They’ve been flying around for a few months but would often disappear for a while, so we didn’t think much of it. One day we looked them up and realized they’re either pantry moths or clothing moths.

They’re clothing moths.

Pantry moths would have been preferable.

They can hibernate, I guess?, for two or three winters, so that’s why we didn’t have them at all last year. They must have came with the house, we found them in all three upstairs closets and also the back closet in the basement. We also found an old container of moth balls in the garage (do NOT use moth balls, they are really toxic to humans and pets!!) So far the basement seems to be where it is the worst. My wife lost a few scarves and old men’s jackets to them, whereas most everything of mine was synthetic or plant fiber (I guess they only eat animal fiber like wool or alpaca). I do have two alpaca pieces: one winter hat and a set of pink and purple dragon-scale like arm warmers. They definitely had larvae and eggs on them, but did not seem damaged? I also saw plenty of eggs and larvae on some synthetic pieces and definitely on anything kept on the floor of my closet like my boots. In the basement was my wife’s red wool jacket, the beautiful one that flares into a kind of skirt at the bottom. It definitely had little bugs on it. But no damage..??? Perhaps because it is so thick the damage isn’t as profound?

The trick we’ve been using to kill them is to run everything in the dryer at medium-high heat (140F) for an hour. Technically it only needs to be above 120F for 30 minutes, but uh hey, I like to be thorough. Wool actually does not shrink when dry heat treated! Every single wool piece we wanted to save survived the heat treatment perfectly! Which was a huge relief, I can’t tell you. Those pieces have been sealed into either vacuum bags or an airtight plastic container. Anything synthetic that had signs was also run on the same heat cycle and then washed. Anything synthetic that had no signs was, well, left alone. We’ve had some traps up and we keep catching some, but it can take the larva up to two months to fully pupate into moths?? Ew. We did a deep deep vacuum and clean of all of the effected areas. We must be doing something right, because the amount of them we’ve seen just flying around has drastically dropped. From maybe five or six a day in my room alone down to one or two every few days across the whole house.

I. Hate. Bugs. I have BAD mental health when it comes to bug. My ex–fiancée and I had bed bugs many years ago now, but that kind of PTSD doesn’t leave me easily. Somehow these moths are not causing that to flare up, but I will say that by the end of the first round of cleaning a week ago Sunday, I was starting to get really itchy and nervous. We also encountered bed bugs in a hotel in Sterling Heights, Michigan a few years ago (do NOT go to the Tru by Hilton at Van Dyke and 16 Mile) and I froze. the. fuck. up. And then I had a full on panic attack. The moths aren’t doing that to me, thank god, probably because they’re not really parasitic like bed bugs are. Bed bugs engender a sense of distrust in your own bed, the place you should feel the safest! Moths don’t do that thankfully. But I do deeply understand that some people are just as effected by moths as I am by bed bugs.

A week ago Sunday we tackled my closet and my wife’s, and it was a whole day affair. Yesterday, also a Sunday, we vacuumed out the remaining upstairs closet and handled everything in the basement closet. We should be in a good position to keep this under control if not eradicate them.

If they do not go away, my wife wants to buy these “microscopic” wasps that will eat the moth eggs and larvae……… I have MANY issues with this idea. They are supposed to be completely harmless to humans, but purposefully inviting wasps into my home might be a bridge too far…