Clothes Moth
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Clothes Moth
There are several species of clothes moths, all of them characterised by folding their wings tent-wise along their backs. The adult Common Clothes Moth is 6 to 7mm long with pale, plain golden-buff wings fringed with hair. The rarer Case-Bearing Clothes Moth, is duller and has three dark brown spots on each of its wings.
The adults do no damage when feeding. It is the larvae which hatch from the sticky eggs that eat wool, hair, fur or feathers – with a preference for blankets, wool carpets, wool garments or upholstery that have been soiled with perspiration or food. The grubs are white caterpillars with golden-brown heads, which spin a hiding place of characteristic loose silk webbing, beneath which they feed.
They make irregular holes in textile fabrics and pupate as silken cocoons. The Case Bearing Clothes Moth grub produces an open ended cylindrical case of silk as it feeds, and attaches fibres of its food material to this in order to camouflage itself.
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How we can help / Remedy:
- We treat all rooms which have Clothes moths in by using fogging and / or residual insecticide.
- We will only carry out a partial treatment (one of 3 rooms for example) at the request of the client, but partial treatments are not successful and not recommended.
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Before our visit to deal with Clothes moths
- The property must be vacuumed and cleaned thoroughly throughout.
- All items on the floor such as shoes, bags etc. should be taken off the floor especially at floor and wall junctions.
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During our visit to deal with Clothes moths
You should be out of the property during our treatment and until the insecticide is dry, normally about 3 hours dependent on temperature.
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After our visit to deal with Clothes moths
- Do not sweep, brush, mop, vacuum, or clean the area that has been sprayed for at least 14 days, this is to let the insecticide work through the insects' life cycle which we are trying to break.
- If after 14 days there is still activity then a second treatment may be required.
