There are moths for almost every food stuff and natural material we have around us, including seeds, dried vegetables, bird’s nests, flour, roof thatches, and even corks. The moth is a serious pest in the food manufacturing process. However this article concentrates on the moths that attack our clothes, carpets and furniture. The most common of these are the brown house moth, case-bearing clothes moth, the common clothes moth, and the grand sounding tapestry moth.
Generally all of these moths like the warmth of the centrally heated house, but can also be a pest in cold houses, roofs and sheds, and all of them can vary their development from egg to adult stage depending on relative humidity, temperature, food quality and quantity and moisture content, so they are very adaptable. They can remain as an egg for up to 110 days, a larva for 150 days, pupa 98 days and an adult for 20 days. By the time a moth is seen the damage is already done, the moth flies to find a mate and the process starts again.
The most frequently attacked areas are in neglected areas of your house, under furniture, in the corners of rooms, dark cupboards. So good house cleaning is essential to prevent these insects from damaging your home. At the larva stage they will eat any organic material fibres of woollens, cottons, furs, skins, tapestries, carpets and furnishings.
The case-bearing moth can be identified easily by its silken case which is made up of the fibres of the food it is eating. The tapestry moth leaves silk lined tunnels through the chosen material.
Often the first signs will be a carpet becoming threadbare in a corner or under the sofa, or the moths appearing on window ledges or holes in your clothes. Treatment of these little blighters can be tricky and sometimes several treatments will be needed. The normal treatment will be using a non-staining insecticide spray, followed by an ultra low volume application of insecticide, then monitoring of the premises with monitoring traps to check if further treatment is required.
Andy - First Choice Pest Control Ltd
