Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths)

RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Dee (Guest Post) (06/30/2008) I moved into an apartment in January, and discovered within two weeks that the previous tenant left me with a severe infestation of these pests. I haven't stored food products or anything else in my cabinets since the end of March. I've thrown away cereal, pasta, coffee, nuts, flour, sugar, salt, spices, and all dried floral arrangements, as well as all of the containers that held these items. The landlord had the cabinets sprayed and then "bombed" five times - all this accomplishes is killing the adult moths, it doesn't get to the source. They pulled the dishwasher out from under the counter, and there were pieces of cereal, pizza crust, etc., left from the previous tenant (UGH!). The dishwasher was thrown away and replaced, as there was larvae & eggs throughout the insulation at the top of the unit. After cleaning all of that up, and re-cleaning and spraying all cabinets, I still had moths. Last week, every cabinet, countertop and even the garbage disposal were replaced in the apartment. I'm not optimistic at this point, in spite of not having seen a moth in four days...I'm planning to move. I wouldn't wish these on my worst enemy...I've never seen aything like it. Good luck to anyone having to deal with these pests. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By (Guest Post) (06/01/2008) Pennyroyal oil is an excellent insect repellent, and is used in many commercial preparations. Just remember that a few drops will go a long way. The oil is extremely potent, and extremely toxic if taken internally. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Kerry (Guest Post) (12/12/2007) I read elsewhere to clean first then put out in lids (up high if you have small children...I have placed mine on a ledge above the cabinets) a mixture of one part boric acid to three parts corn meal. Straight boric acid is not obtainable anymore but Roach Proof and other brands of roach killer will have 99% boric acid in it. Check the label for content as some have less percentage. This takes a while since there will be hatchlings coming along. This may be just an additional method. As the rest of you I am desperate. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By pat. (Guest Post) (09/24/2007) I dislike these moths. They seem to come out more at night. I just cleaned my kitchen really good and they are still there? Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Veronika Sacramento (Guest Post) (08/22/2007) Oh MY. THANK YOU ALL SO SO SO MUCH. I've been battling MOTHS for about 5 years now...OFF and ON. I've even seen them MATE...was that sick or what. They both died during the best time of their life. LOL. Thank you all so so much. I'll go get the HOT SHOT SPRAY..right away. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Pat (Guest Post) (07/25/2007) I am battling these again myself. One thing that was successful for me before was to paint the pantry completely--remove shelves and paint all surfaces with a fairly thick coat. That was after throwing out everything and washing the surfaces down. The paint sealed up any tiny crevices in the shelves and killed any residual eggs. My kitchen linens are stored there too, and they liked to nest in the folds of items not used frequently. Wash in hot water and dry in dryer to destroy any eggs or larva. I also used the traps. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By (Guest Post) (03/24/2007) OH my Gosh! I thought it was only me! Thanks everyone for these suggestions[ and for the warning on moth balls]. alaskababa Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Hayley (Guest Post) (03/23/2007) These things are awful. We've had them for roughly a year and we're still working to get rid of them. The pheromone traps work only a little bit... they're a good way to let you know whether you've still got them or not. The only thing that has seemed to make a dent in their population is bombing the infested areas. The person who mentioned spraying every week is right on about the level of intensity you need to persue these things to kill them all. They do have reproduction cycles of about 2 weeks and if you don't get them before they lay eggs you will have to kill their offspring when they hatch, which just furthers the cycle and the problem. The places they nest are literally EVERYWHERE and they don't need an obvious food source. Ours came into the house in a bag of pumpkin seeds and they've spread to my bedroom closet and the bookshelf in the living room. Neither of those has any type of food -- only clothing or books. My friend had an infestation a few years back that was so bad that the problem did not go away until they remodeled the kitchen... in other words, tore out every appliance, cupboard, and floor tile and repainted the walls before the problem subsided. I wish you luck in your pantry moth genocide! