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17 January 2013

My pantry moths have moved on to my wardrobe Tonight I got out my muskox yarn cap, and found it had two big holes and one small hole eaten in it by some form of larvae [whimpers]. I've been battling pantry moths for a few years now and I'm guessing they decided to move to a more fibre-based diet. Fortunately the other woolen items in the basket and my wool coats in that closet seem unharmed.... but how long will they remain that way? I went to the store and looked at some mothballs, but the box said they wouldn't work well in an open closet. Does anyone have some advice on how to keep the moths from eating anything else?
You've tried moth balls? Cedar chips? Do they use those for moths, or is that just in the movies?
posted by Doohickie 17 January | 20:05
Hate those fuckers.

We held them at bay with the the pheromone based sticky traps and constant vigilance with a zappy racquet. We also kept things like cereal in the refrigerator.

Can you keep the things they're going for in plastic bins of some kind?
posted by fleacircus 17 January | 20:06
They can get into plastic food storage bins, so I'm assuming that won't keep them from eating my woolen items. I've even seen them get into sealed plastic bags.

I haven't tried moth balls, but as I said the instructions on the box said mothballs wouldn't work in a closet. The things needed to be in a container of some kind. I'm guessing the container plus the moth balls would work, but it's winter and I want my clothes accessible.
posted by Orange Swan 17 January | 20:29
The pests we had never seemed to get the hang of getting in difficult areas, perhaps because traps plus kill-on-sight policy kept the numbers pretty low. They never branched out to clothing and I didn't know they could do that. Maybe you have two kinds of moth? Sorry I got nothin' for ya.
posted by fleacircus 17 January | 22:06
I just dealt with some clothes moths and from my google research, they re a totally different species, which maybe is good news?

If they are only in that closet you should take everything out, wash what you can in hot water and dry clean the rest.
Now vacuum the space and wash the walls floor and ceiling with hot soapy water.
Let it air out, spray some moth killer, then put your clean things back in.

I just did that routine and knock on wood its been a week and no more moths!

Things to note: adult moths don't eat. Thy have no mouths. It's the larvae that eat and ruin things. Kill adults so they can't breed, but you probably won't be able to see the larvae which is why you have to do that cleaning thing.
The larvae die at 120 degrees or so.

Moth balls are b.s. and don't work and also smell terrible and are made of poison. I guess so is the bug spray but at least that works and doesnt reek!
posted by rmless2 17 January | 23:17
Oh also you have to clean baskets really well too, and anything of natural fiber. I put our baskets in the dryer with high heat and they seemed to tolerate it.
posted by rmless2 17 January | 23:19
I have an unpleasant degree of expertise and hard-won experience with pantry moths. It's not likely these are the same moths. They are different species. Pantry moths (aka Indian meal moths) don't want to eat fibers and clothes moths don't want to eat people food.

So I don't know whether you've vanquished the Indian meal moths and are seeing a new infestation of clothesmoths afterward, or still have both of them at once. They require different strategies. So if you have both you need to maintain a parallel attack.

Speaking only of the closet moths, if they're in closets they're most likely casemaking moths or webbing clothes moths, as detailed here. They don't eat grains and sugar like indianmeal moths - they actually digest pure keratin in wool fibers.

So I would look up control of clothes moths. Most US cooperative extension services have lengthy writeups about moths, so Google around. I'm not as familiar with controlling clothes moths, but I think, just as with pantry moths, finding their points of origin and getting rid of them at larval stage is really important (like, pull everything out of the closets and blanket chests, go over every wall and corner and ceiling with a flashlight, and chisel away every little cocoon you find). You may need to send all your woolen clothing away to dry cleaning, and store it separately from your closets, while you empty and air the closets and maybe give the walls a good bleach scrub and let dry for a few days.

Read up on it! Many others have been there before.
posted by Miko 17 January | 23:42
I've been where Miko has been (with both the grain and wool eaters.)
posted by Obscure Reference 18 January | 14:57
I have nothing to add except PLEASE do not use mothballs anywhere around a domestic cat; they are a potent neurotoxin!
posted by lonefrontranger 18 January | 17:12
OMG Badass Bunny! || JJ Abrams did a nice thing.

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