Help Wanted!

Posted on August 23, 2019 by

32 Comments

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They are here.  They are there.  They are absolutely everywhere!  And it drives me up the wall.  Crazy.  Pulling my hair, banging my head against the wall, rolling on the floor (what do you expect after banging my head against the the wall?), and, and, AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!  It’s okay.  I’m fine.  I’m calm.  Crazy, but calm.  I’m talking here about pantry moths.  They are tiny moths that usually live outside.  But…they can get inside.  Usually through something we buy at the store.  Some type of grain, like cereal, bird food, etc.

I got mine from my landlord this spring.  She had stopped feeding the squirrels and chipmunks and had a bunch of peanuts left over which she gave to me.  I thought that was nice.  It wasn’t in a sealed bag.  They were just in a plastic store shopping bag.  Tied.  I untied it.  That was certainly a mistake.  You should have seen the cloud of these tiny moths that came flying out of that bag!  I quickly tossed the bag and contents outside, but, too late.  I had pantry moths.  Never knew they existed before that.  I still wish it was that way.

I have been trying to get rid of them.  Failed.  There is less now, but that’s it.  I looked online for a solution.  Right.  Nearly impossible to get rid of them except with some professional coming in to spray the place with some toxic chemical.  Not happening.  I have been trying now to follow all the directions I have learned from various online sites.  Basically they all say the same thing, minor differences.  So, I am coming to you, my readers, for help. 

Have you ever encountered these tiny critters that get into absolutely everything?  I had to throw out a LOT of food because of these moths.  Do you perhaps have some idea that you found works in getting rid of these moths?  I don’t need more online sites to check.  Sometimes people find out something on their own that works better and faster than some of these pro ideas.  Even the pros admit that once these moths are in, they are in to stay.  Period.  Sigh.  If you have an idea that might work, please let me know!  Thanks.

Okay, it’s an odd post, but these things really are bad.  Sigh.  And I’m not talking one here and there.  They fly around dozens at a time.  They are in my cupboards.  Even in my bed.  They crawl on me when I’m in bed.  Fortunately they only eat grains and dried fruit.  I hope the pros are right about that.  Sigh.

Thanks for reading, enjoy your day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. (who also doesn’t like these things)

© 2019 Steve McLeod.

Category: Advice, Country, Friends, Help, Life, Questions, Readers, Thoughts, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , ,

32 Comments on “Help Wanted!”

  2. Never heard of those. Maybe try using a vacuum. That is what I do with spiders. You should be able to suck them right up, even right out of the air. We have a Dyson and it does the job real good. Praying for you Steve, God bless you and Muffin!

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    • Yes, a vacuum does work, but not for the eggs and it’s necessary to wash out the vacuum each time since they may deposit eggs in there too. Everything needs to be washed with a special solution, including cupboards, cans, bottles, boxes need to be tossed, all open foods need to be tossed. I’m in the process of washing everything now. Lots of work and they may still come back. Thanks Ryan, God bless!

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  4. Oh no! 😭😭 Who would have thought an innocent bag of peanuts was not so innocent after all? Hmm… I don’t have a solution to getting rid of pantry moths, but have you tried using moth balls around the house? Apparently moths hate them. Moth balls will stink up your house for a while, but its what they use in Asia to deal with moths. I would also suggest doing a deep vacuum of every room in the house, and Lysoling the cupboards down in your kitchen (Lysol smells nice). Moths LOVE opened packages of food. I would suggest replacing your bags of flour and other dried goods with jars to keep them out.

