See this smashed bug?
One delightfully dead bug.
These things have been the bane of my kitchen existence for the last month or two. Maybe longer. It seems to drag on and on and on. . .
I don't know how they got in the pantry in the first place. In some rice from the store? In bird seed? What? I guess it doesn't really matter, but I can tell you this much... I'm not keen on the idea of rice that wiggles.
Whatever they hitched a ride to our house in, the fact is they got here. And once here, they have been devilishly difficult to eradicate.
I have used the two different brands of traps with pheromone lures. Caught dozens of the little buggers.
I have thrown out all kinds of food, and what is now left is either in cans or double-bagged. My pantry looks like ... I don't know what it looks like. It's just full of cereal boxes, flour, oatmeal, raisins and all kinds of stuff in zip-lock bags.
I don't know what else to do to get rid of them. I have no idea what any larva could be feeding on at this point. I hunt through the pantry and cupboards, and can't find any evidence of the critters.
But although the pantry moth incidence has lessened, there are still one or two appearing every day or two. I hunt them down, and have become adept at clapping my hands and catching them mid-air and SMASH! One dead bug. (They're kind of greasy when they're smushed, but by this point, I get a kind of sadistic delight in wiping off the greasy remains.)
I sure wish they'd disappear for good.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a friend who is suffering from the same issue. It looks like you posted this quite some time ago.
Has your dilligence erradicated the moths by now?
If you have any tips on how to resolve, do let me know.
Thanks
Lynn
Yes (knock on wood!), they were finally eradicated. I used a combination of the pantry moth traps that are sticky and have a pheromone lure, and for a while I had ALL my dry goods in plastic bags. I bought big 2 gallon zip lock bags and put cereal boxes right in there and zipped them up. Crackers, rice, beans… anything they might eat stayed in zip lock bags for a couple of months. It took a while…. but I don’t have to keep stuff in bags anymore.
but I keep a moth trap in the pantry just to be sure. last time I looked, all I’d caught was a spider and a packet of ketchup.