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Although I feed my bird pellets, I occasionally gave a few seeds as a treat. I always bought a name-brand seed from our parrot specialty store.
A couple of months ago I opened a new package of seed and I was surprised to see one moth fly out of the bag. Weird. I killed the moth and didn't think too much about it.
About a week later my bedroom (where my bird lives, and I keep the seed) had a couple dozen moths flying all around! I tried chasing them and killing them for a few days but even when I killed all I could find more showed up with days.
So I went to the hardware store and bought two moth traps. They are sold flat in a box, and you have to bend them into a tent-like shape and leave them where the moths can find them.
As soon as I opened the package, before I even had the trap folded the moths started flying in and sticking themselves to the trap. They all flew in, and although I left the trap out for weeks no more appeared.
Just thought I would pass on the advice: Moth traps are very effective!
I've heard a good way to prevent this is to freeze the seed for a few days when you first buy it.
We used to store bird food for outdoor birds in a large bins in the house. There were a few weeks when it was rainy out and we couldn't put any of the food out, so we hadn't opened the bins. Then I started noticing little weevil-like bugs all over the house, especially in the kitchen and bathroom...
For some reason it still took me a few days to figure out where they were coming from. If you put your ear to the top of the bins, you could hear the millions of tiny little bugs moving in there. We ended up having to call an exterminator.
Moral of the story- don't store huge amounts of seed in your house
What a coincidence! Just tonight I spent all evening cleaning out a closet that had moths from bird seed. I emptied the closet, threw away all the old seed, made sure everything else was securely sealed and sprayed. I hope I got it in time before they infest the whole house! I will pick up some of those moth traps!! Thanks for the info!!!
We use the traps too. They work well but do not provide complete elimination. The do nothing about the grub like caterpillars you find crawling on your cieling (ick). I hate hate hate those moths. Plus then make ugly blotches on your cieling when you wack them with a towel.
I forgot abotu the freezer thing. We need to buy a bigger freezer, but I think I will keep the bulk seed in the freezer and just keep out enough for a day or two. They also live in the spent or thrown seed, so you have to vacuum a lot and clean the cages constatantly. Frankly I thin they are just something you have to live with if you have birds.
I have always wondered, some moths will eat your clothing. Will these?
We use the traps too. They work well but do not provide complete elimination. The do nothing about the grub like caterpillars you find crawling on your cieling (ick). I hate hate hate those moths. Plus then make ugly blotches on your cieling when you wack them with a towel.
I forgot abotu the freezer thing. We need to buy a bigger freezer, but I think I will keep the bulk seed in the freezer and just keep out enough for a day or two. They also live in the spent or thrown seed, so you have to vacuum a lot and clean the cages constatantly. Frankly I thin they are just something you have to live with if you have birds.
I have always wondered, some moths will eat your clothing. Will these?
Absolutely not. We have had birds for decades and never had a moth problem, (knock on wood).
All of our pellets get frozen for a few days, as soon as we get them, then transferred to the refrigerator prior to use. (Yes, we have a separate fridge/freezer for bird food. When we were breeding and had many birds, we had several of them.) The same goes for their other food, (ie millet). Cage & playstand papers are changed daily and with that goes most tossed dry food. We do a quick vacuum around the cages and playstands daily, (even though the dog eats most of the tossed food that hits the ground).
Honestly, I am more concerned about the possibility of having ants, since pieces of corn on the cob seem to fly for miles, as do little chunks of watermelon. I'm always afraid I'll miss something when cleaning up. I swear one of our guys in particular was a baseball pitcher in a past life.
This doesn't mean we will never get moths, but it's certainly not something you have to live with if you have birds. You just have to live with the potential.
I hadn't had a problem with moths at all until I adopted my friend's parents' budgie a few months back :/ Within a week, I had moths. With my amazon, I exclusively feed him pellets and fresh food - he doesn't like seed and never has - but with the budgie, I tried pellets and he won't touch them.
I haven't tried freezing the food; thanks for the heads up, everyone. Between moth traps and a pet-safe spray (I move the birds to another room for a few hours afterwards) it's mostly under control, but... ugh, I hate those revolting creatures.
I too was wondering about the moths coming out of my parakeet seeds. Thanks for the heads-up on freezing their food for a few days. I am going to try that for sure.
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