weevils
By Cammomile
west sussex,
United Kingdom 
My daughter has a hedge around the house which has been eaten by beetles which we have seen in their hundreds after dark. They are a greyish weevil type of beetle and she would like to know what insecticide could be used safely around pets. It seems the problem is much worse than we thought. We have spoken with neighbours and other people on the estate where they live and they all have weevils in their gardens on a huge scale and they are entering the house at night. Do you think the council will do anything:?
30 Aug, 2008
Answers
Sadly there are no insecticides available to the amateur which will kill the actual weevils (no matter what kind they are) and in any case it is a very unpleasant chemical.
You and your neighbours need to find the food source of the larva of these weevils and attack them there. Can you get a picture of the weevil? It might help identify what they are feeding on.
31 Aug, 2008
This is the culprit - picture above. The hedge is an evergreen with red branches. When shaken the weevils fall in their dozens onto the ground and play dead for a few minutes.
31 Aug, 2008
This pic looks like a vine weevil sure enough, check out this website for info. http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/vineweevil.htm
some good info for your problem.
31 Aug, 2008
It is Vine Weevil. As Owdboggy says there is not a lot you can do but stamp on all you see ,go out at night with a torch you will find dozens, at least they are easy to catch but have a habit of dropping into places you cannot see them.
31 Aug, 2008
I don't think the council will do anything, they are not considered vermin but to gardeners they are a real pest.
31 Aug, 2008
Everyone in the neighbourhood would have to get together to deal with these pests. You need to water Provado on to almost every plant in every garden to kill the larva,
Also they love to lay their eggs in peat based composts, so if you grow things in containers then switch to a non peat based one.
31 Aug, 2008
It looks as though you have an infestation of Vine Weevils. Do they act dead if you put one on your hand, if they are Vine Weevils they will do this and then if you wait a couple of seconds they will start to move. There is not a lot you can do about them in a hedge.
31 Aug, 2008