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By LORRAINE MONTANO (Guest Post) (10/19/2006) I TOO HAD A PROBLEM WITH THESE PESKY BUGS THEY GROSSED ME OUT TO THINK THEY WERE IN THE PANTRY WITH MY OTHER FOODS, I WAS LOOKING THRU THE MANY SOLUTIONS SO I TRIED EVERYTHING BEGINNING WITH PANTRY PEST TRAPS THESE HELPED BUT IT SEEMED IT BROUGHT OUT MORE,(MAYBE MY IMAGINATION) BUT I ALSO READ TO TRY BASIL LEAVES I BOUGHT ONE PACKAGE AND PUT THE LEAVES OUT ON EVERY SHELF, BEFORE I KNEW IT I DIDNT SEE MANY BUGS AND BY THE END OF THE WEEK THEY WERE ALL GONE, BEING THAT THEY DONT LIKE THE SMELL OF THE BASIL LEAVES THEREFORE THEY WONT GO NEAR THEM SO THEY DONT LAY ANYMORE EGGS! THANK GOD I BOUGHT ANOTHER BAG AND JUST KEEP IT ON THE PANTRY SHELF OPENED I HOPE THIS WILL KEEP THEM AWAY FOREVER , I ALSO GOT RID OF EVERY OPENED BAG OF RICE, BEANS OR CEREAL, FLOUR ETC.AND NOW I REFRIGERATE ALL GRAINS A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE I PUT INTO MY PANTRY. THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE!! lorrainemontano @ yahoo.com Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post by susanmajp (718) | (08/04/2006) Profile | Contact I have never had an infestation and felt a little smug reading these comments. Well, if there's one thing that I've learned in life, it's never to say "never." I've had my first experience with these moths, and it has almost gotten the best of me. First, let me say that my home is not dirty. I live in the South (hot and humid), but we have central air, so my house is not humid. Everything I bring home from the store is opened, checked, and put into zip lock bags, gallon jars with seals, canning jars (I have 1/2 gal canning jars that I seal with my Seal-A-meal attachment), or Tupperware containers. Nothing is ever left opened for insects to nest in. I have three six foot long, floor-to-ceiling pantries besides my kitchen cabinets and lots of other cabinet storage. I routinely go through things and keep an eye out for pests. My pantry was pest free, then within a month, they were everywhere. My husband has leukemia from enviromental sources, so we do not use chemicals. I use bay leaves and every other hint I read to counter act pests. Our infestation of these moths started in my pantry--the first one in 30+ years of home making. I went through everything, opened and checked all boxes, wiped down shelves and walls, killing everything I saw along the way. I did this four times, one right after the other. My biggest fear was that they would constantly hatch from eggs that I missed, and this cycle would go on forever. These pests were in boxes, on boxes, under the rims of jars, under the bases of jars, under cans, and we even had larva under canning rims on sealed jars! We swatted the flying ones, searched the house and opened all cabinets every hour to kill every one we could see. While they lessened, we still had problems. We found that they came out in full force around 10pm, and saw them mating on our ceiling, on curtains and drapes, resting on walls and woodwork. Killing them became our main focus for over a month. I was lucky enough to be home, monitoring them constantly, killing all I saw. Finally, we realized that they came in by way of our cat litter. I don't want my cat to breathe in the dust of regular litter, so I buy one made from corn. It must have been infested with eggs that hatched and later invaded our space. We'd been using this litter for a couple of years with no problems. We got rid of the infested litter, spent over a month of cleaning and killing, and finally have no more bugs. If it hadn't been summer and I'd not been home to constantly clean and kill them, I'm not sure we'd ever been able to get rid of them. So, to everyone who has problems with these moths, you have my sympathy. They are a major pain in the behind to get rid of. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Francine (Guest Post) (01/05/2006) Just wanted to pass on that moth balls are highly toxic. Tremendous info can be found in the book The Brauess Cancer Cure. Apparently mothballs and naphanthene ( my book is loaned out so cannot check spelling on that) is very cancer causing. They advise you check labels on everything you have . It is in bug candles too. