Dealing with Moths
There are dozens of species of moth, many of them quite beneficial to humans and the ecology of the earth as a whole. However there are also many species of moth that are pests both in and out of the home. In this article, we are going to consider two of the most common inside moth pests, the Indian meal moth and the clothes moth (actually three species, but you can deal with them all in the same way).
We have gone through the trouble that these moths can cause in a home in a separate article, so you do know what’s in store if you wait too long. Let’s see which least toxic measures we can take in dealing with moths.
* Find the nest. The damage that moths do inside the home, both to food stores and to materials, usually occurs in the larval stage. Both types of moth build nests which consists of densely strung silk; you will use that to identify where the moths are nesting. If it’s a meal moth, check the different food storage areas in your house. If it’s a clothes moth, then take a look in storage areas where you haven’t moved fabrics around for a while; that includes underneath rugs and carpets.
* Remove the nest. That’s easy enough to do; you can just throw it into the fireplace and none of the larva will survive. You will have to throw out all of the food in the case of the meal moth, because larva sometimes fall out of the nest and then the problem will come back before you know it.
* Pheromone traps. Moths are particularly susceptible to the use of pheromone traps. These traps use the scents that moths use to communicate as bait. The males are attracted to the trap and then get stuck in the glue laid down at the bottom; without males around, there will be no new moth generations.
* Clean your materials! Clothes moths prefer the moist environment of dirty clothes, so once you get rid of the infestation make sure that you do all the laundry in the house on a regular basis.
Moths can be a pain once they get in, but they are relatively easy to deal with, unlike the clothes beetle, which receives a lot less attention than the moth. A good way to keep moths out of your house is to turn off lights at night, or to turn one on at the windows once you go to bed. All moths (in fact most insects) are attracted to light and it’s likely that those that found their way in will go back out again.