Inspect your pantry and toss out any infested food. The National Pest Control Center advises that the items most at risk of infestation include cereal, grains, beans, nuts, flour, dried fruit, birdseed, animal food, spices, tea, chocolate, and candy.
Compost or throw out anything that has any kind of sign of moths, including slight clumping in flour and any signs of webbing. Your food is only safe in glass containers or rigid plastic (airtight like Lock & Lock or Glassware), or in the fridge or freezer.
wash EVERYTHING. Moths like to find the least touched articles of clothing and plant themselves there so you really have to take everything and just give it a good cleaning.
Are Pantry Moths Harmful? While pantry moths aren't harmful to people and pets, they are damaging to your pantry food. No biting or stinging from these moths, just major contamination of food. While this is not a serious health risk, it is certainly a nuisance.
Few people are ever thrilled to find moths in their house. After all, these pestilent little insects can wreak havoc on all sorts of household items, including pantry commodities, natural fiber clothing, carpets, furniture, and more.
Life Cycle of the Pantry Moth
The life cycle may be completed in as little as 30 days or as long as 300 days, depending on food availability and temperature. The warmer the temperature, the faster the cycle completes. The average is 4-7 weeks.
Pantry moths behind jars and cans
Jar lids and the undersides of cans might not seem like typical pest havens at first glance. Yet, these spaces can harbor tiny food residues that are a feast for pantry moths and provide ample breeding grounds.
The webs are problematic because they can cause condensation and the moisture can either lead to mould or attract flour mites. The good news is that flour moth larvae themselves are harmless and non-toxic – but still not the kind of protein you want to be eating with your breakfast.
Pantry moth larvae can chew through plastic and Ziploc bags to access food.
Pantry moth infestations typically require the services of pest control professionals; it is not advisable that homeowners utilize pesticides to treat an infestation on their own. However, after identifying an infestation, it can be helpful to clean the affected area.
After you've confirmed that you have clothing moths (or any cloth-eating bugs), take the following steps to clean your clothes and closet: Discard particularly infested items. If the clothing is extremely damaged, it may be impossible to repair.
Dryer sheets typically contain chemicals such as linalool, beta-citronellol, and geraniol, which are known to have some insect-repellent properties.
What smells do moths hate? Clothes Moths detest the scent of cedar. They also dislike rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, bergamot, and lavender. Rosemary, thyme, and peppermint oils can be great for keeping Pantry Moths away.
You may want to seek professional help if you have a pantry moth infestation. You can also try purchasing traps and pheromone baits from the grocery store. That's not enough to eliminate the problem, though, unless you follow these steps: Inspect your pantry and toss out any infested food.
If there is a steady food supply, pantry moths will not go away and continue laying eggs. They will go away if all food is removed, but this process can take weeks or even months.
The larvae and pupa of pantry moths can survive for months without food, which makes eliminating an infestation difficult. The life cycle of the pantry moth lasts for about six months.
Although pantry moths can enter via doors and windows, most infestations probably start when we inadvertently bring home eggs and caterpillars in our dried foods. Kitchens full of unsealed containers and spilled food create an irresistible smorgasbord for female moths looking for the ideal place to lay eggs.
Clothes moths are 1/2-inch long and are a beige, gray color. Their wings are narrow and hairy. Since they're so small and avoid light, you're not as likely to notice a clothes moth. Pantry moths are 1/3 to 1/5vinches long and have narrow wings that are gray and bronze on the bottom half and yellow-gray on the top.
Even if you have stored your food in mason jars or kilner jars, it is worth checking in case they had been placed back in the pantry or cupboard with the lid not fully sealed and those nuisance cupboard moths got in. If this was the case you may leave a future source of potential meal moth infestation in place!
Aside from the insects themselves, food infested by pantry moths may also have silk webbing present on the surface. So will pantry moths or their larvae, eggs and webbing make you sick if you accidentally eat them? The experts say no. So, if you ingest them, don't panic.
However, you should always avoid using the flour in your kitchen if you notice it contains a hotbed of moving weevils and immediately throw it away. Don't try to get rid of the weevils you see, and try and save the flour; the whole thing might be contaminated with weevil feces, eggs, and carcasses.
When you find moths, beetles, or weevils in your pantry foods, it can be a mystery. Not only do they appear on shelves and walls, but they can appear inside sealed glass or plastic containers.
To keep moths out of your pantry goods, it is best to use solid glass or plastic containers with sealable lids. Make sure that all of the lids have an airtight or rubber seal. This will prevent moths from being able to squeeze through. Plastic zipper bags can also be used for food storage.
Insecticide foggers (also known as bug bombs or total release foggers) are a popular type of formulation used by professionals especially for use against mosquitoes, pantry pests and cockroach infestations.