mother rushed to research the effects. Thankfully, consuming these tiny larvae does not do anything to us besides disgust us forevermore. An entomology expert determined that these larvae were the caterpillars of Indian Meal Moths, a common pantry pest. And when the chocolate company in question was tasked with addressing the incident, they simply stated their high standards for quality control and the importance of storing these treats correctly. If anything were to convince us that chocolate needs to be stored in the fridge, it is definitely this memorable story.

If pests do get into some chocolate, it is because the treat was not stored or sealed correctly. Insects in particular can get into any food that is contained in plastic, paper, or foil. Basically, unless it is in metal or glass, pests can invade any food wrapper that they want. If you receive some sweets over the next couple of days, make sure to store any leftovers in better containers than the flimsy packaging that is common among candy companies. The best option is to keep it all in the refrigerator, especially the chocolate, but an airtight container with a tight seal should also do the trick if you keep sweets in the pantry.

Fun Pest Valentines

If you are looking for a fun pest-themed pun for your homemade Valentine’s Day card, look no further! As a festive bonus to this blog, we have a few ideas for some fun puns and drawings you can add to your card. If you aren’t an artist, don’t worry! The added charm of an imperfect little sketch makes any card even better, especially on the holiday that celebrates acts of love.

• Wood you be my Valentine? – paired with a picture of a termite; can be eating wood into a heart shape
• Bee my Valentine? – paired with a picture of a bee; can be carrying a bundle of heart-shaped flowers
• You light up my life. – paired with a picture of a firefly using its light; can be with another firefly who is also using its light
• Hoppy Valentine’s Day! – paired with a picture of a grasshopper; can be jumping through a little field of flowers
• Bitten by the love bug. – paired with a picture of any kind of insect; can add hearts on the ends of its antennae or make it more accurate by drawing a flea, mosquito, tick, etc.
• You’re super fly, Valentine! – paired with a picture of a housefly; can add hearts in the fly’s compound eyes or dress it like a superhero
• I’m feeling antsy to tell you Happy Valentine’s Day! – paired with a picture of one or more ants; can add Valentine’s treats that they are carrying

Even if you don’t use these specific puns, we hope these inspire you to think of your own fun additions to your cards this year. Whether your Valentines are for your significant other, friends, parents, children, or a combination of loved ones, any message from the heart is the perfect way to fill out a card for Valentine’s Day. It’s no love song chirped by a cricket or a battle for love fought by rhino beetles, but a handwritten card is a heartwarming way to spread the love this Valentine’s Day.

The Sweetest Gift This Valentine’s Day is Pointe Pest Control!

Whether your Valentine’s plans involve devouring chocolate, going out to dinner, or giving your significant other a funny card, this holiday should not involve pests. The cold and occasionally snowy weather outside is the driving force for pests wanting to invade our homes and make their own nests within our spaces. Since pests don’t take a holiday off, our knowledgable technicians are dedicated to providing both preventative and responsive pest control services for every pest problem. We use IPM, or Integrated Pest Management, to keep homes and businesses pest-free through a variety of methods that do not completely rely on pesticides. Contact our team to learn more about how our EPA-approved treatments can ensure that your Valentine’s plans do not involve a pest infestation.

Citations

Best baits you can use to trap rats. (2018, August 14). Automatic Trap. Retrieved January 20, 2023, from https://www.automatictrap.com/blogs/news/best-baits-you-can-use-to-trap-rats 

Chocolate – Delicious treat or ant bait?. (2021, October 20). The Pest Bully. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.thepestbully.com.au/chocolate-delicious-treat-or-ant-bait/ 

Do ants eat chocolate?. (n.d.). Ants Authority. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://antsauthority.com/do-ants-eat-chocolate/ 

‘I just spit mine all out and I about threw up’ Kids grossed out by chocolate infested with bugs. (2017, December 22). ABC 7 News. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://abc7news.com/chocolate-infested-gross-bugs-in/2812078/ 

Jacobs, S. (2013, January). Cereal and pantry pests. PennState Extension. Available at https://extension.psu.edu/cereal-and-pantry-pests (Accessed on January 19, 2023).

Mouse diet and habitat facts. (n.d.). Orkin. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.orkin.com/pests/rodents/mouse-control/what-do-mice-eat