These pests are pests
April 5, 2013 9:15 AM Subscribe
Please help me identify these flying bugs that have infested a house.
Cannot trace these things to their source. They've been inhabiting the house for at least 6 months now, not really in an "ZOMG INFESTATION" quantity, but definitely ~5 sightings a day, despite the many that have been swatted. House is clean, no food left out for long durations.
Can capture a better image if the one provided is insufficient.
Cannot trace these things to their source. They've been inhabiting the house for at least 6 months now, not really in an "ZOMG INFESTATION" quantity, but definitely ~5 sightings a day, despite the many that have been swatted. House is clean, no food left out for long durations.
Can capture a better image if the one provided is insufficient.
Best answer: Looks like a pantry moth. I had a similar problem in my apartment once, and couldn't figure out what they were eating. After months, I finally traced them all back to a single box of steel cut oats in the very back of a cabinet. Got rid of that, and they were gone instantly. I would check every single dry good you have-- flour, cornmeal, beans, grains, cereals.
posted by Dixon Ticonderoga at 9:23 AM on April 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Dixon Ticonderoga at 9:23 AM on April 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Pantry moths, I think. Look for them in containers of anything starchy -- rice, flour, pasta, whole grains, etc. They can get into almost any container, so don't ignore something just because it's got a tightly fitted lid. Look for cobwebby frass* indicating infestations.
*Note source of "Frass Canyon" joke in the movie Sideways.
posted by jon1270 at 9:26 AM on April 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
*Note source of "Frass Canyon" joke in the movie Sideways.
posted by jon1270 at 9:26 AM on April 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Agree with Dixon Ticonderoga. Looks like a meal moth. Check your pantry for spoiled grains, beans and the like. Shop in bulk? That's where my infestation came from. I had an infestation of these 15 years ago and had most of my pantry wiped out.
posted by MeatheadBrokeMyChair at 9:26 AM on April 5, 2013
posted by MeatheadBrokeMyChair at 9:26 AM on April 5, 2013
Best answer: Nthing pantry moth--try to pay attention to where you are seeing them--when we realized there were a bunch of dead ones on top of the fridge, we figured out there was an open box of spaghetti up in that cabinet. Threw the spaghetti out, and the moths disappeared.
posted by lovableiago at 9:29 AM on April 5, 2013
posted by lovableiago at 9:29 AM on April 5, 2013
Best answer: Once you see an adult pantry moth, you can be assured that there are already eggs waiting to hatch somewhere in your house.
You can go to any hardware store (in the USA, anyway) and pick up pantry moth traps for not very much money. They are baited with the pantry moth sex hormone and attract the adult moths to them, breaking the cycle of mating and egg-laying that can make them so hard to get rid of.
posted by Brody's chum at 9:34 AM on April 5, 2013
You can go to any hardware store (in the USA, anyway) and pick up pantry moth traps for not very much money. They are baited with the pantry moth sex hormone and attract the adult moths to them, breaking the cycle of mating and egg-laying that can make them so hard to get rid of.
posted by Brody's chum at 9:34 AM on April 5, 2013
Do you have pets? Check their food/treats as well.
The last time we had a swath of them all our food was fine- turns out they had set up shop in a large container of bully sticks.
posted by whowearsthepants at 10:19 AM on April 5, 2013
The last time we had a swath of them all our food was fine- turns out they had set up shop in a large container of bully sticks.
posted by whowearsthepants at 10:19 AM on April 5, 2013
Yup. Pantry moth.
Time to thoroughly scour every nook and cranny in your kitchen, and put every. damned. thing. in airtight containers or ziplock bags. I'm not kidding on this. Everything. Open boxes of crackers? In a ziplock bag. Unopened boxes of pasta? In a ziplock bag. Bags of flour? In a ziplock.
Seriously clean and vacuum every dark corner in your cupboards, pantry, etc. They lay their eggs in tight crevasses and corners. You're going to have to take everything out to clean.
We also deploy a couple of these suckers around the place, to suck-up stragglers.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:12 AM on April 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
Time to thoroughly scour every nook and cranny in your kitchen, and put every. damned. thing. in airtight containers or ziplock bags. I'm not kidding on this. Everything. Open boxes of crackers? In a ziplock bag. Unopened boxes of pasta? In a ziplock bag. Bags of flour? In a ziplock.
Seriously clean and vacuum every dark corner in your cupboards, pantry, etc. They lay their eggs in tight crevasses and corners. You're going to have to take everything out to clean.
We also deploy a couple of these suckers around the place, to suck-up stragglers.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:12 AM on April 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
They can also infest herbs and nuts. In fact I just pitched a tub of cashews from Costco because they were fulla moths. Gross.
posted by Addlepated at 1:41 PM on April 5, 2013
posted by Addlepated at 1:41 PM on April 5, 2013
Yes, I found some in my pantry once that were able to get in and out of what seemed like an unopened box of pasta. Look for tiny white larva, cobwebby looking casings, grainy looking white chunks. Pick up and look under each thing, even if it is unused.
Buying in bulk is how we got ours once also. We bought trail mix, brought it home and put it in a tupperware. A few days later, before we had eaten any, we realized moths were flying around inside the container. Blech. I have seen them also just camp out in cardboard packaging.
posted by dottiechang at 2:50 PM on April 5, 2013
Buying in bulk is how we got ours once also. We bought trail mix, brought it home and put it in a tupperware. A few days later, before we had eaten any, we realized moths were flying around inside the container. Blech. I have seen them also just camp out in cardboard packaging.
posted by dottiechang at 2:50 PM on April 5, 2013
Yup, pantry moth. Some places in the US are worse than others. When we lived in MD I had to store my flour and anything that didn't get used in a week in the freezer. Flour is especially tempting to them as it is stored in the paper sacks that are impossible to totally seal. Go though all your food, toss anything with worms and don't buy more than you need of grains or cereals.
Wife of 445supermag
posted by 445supermag at 9:02 PM on April 5, 2013
Wife of 445supermag
posted by 445supermag at 9:02 PM on April 5, 2013
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posted by Nomyte at 9:17 AM on April 5, 2013