Tiny moths
by
Susan Eason
+4
We have had a batch of small moths to hatch in our house. We cannot find a nest or a spot of origin. We see one or two and the next day another one in another room. Is there something we can put out in our house that will not hurt our cats and dogs? No children around. But, these critters are driving us nuts!!
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They could be pantry moths or carpet moths if you have real wool carpet. For pantry moths, go to hardware store for a pantry moth trap (pheramone). https://www.moth-prevention.com/pages/carpet-moths?utm_source=Google-Adwords&utm_medium=Search&gclid=Cj0KCQjwp_DPBRCZARIsAGOZYBSNyEkn1F9ZkFc-OION2rm9T_3VjQhGAop4gJjvKX7s01EWrHb7AI4aAgSXEALw_wcB
Chances are you have pantry moths. Start going through all your food and wash every single cabinet before it gets worse. I had them about 3 years back, originated with infested dog kibble. Took me months to get rid of them. Nip it in the bud now.
https://m.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Pantry-Moths
They will only get worse if you don't kill them. We tried fly swatters, and it was no good. We found squirting them with Simple Green (found at Menards or Walmart) was the best killer. It is a non toxic deodorizer and disinfectant but it kills bugs! I have used it on flies, spiders, fruit flies, and now those mini moths. If you do not see one for 10 days then see one, it is a new hatching. So stay at it until you see none for 14 days. Simple Green was our relief from those buggers!
They could be in anything, the worst are nuts, seeds, anything floury, even cake mixes. They seem to penetrate into any packaging that is papery or thin plastic. I put all flours, sugars, pasta, etc. into plastic containers they won't get into. Nuts and seeds, even bird food, I use one of those seal a meal systems to get the air out and they can't live in that and will die if they are present.
Check any dry food boxes and bags. These critters form in these products and suddenly show up everywhere. Oatmeal, Cereal, and flours are the most common places to start looking.
Flour, things with flour in them. oatmeal, nuts, pasta, rice, biscuit mix etc. are sold with a certain percent of allowable larva in them. Sounds awful, I know. If things are kept for a long time the larva will hatch into those little moths and some things have weevils. Whether you have weevils or moths you need to go through your pantry and throw it out and replace it. When I keep a bay leaf in each container that has any of these things. While these little buggers cannot get in plastic, they will still hatch in plastic. When you put your hands into bags of bird seed, nuts or sunflower seeds it will look like the seeds are rather "globby" which lets you know moths are there or soon will be. I had them in our small bird seed and sunflower seed this Spring. If I had stored them in containers with lids it wouldn't have gotten out of control. Soon they were not only in our garage but also flying in the pantry. I laid some Bay leaves in the pantry and they disappeared. In the future I will store my bird seeds in something other than the bags they come in.
They may be pantry moths so start by checking stored food that might be outdated. You will need moth traps to get rid of them before they live long enough to find more food and lay more eggs. This happened to me so I had to toss a bunch of food and wash all surfaces in the cabinet with vinegar, which destroys the eggs. Now, as soon as I see a moth, I set out a trap and start looking at expiration dates.