Moths! Gah!

[onfruitstreet]

I've seen a few too many moths around the apartment for the past week or so. (Maybe ten or so.) What's odd is that they don't seem to be central to any one area. I find them both in my main front room/"kitchen" area (actually, they don't seem to be near the "kitchen" portion of the room, but out in the "living room" area) and in the bedroom (

Comments

[thespunmonkey]

If you see them flitting around in the daylight or near a light source, they are not clothes moths. Clothes moths like darkness...usually they are discovered when one opens a closet or turns on a light and you see them rushing away to hide.
They are a BIG PAIN IN THE ASS.

[onfruitstreet]

They're out in daylight, but they don't seem to be aiming for any particular light source. Oddly, come to think of it, they do seem to appear more in the evening, although I still have the lights on. I'm stumped. I sure hope they don't turn out to be the pain in the ass that the flea infestation I had was (courtesy of Mr. Neighbor's dog). Since I haven't seen all that many yet, I'm hoping it's still an easily controllable situation. (Right, Carolyn. Keep hoping.)

[onfruitstreet]

Oh, and don't clothes moths only go for wool? I have only one wool sweater that's not in a sealed plastic bin. I'm afraid to go inspect it. Gah! I so hate bugs of any sort. (I just read online that the larvae (of pantry bugs) is "easily squeezable." Just reading that nearly made me retch.)

[rumorofrain]

Freezing kills the moths, larvae, and eggs, so if you have room you could stick the loose food in the freezer. Obviously that won't work for the 50lb sacks of corn, but since it still freezes at night, you could put them outside overnight. You should also wipe down your kitchen surfaces (cabinets, etc) to prevent reinfection.

You can also buy pantry moth traps, but they won't eliminate the problem, just catch the adults that are flying around.

[onfruitstreet]

Do you actually EAT the food once you've frozen it?! I cannot imagine trying to eat food that might have larvae or eggs or any such thing in it (although I probably do all the time). I'd rather chuck it in the dumpster and starve.

You're in your new home by now, I'm guessing. Do you have a gardening space?

[rumorofrain]

Usually when we get a moth outbreak, I check all of my dry goods by tilting the jars. If the moths have gotten into them, the food will be clumped together a bit by their sticky webs, and sometimes I can see white webby stuff around the top of the jar. Those foods I freeze and compost, and I wash the jars well.

For dry goods that don't have moths, I will sometimes freeze them just to make sure they're clean and prevent recurring outbreaks, especially if I've used it recently (and therefore opened it, so that moth eggs could have gotten in). Those I will eat.