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By shelly (Guest Post) (01/05/2006) i have used the pantry pest for my kitchen with great success in the past. they were in everything flour, pasta, rice, cereal even unopened boxes/ bags. i got the pantry pest and put everything in plastic sealed containers and in no time they were gone. Its not expensive and works wonders. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Erica (Guest Post) (01/05/2006) I have this problem now.... do they also eat uncooked rice? I bought a huge bag from the asian store and i dont want to throw it out. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Rivka (Guest Post) (06/20/2005) I was wondering where to get those foggers -- Walmart huh...need to get some replacements as we are moving again. Hope Walmart in Canada carries them. As for moths, I freeze all nuts so that the oils in the nuts don't go rancid and anything that has cereal grains in it, I freeze for 3 days. This prevents any eggs from being able to hatch. I do this with all flour coming into my home and I don't get any moths, beetles or whatever hatching later. Often these little bugs may crawl in at the warehouse or anytime during the trip from field to your cupboard. As a Home Economics teacher I teach my students this method to help keep their homes bug-free. There are usually a few "uuugghhhs!!!" about unhatched eggs. I also store any left-over cereal products in the freezer over the summer to prevent critters in September. I learnt these things my second year of teaching because of tiny beetles in some pasta that was lurking in an undiscovered cupboard. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post by badwater (711) | (05/12/2005) Contact We had started shopping at a discounted grocery store when we came down with a BAD case of the kitchen moths. There is no telling the amounts of foods these critters got into & we had to toss out! We tried everything!! The best thing we finally did, was to 'bomb' the house with foggers. We had to do this twice, by putting fogger cans in every room & opening all the cabinet doors & closets. And left for nearly 24 hours. did have to rewash all my dishes, but it was worth not having those bugs around. We don't shop at the discounted grocery store anymore. We figure we didn't save any money for sure, it ended up costing us way more than we ever saved by shopping there in the first place. Also, we now have bay leaves on every shelf in our pantry and in our kitchen. Putting fresh bay leaves down about 1 time a year, as we're told these bugs don't like bay leaves. Best of luck. Report Spam or Abuse Silverfish Post By Steve, England. (Guest Post) (04/29/2005) I've noticed that even 17 floors up in an apartment you can't get away from Silverfish blast them. I keep my place clean and ventilated and still one returns, in the bathroom, near the bath plug hole. So I keep the hole plugged, but one appears again another day, and before that, one came out of the cold water bath tap. They aren't in any other rooms though thank goodness. I dunno, revolting creature of unknown purpose. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post by darween (53) | (04/28/2005) Profile | Blog! | Contact Try Lysol Disinfectant Spray! It isn't toxic to you but will kill all kinds of buggers (like 'flies' in-flight!). Try it, you'll never use poisons again! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post by plantgirl848 (19) | (04/28/2005) Contact I have to agree with Peach on the moths. They ARE hard to get rid of, but not impossible. Ours came in the house through a bag of bird seed. But you do not have to use chemicals. You MUST check everything that remotely resembles a grain. Though I have found their old cocoons even in tea boxes. They will cocoon anywhere dark and undisturbed. So check all your food in your cupboards. You must freeze ALL your grains, nuts (that is the one they LOVE the most!!), etc. At least until the problem is under control (though you should always freeze nuts to discourage them from coming back.) You MUST take away their food source. And don't assume that your food is safe in plastic or glass containers. I one found dead one in a glass jar with a tight lid. I have no idea how they got in!! It was something I hadn't opened since we began having the problem. If you have pets, you must keep their food and living area clean of food. Especially rodents and birds. That is where we had the most trouble. But it is doable if you diligently clean their cages frequently to kill any intruders. Once you have them under control, in the future, you should always freeze all grains that come into your home for 24 hours to kill any hijackers. This is especially important with bird seed and rodent feed. They are the biggest culprits for bringing the buggers into your home. We never used a poison on them because of our pets. The