This will be a good test of my theory that, collectively, ehMacers know stuff about everything. Anybody know a good way to get rid of moths (my house seems suddenly invaded by them) without resorting to stinky mothballs? Where the heck do these things come from anyway? Will they really eat all my clothes? :eek:

Big moths? Small ones? Where are you finding them?

Do you feed birds outside? If yes, check the bird seed - that's likely where they're coming from. On the few occasions when I've seen some small moths in the house, it's always turned out that they came free with a bag of birdseed I'd bought. I sealed the birdseed in a plastic tub, and only opened it outside when I wanted to spread food around for the birds. Eventually there'd be no more moths in the house.

If you don't feed birds, then I'm sure someone else will chime in...

"Anybody know a good way to get rid of moths?" Bats.

Persistent little &#&$ers. They get into any foodstuffs and their babies spin these little webs... They'll get into stuff you'd swear was sealed, oatmeal, seeds, anything.

Hate'em. I squish about 5 a day.

I found that the particular smallish ones we have as houseguests, have a built-in character trait you can exploit. If you bat them downwards out of the air with your hand, they fly immediately to the floor and land and flutter around at floor level for about 5 seconds, whereupon the meet The Foot. That's the slap-and-stomp method

Or if you're practising hand-eye coordination, you can go with the straight grab and squeeze in midair. Requires some hand speed, but easier than flies or mosquitos.

The Black Belt techniquie is to wait til they land, and then flick them ever so accurately with a fingernail - hard enough to kill, not hard enough to leave a mothy smear on the wall. Best one evar last night - moth landed on a water glass, I first timed it with the flick, without even budging the glass.

Ummm... OK, it was a slow evening, alright? I don't get out much.... :o

The best way to get rid of them or to stop attracting them is to wash your clothes. This is what I read online and from talking to various people about a year ago when I found quite a few around here. The really odd thing was that they seemed very attracted to a freshly cleaned LLBean chamois shirt.

For those worried about them eating into your food (such as oatmeal), place the oatmeal in the deep freezer for a while to kill off any larvae or eggs. I have a deep freezer and simply store my bags of oatmeal in there until needed.

Are these moths persistent in the house or seasonal? More details could lead to more specific solutions, but here is a fun, general one...fashion a home-made light trap. Google it to get an idea. Moths fly at night and are attracted to light, so leaving a light trap on in your home at night (occluding other light sources) may do a good job of clearing them out.

These are very small, frail-looking, greyish brown things. They just showed up a few days ago in various parts of the house. We don't keep any bird seed in the house and I don't think dirty laundry is an issue. Good tip about the oatmeal though. I'm going to do that.

Yes these are the smallish grayish units.
Our moths are not attracted to light.
They will crawl into cupboards and closets and get through the most insanely small cracks.

Aromatic Red Cedar. Shavings in gauze bags, or small shapes (I got round marble size balls ar Crappy Tire) scattered amongst the clothes drive out most moths. It has worked for me.

It's quite possible that these little %^$#@s entered via some foodstuffs. Cornstarch, etc. They will invade your pantry and especially like garlic (I've found entire bulbs devoured from the inside out). As for the supposedly sealed containers, if they aren't really sealed they will just become a breeding ground and incubator for them.

No solutions except to empty your pantry and inspect everything. Wash the pantry well and hope for the best.

They used to sell pheromone traps but I think there was a health issue...
We took all our wool and washed it then sealed it in plastic tubs for the Summer. Worked pretty good but this is not as good an option for the Winter...

I've also heard of the cedar thing. But I expect it depends on the type of moths you're dealing with. Sorry... I'm not an entomologist.

cheers