Moths - Learn More.

Where did they come from? How did the moths do so much damage? What could be done to prevent this from happening again? These were just a few of the questions we asked ourselves over and over. "The whole ordeal was a nightmare." Let our experience with these pests help you prevent the same costly and unpleasant disaster we had to cope with. Read and follow the suggestions we offer in this newsletter and you can reduce your risk of Indian meal moth infestation to zero!

Indian Meal Moth

This moth does not limit its diet to dried flowers, they will eat all forms of seeds, cereal, flour, pasta, pet foods, bird seed and other forms of organic matter. Don’t wait for a problem, moths are easy and safe to monitor with the use of pheromone traps that will target a particular pest, and trap it for removal. Pest Strips and sprays are an effective means for elimination.

Indian Meal Moths are found all over the U.S., so there is no practical way to totally eliminate them.

Store any form of seed or feed in sealed containers to prevent infestation.

Watch for signs of damage, such as webbing or larvae.

Act quickly at the first sign of Moths in your home.

Clothes Moth

The larvae feeds on wool, feathers, fur, hair, leather, lint, dust, paper, and occasionally cotton, linen, silk, and synthetic fibers. They are especially damaging to fabric stained with beverages, urine, oil from hair, and sweat. Most damage is done to articles left undisturbed for a long period of time, such as old military uniforms and blankets, wool upholstery, feathered hats, antique dolls and toys, natural bristle brushes, weavings, wall hangings, piano felts, old furs, and especially wool carpets under heavy furniture and clothing in storage.

Damaged fabrics will have holes where the moth larvae have eaten through the fabric. Larvae are white and often have silken cases, lines of silken threads, and droppings on the surface of the materials. Moths are destructive during the larvae stage. Adult "millers" or moths are entirely harmless.

Clothes moths rarely fly to lights at night and instead prefer darkness, such as a closet or storage chest.

Keep pheromone traps fresh and monitor them regularly.

Any clothes moths fluttering around the house are probably males, because females travel by running, hopping, or trying to hide in the folds of clothing.

Female webbing clothes moths lay 40 to 50 eggs that hatch in 4 to 21 days.

Larvae like to feed on soiled material, spinning silken mats or tunnels and incorporating textile fragments and bits of fecal pellets.

Larvae will wander some distance away from their food source to pupate in crevices. The pupa case is silken with bits of fiber and excrement attached to the outside.

The life cycle is about 65 to 90 days.

Clothes moth development is greatly influenced by humidity. About 75-percent relative humidity in a heated, dark room is ideal.

Good housekeeping is critical for preventing or controlling clothes moth damage. Never allow clothing, rugs, etc. to lie in a neglected pile.

Regular use of a strong suction vacuum cleaner with a crevice tool to remove lint, hair, and dust from floor cracks, baseboards, air ducts, carpets, and upholstered furniture is necessary.

Keep closets and dresser drawers clean. Regularly clean rugs where they fit close to the baseboards and under the quarter round. Inspect stored foods and eliminate bird nests and dead rodents.

Launder and dry clean or steam clean clothes and other items before storage.

Egg-laying clothes moths are attracted to soiled articles.

Ironing will also destroy all stages of clothes moths. Sun, brush, and expose clothing to the weather. Outdoors, bright, hot sunlight, and wind will reduce larvae and damage. Frequent use of woolens and other animal fiber clothing almost assures no damage from clothes moth larvae.

Cedar-lined chests and closets are not 100 percent effective. The natural cedar oil evaporates and a fresh treatment of cedar oil should be applied every two years. Be sure that all cloth goods be dry cleaned, washed, pressed with a hot iron, sunned, or brushed prior to storage in an airtight container with an effective moth repellent.

Constant light illumination in the closet may discourage moths. Use tight-fitting doors. Try suspending wall to floor cotton drapes in front of clothing to keep dust and moths away. Fur storage in cold vaults is effective. Moth-proofing when woolens are manufactured may be effective forever, whereas treatments at dry cleaners are less permanent and need to be renewed regularly.

I am ordering your traps for meal moths. However, there are also these tiny black bugs that I find inside the bottom of a sealed cereal box- obviously they are coming in from the store like this, but it has become quite a problem these past few months. I open a box of cereal (which is a sealed bag inside the box) and there they are in the bottom of the cardboard. At times, I dump a pound of pasta straight from the box into boiling water and one or 2 are floating on top - yuck. Any suggestions?

Thank you for your question regarding the bugs in your pantry. Most likely you are seeing either tobacco beetles or drug store beetles. They are a "stored product insect pest" and are only found indoors, usually in or near any type of food source. They are dark brown in color, and it is their larvae that actually eat your pasta and cereal. They will not be attracted to moth traps. You could try Springstar Multi-Insect Trap . Also effective for beetles are the Prozap Pest Strips.
The Pest Depot

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Moths - Learn More.

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