main way we got rid of them was cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! And killing any adults we found. If you spray them with water, they will drop, not being able to fly for a second or two. Then you can squish them. Otherwise they can be frustrating to catch. And at night, go "hunting" in the areas you know they like (ie. kitchen). That is the time of day when they breed and you will catch them stuck rear-end to rear-end (looking like some strange conjoined twin version). Those are the ones you definately want to get, before the female lays her eggs. Good luck and feel free to ask me any questions. I know just how you feel right now, but it is possible to get rid of them!! Sorry I don't know anything about the silverfish... never have had them. : ) Heather Hall Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Deb (Guest Post) (04/28/2005) The product Pakjc mentioned is called Pantry Pest and it DOES work in an enclosed area like a pantry. But I've had them flying all over the house for the past few months. Think I brought them in with birdseed. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post by Diamondee (127) | (04/27/2005) Contact well you have enough advice on moths...the herbal way to get rid of silverfish is to put costmary (herb) around your linen and paper areas..esspecially books. silverfish like moist areas so just having a fan circulating the air is a bonus. PS I once bought a bag of dog bones and it was infested with moths....check everything that is has grain in it. pasta, cereal, & flour ..... clean down surface with lavender cleaner. that should help. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By pakjc (Guest Post) (04/27/2005) there is a moth trap that they sell at hardware stores, like big r or home depot, its a small cardbord box that you fold out (it comes packaged flat) anyways, it has a glue inside that attracts the moth. its allot better than spraying stinky bug spray arround!! i hope this helps! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By Susan from Hamilton (Guest Post) (04/27/2005) I have just read that insects and mice do not like bay leaf, so put a few in the cupboard and in your flour and cereal and it should keep them away Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (Pantry Moths) Post By (Guest Post) (04/27/2005) Sorry to say.....I think you would be better off getting AC. It helps to keep the house dryer. As well as keeping you comfortable. I was told that prego was not good to use for the kitchen. It should not get real wet. You can only wash it with a damp cloth. Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths (aka Pantry Moths) Post By Peach (Guest Post) (04/27/2005) Hate to break this to you but Pantry Moths are really extremely hard to get rid of. I also use and swear by Hot Shot Flying Insect Killer (blue top can) from WalMart. It is cheap and it WORKS!!!!! In the beginning you will have to get rid of anything that isn't well covered and that has larva in it. The larva can even get into bags of cereal so check everything!! Put everything good in tight One Zip bags or Tupperware containers. Spray your cabinets well on the inside and shut the doors. Spray your entire kitchen and keep doors and windows closed for an hour or so. Pay extra attention to the woodwork and trim of cabinets. They like to lay eggs there. The smell from Hot Shot disapates quickly. Do this once a week until you see no more moths, or for at least 2 months. Then spray every 2 weeks or every month. My sister was so infested with these nasty and persistent moths that they were all through the house!!! It took 6 months of weekly spraying to kill them all and they have not been back for a year. Check out "pantry moth" in any Search Engine for more info. Unfortunately spraying chemicals is the ONLY way to get rid of them. Lehmans.com has Pantry Moth sex lure traps but they really don't work well enough if you have an infestation. The moths hatch like every 2 weeks and if you aren't spraying every week you will miss some and they will lay more eggs and multiply like CRAZY!!!!! I speak from experience. The best thing about Hot Shot spray is that the odor does not linger!!! It is about the best I have found and it is not as expensive as the name brand bug sprays. Best of luck to you---just remember to spray consistently every week until they are gone!!!!!!!!! Report Spam or Abuse RE: Kitchen Moths Post by Antique Lady (2) | (04/27/2005) Contact I use Hot Shot Kitchen Bug Killer once a month. It is especially made for food preparation areas. Follow the directions on the can for different types of insects. Works for me! Get it at your local Wal-mart store. Report Spam or Abuse