Clothes Moth
Clothes Moth
This box houses my old Russian 1000mm mirror lens, which is only used occasionally.
To my horror, the green baize liners have been attacked by the moth.
Removing one of the wooden inserts, which had evidently been damaged and re-glued at some time, revealed the culprit.
Be Warned
MichaelG.
To my horror, the green baize liners have been attacked by the moth.
Removing one of the wooden inserts, which had evidently been damaged and re-glued at some time, revealed the culprit.
Be Warned
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
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Re: Clothes Moth
Where there is one, there are usually more. Do you have a piano?
Re: Clothes Moth
No pianoapochronaut wrote:Where there is one, there are usually more. Do you have a piano?
I found a total of five grubs in this box, and a small grey moth which flew away before I could get the camera.
... Haven't seen any elsewhere in the house, but am currently living in fear.
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
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Re: Clothes Moth
They are mainly attracted to wool based textiles. Felt is a big one. Wool sweaters. The moths will just hang out in the vicinity of a good food supply, briefly mate, then lay eggs on the wool. If you have sweaters or other felt or wool , disturbing the cloth, might flush out some moths.
Larva, first make tiny little holes, or extended ones in one place, then make a little Kayak shaped chrysalis out of the cloth, which can be hard to see, because they look like little pills on the cloth.
Cedar oil or fine chips of cedar, juniper or similar repels them. I think cedar oil, is actually toxic to them. Napthalene, of course.
Larva, first make tiny little holes, or extended ones in one place, then make a little Kayak shaped chrysalis out of the cloth, which can be hard to see, because they look like little pills on the cloth.
Cedar oil or fine chips of cedar, juniper or similar repels them. I think cedar oil, is actually toxic to them. Napthalene, of course.
Re: Clothes Moth
Naphthalene, and later on hexachloroethane, in the form of white balls, were used at homes many years ago to repel moth, but have been phased out.
Indeed, one should suspect that the moth has invaded other places in the house, like cloth cabinets where cloth are made of natural fibers.
Some immediate remedy steps that I have just read and appear to be reliable, and I translate it:
1. Open all cupboard doors, to expose all mature moth (the flying version) to light, preferably sunlight. It kills them somehow.
2. Empty all infested cupboards. The larvae are sometimes camouflaged by the outer shield they build for themselves as explained by Apochronaut.
3. Shake all infested items vigorously, brush them and expose to the sun.
4. Washing the infested textiles will help, although it is not critical.
5. Clean the cupboard, vacuum all crevices and holes. The moth eggs are not glued to surfaces, only laid on them.
6. If anti-insect sprays are not objectionable, they should be applied.
I have also read that moth sometimes wanders from kitchen food cabinets to clothing cupboards. If so, better check out the kitchen as well.
I think that the saying "sunlight is the best disinfectant" originated from anti-moth treatments...
Indeed, one should suspect that the moth has invaded other places in the house, like cloth cabinets where cloth are made of natural fibers.
Some immediate remedy steps that I have just read and appear to be reliable, and I translate it:
1. Open all cupboard doors, to expose all mature moth (the flying version) to light, preferably sunlight. It kills them somehow.
2. Empty all infested cupboards. The larvae are sometimes camouflaged by the outer shield they build for themselves as explained by Apochronaut.
3. Shake all infested items vigorously, brush them and expose to the sun.
4. Washing the infested textiles will help, although it is not critical.
5. Clean the cupboard, vacuum all crevices and holes. The moth eggs are not glued to surfaces, only laid on them.
6. If anti-insect sprays are not objectionable, they should be applied.
I have also read that moth sometimes wanders from kitchen food cabinets to clothing cupboards. If so, better check out the kitchen as well.
I think that the saying "sunlight is the best disinfectant" originated from anti-moth treatments...
Re: Clothes Moth
Do you have a video of the dissection of the grub
Re: Clothes Moth
Regrettably notcoominya wrote:Do you have a video of the dissection of the grub
But I do like your style
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
Re: Clothes Moth
Oh dear! If I’m not mistaken, green baize is made of fibres of either wool or synthetic. Looks like you are feeding the moth. They eat exclusively on fibers especially wool, because it contains keratin. Cloth moth also prefer dark and undisturbed areas like closets and basements.
Re: Clothes Moth
Excellent summary [and welcome to the forum]
Thankfully that was the only place we ever found them
... Still mystified by how they came.
It took ages to remove all that baize, with a steam-gun and a scraper
... finest Russian animal glue, I presume
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_glue
MichaelG
Thankfully that was the only place we ever found them
... Still mystified by how they came.
It took ages to remove all that baize, with a steam-gun and a scraper
... finest Russian animal glue, I presume
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_glue
MichaelG
Too many 'projects'
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- Posts: 6327
- Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 12:15 am
Re: Clothes Moth
When we moved to the 150 year old farm house almost 40 years ago, we put the piano in a corner covered in Hudson's Bay blankets. Many boxes were stacked in advance of the piano, until such time as we could get at them. So, until the next spring, little was seen of the piano. Upon getting close to it, I discovered the Hudson's Bay blankets had been badly eaten and were covered in little cocoons. The amazing thing is, where they had built the cocoons from the ends where the stripes were, many of the cocoons had stripes or coloured areas too. None had all five colours of course but some had two or three. They looked like little Hudson's Bay Kayaks, even more striking when they all got dumped out on the last remaining snow.......Fortunately, the blankets acted as a trap, kind of ; and the piano felts and hammers were spared.