ew moths ew
Posted by gingergirlbb on Oct 22, 2007 · Member since Jul 2004 · 125 posts
we have got a moth infestation in our food cupboard. we went through it and cleared everything out and cleaned it thoroughly and chucked loads of food.... and i just opened the cupboard and there were 6 in there :(
any ideas for getting rid of them?
I had this problem many years ago. Bought some whole grains in bulk from the health food store and had the little critters all over. The only thing that eventually got rid of them for good were the traps they sell with the hormones that attract them. Back then they were called "pantry pest" traps. I bet they are still available. They worked great!!! Before that I used to throw out so much food and clean like crazy, but soon enough there would be more of them. Guess they can lay their eggs in tiniest crevices!
Airtight containers can keep your replacement staples safe, but they are pesky to get rid of. I got infested but good when we were in Peru (there was always something kickin' in the beans/grains if I was not extra vigilant at the marketplace) and it took ages to get them out... and I really didn't keep anything in the house to speak of. Sorry, sorry, sorry! What a pain!
I went thru this, this summer. If like me you have a tiny freezer, try this.Take everything out of the cupboard and give it a good scrubbing with bleach-water. When it's dry, examine your goods well and make sure there aren't any larvae hanging out. Put your edibles in tightly lidded jars, and check them every few days.
It took me about a month to kick the problem, as the eggs etc. take time to develop. Hope you have better luck.
Bleach is about the only cleanser I know of that will kick this.
agh... my boyfriend had this problem about a year ago. We went through every grain and anything sugary in his cabinet. Anything that had no moths/larvae went into the freezer (supposed to stay in there a week or two i believe). Tossed out a bunch of oats, and when they didn't go away, I found some in my wheat bran (the one I had used for cookies a few weeks earlier! eek!). But ultimately everything was sealed and frozen for a week, and it didn't happen again.
A little gross/sad, but all the freezing does is freeze the eggs to death that might be in there.
Yes, totally gross. I try to keep all my beans and flours in airtight containers. But the guy at my HFS has told me that with Indian meal moths and some other kinds of critters, the eggs will hatch if exposed to warm temperatures for more than a couple of days (I think he said 85 degrees for three days). So the best thing to do is to keep stuff in your fridge or freezer. I don't have the room in my fridge to keep all my flours there, so I just keep the most perishable nuts and flours and keep everything else in an airtight container so that when the critters hatch, at least they can't get out.