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    • Thanks for the suggestions Hilary! I did have to toss all opened packages of food which ended up being more than I thought. They had even gotten into Muffins food. I opened her bag of food one day and it was full of moths. Which means it had eggs and larva in it before that which I never noticed. Apparently they are safe to eat, but not a very nice thought! I am now washing everything, even cans, jars, bottles, everything has to be washed apparently. Trying to find a container for flour is tough, nothing big enough with a good tight fitting lid. Also for rice, I eat a lot of rice so buy a large quantity at a time since it’s cheaper. I can’t use moth balls, gives me an allergic reaction. Cedar is supposed to work, they laid their eggs on it! Oddly they don’t like Irish Spring soap so I’m going to buy a bunch of that and put the bars around, see if that will help. But getting the right size containers has been hard, I might have to try online for that, we just don’t have a good selection of things in this town. Thanks again Hilary!😃😺

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      • Have you tried the glass jars from Dollarama? They have secure lids on them (moth proof) and come in all sorts of sizes. I use a coupe of the big ones for nuts, and the smaller jars for gelatin powder, coconut flakes, and some flours if I am using them. If you have a chance to get to a nearby Dollarama, go there first before purchasing online. I wonder if an Irish Spring spray exists similar to Febreeze so you can spray it around the house? Moths would probably hate that too. Good luck with the deep clean. As long as the moths aren’t invading your coffee, at least you still have that going for you. ☕💖

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      • Our Dollarama is quite small and only had small jars, but they were going to see if they could get some large ones.🤔 I should check for that, Irish Spring spray,😄 might just have it! Apparently they don’t like peppermint either so I might get some peppermint oil and make a spray. Muffin would like that anyway, she loves mint!😻 Yep, my coffee has always been it a tightly sealed glass jar! Can’t take chances with that!😀 It was terrible tossing $200 worth of food though,😲 really messed up my budget for this month!😕 Now my coffee maker quit working too. Sigh.😕😂🙄

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      • I don’t even know if Irish Spring Febreeze is even a thing but it should exist in a perfect world 😂 What you could do is take some of the soap, add it to water until its dissolved and add the mixture to a spray bottle and spritz it in the house. The moths hate peppermint?! I LOVE PEPPERMINT! 😍 Get an essential oil diffuser and use peppermint essential oil until the entire house smells like peppermint! (it’s worth buying an oil diffuser). I’m sorry that you had to throw away all of that food… I guess it will be rice, potatoes, beans, and bananas for the next month… some of the cheapest yet most nutritious foods you can get in this overpriced country. I’m also sorry that your coffee maker stopped working. Those moths really are giving you a hard time. I hope things get better for you. 🙏🌺

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      • I like peppermint too so having the place smell like peppermint is no problem for me! Yep, my eating will change for a while for sure. I always have such a hard time getting back to my budget when it gets messed up so badly. Oh well, things happen.😀

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  5. Hi Steve – we had a bad pantry moth infestation 2 yrs ago that started in an old container of dried oatmeal. I had to throw out shelves of dried foods & wipe off every can in the cupboard. The best thing to do is take everything out (& check, moths like to burrow their way into plastic baggies, even sealed ones!) Thoroughly wash cabinets & dry them. I now keep foodstuffs like raisins in frig. I also set pantry moth traps (from hardware store) around kitchen – they work great & just need to be changed every 3 months. So far, so good! 🌟🤪🌟

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    • I have just begun the washing of cupboards and everything in them, at least my cupboards are getting a good cleanout! AAAA, they can go right through a plastic baggie? Sigh, so much for those. Even raisins? Sigh again. I’m going to have a full fridge from now on! Never knew about the traps, will check our hardware stores, hope they have them. So much work and all that wasted food. Thanks Virginia for the info! I just have to figure out what to do with birdseed, can’t keep it inside since I can’t get a large enough container for it, can’t keep it outside because of the bears, until winter anyway, but that’s too late to start feeding. Oh well. Have a great weekend Virginia!😃😺🌞

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    • nope, but they do like water. And honey. I do have traps for them now and are they filling up fast! The worst part was having to toss all that food! Then buying tightly sealed containers to use. Getting kind of expensive. Oh well. Things happen. Just one more thing for this summer.😵🤪😂😂

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