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Old 01-27-2016, 04:23 PM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 13 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,970 posts, read 63,277,013 times
Reputation: 92419

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Call me stumped. Almost every day, a moth wafts through our family room. They are pretty easy to kill, fortunately.
I assume these are the kind of moths that live in pantries or wool clothing in closets, however there is no evidence of moths in any of those places. This is a room with two year old furniture and a 2 year old wool rug and nothing else that would seem to attract moths. This moth thing is within the past few months. It is cold out, so they are not coming in from outside. It is as though they materialize out of nowhere and I have no clue what to do about it.

The only new wool thing that is newer is a dining room rug, but there are no moths there, so I don't think that is the source.
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Old 01-27-2016, 04:50 PM
 
Location: Erie, PA
3,696 posts, read 2,858,780 times
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It's hard to tell where they are coming from since I don't have a picture of the type of moth that is annoying you but some general guidelines:

1) Look for and seal up any types of crevices that they could be hiding in. Sometimes the spaces between floorboards or other small spaces are large enough for them to find shelter in. Simple caulking can seal this off or you can use a clear silicone sealant.

2) Sometimes the moths can originate from the pantry and are attracted to the wool and your food. They are usually attracted to foods such as flour, dried beans/pasta/rice--pretty much any kind of food that is stored in paper or cardboard packaging. Food that is infested will have webbing like patterns and patches in it that look like colored sand from the moth larvae. Obviously if you find this--toss out any infested food and invest in some moth-proof storage containers. The snap-lid plastic ones tend to work out pretty nicely.

3) Moths do love wool because they are attracted to several aspects of it. Wool has remnants of keratin, and dead skin cells on it which makes it a gourmet meal from the moth's perspective anyway. Give the wool extra vacuuming, as well as the rest of your furniture. You said that you have wool in your clothing so this would also be an area to check for the moths. It isn't unusual for moth issues to start in woolen closets. Check the clothing for damage and you will probably hate me for saying this but get it all professionally dry cleaned and store it in some moth-proof containers. I have also heard of people putting the clothing in the freezer for a day--this will kill any eggs on the clothing.

4) Catch em: Pheremone traps are said to work pretty well.

5) Repellents also might be helpful particularly in the closet. Don't use the mothballs if you can help it--they are stinky as hell and the chemicals are toxic. Cedar smells wonderful and does a great job at chasing the moths away. Diatomaceous earth is also a natural moth repellant. Moths don't like dry conditions so if you can stand it, try lowering the humdity in your home until the moth issue is resolved.

Hopefully some of this has helped out. My grandmother had an issue with the moths in one of her closets when they went after some woolen clothing and of course started to show up in the bedroom then later on the stairwell. Good luck getting rid of the situation
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Old 01-27-2016, 05:53 PM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 13 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,970 posts, read 63,277,013 times
Reputation: 92419
Thank you MarieJoseph, I know all that about the wool and grain. We are able to swat them as they appear, so we do not need traps yet.
What bothers me is that there must be a source, and I cannot figure out what the source is.

I should also add that we moved from the frozen north, 5 years ago, and so we still cling to the coats and sweaters (just in case), etc. but why would there be a moth problem NOW? As I said before, there are no moths near the closets or the kitchen.
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Old 01-29-2016, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Victory Mansions, Airstrip One
6,646 posts, read 4,933,712 times
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We keep a glue board in our pantry. If moths start collecting on it then we know to look for the source. These are sold at hardware stores, and meant for catching things like roaches, crickets, and even mice.

You could put a glue board in each "suspect" area and see if moths collect on any of them.
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Old 01-29-2016, 05:36 PM
 
Location: Geneva, IL
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We had pantry moths a few years ago, I suspect they came from rice or some other dry food. They were really difficult to get rid of. We tried some of the commercially available products, nothing worked for us, the only thing that eventually worked was throwing out ALL of the dry food and taking every single shelf out of the pantry and inspecting and cleaning it. A few did end up in our closets and they can do a lot of damage.
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Old 01-29-2016, 06:45 PM
 
Location: Alexandria, VA
15,104 posts, read 27,546,247 times
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I haven't seen moths, but check that rug for carpet beetles.
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Old 01-29-2016, 07:23 PM
 
Location: Victory Mansions, Airstrip One
6,646 posts, read 4,933,712 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zimbochick View Post
We had pantry moths a few years ago, I suspect they came from rice or some other dry food. They were really difficult to get rid of.
We were getting them from some dry dog food that we kept in the pantry. Then they would also get into pretty much any dry food that was not sealed up tight. Since then we've bought some of those vacuum lock containers at Target to store dry food.
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Old 01-29-2016, 11:04 PM
 
Location: Johns Creek, GA
17,403 posts, read 65,535,896 times
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I'm betting that several larvae are in the rug. As they go through their metamorphosis they're taking flight.

They'll "hide" in the rug feasting. Went through the exact same thing. Lots of vacuuming and one application of an insecticide.
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Old 01-30-2016, 09:33 AM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 13 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,970 posts, read 63,277,013 times
Reputation: 92419
Quote:
Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr View Post
I'm betting that several larvae are in the rug. As they go through their metamorphosis they're taking flight.

They'll "hide" in the rug feasting. Went through the exact same thing. Lots of vacuuming and one application of an insecticide.
Yes, my biggest suspect is the rug, because it is the only wool thing, although its hard to believe there were larva for 2-3 years before they decided to come out. The Hubster's recliner is on one end of it, so it does not get vacuumed underneath as often as the rest of the rug does. Maybe I'll give a squirt of insecticide under there.

It makes me wonder about the "bargain" rugs we are all so fond of buying online. Who knows where they have been, and what they have been exposed to?
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Old 01-30-2016, 10:55 AM
 
23,511 posts, read 69,899,087 times
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For pantry moths, the comment about dog food made me remember that when I went to Lowes to get pantry moth traps, most of them were already filled with pantry moths. Apparently the store had taken in some dog food to sell that was totally infested with them.
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