Richard from Worcester, Ma writes
I ordered your pantry pest kit last week and am waiting for it to arrive. We've had moths (mostly visible during warm months) for over a year, and they're in 7 rooms on 2 floors of our house. So far, not in basement or bsmt apt that we know. We've cleaned with regular cleaners and even sprayed a mix of ammonia and water. We've put out 7 of the Revenge moth traps which we got at the local hardware store (they say 1 trap per room). We kill an average of 8 to 10 moths per day by hand. Should we get rid of the Revenge moth traps, and use only the traps in your pantry pest kit? Should we get another product to help solve this problem? Please help! Thanks
The best tip we can give you is to catch a moth and take it to your Local Cooperative Extension office and have the Entomologist on staff identify the species. If you are using a trap that only targets a certain species of moth with its pheromone, and that's not the type of moth you have, then the traps will not work no matter how many you have or what kind. You also want to make sure you don't have too many traps up, as too many traps can cause you to not catch any moths as well. Most traps have a sexual pheromone to only attract the male moths to them to help interrupt the reproductive cycle. If there are too many traps, the air becomes oversaturated with pheromone and the moth cant tell the difference between the trap and all the other air in the room and won't be directed to the trap. The female moths will not go to the traps so you would still need to kill those that are flying around. If you identify what kind of moth you have and the traps you have ordered apply to it, then you may need to use fewer traps to avoid over-saturation. Also, you need to clean out everything, throw away any infested food, and treat all cracks and crevices of baseboards, cabinets, and furniture in the area. The larvae will normally be left in crevices and can crawl in spots hard to see. Using a crack and crevice residual spray like Cy-Kick or D-Force will help give long-term control over the babies. You can also put up Gentrol Point Source Stations to add a birth control to the mix. These will release a vapor in the air undetected by us but will affect the moths flying in the area and prevent them from creating more. You can review our article How To Get Rid of Pantry Moths for other steps for treating your home. Feel free to contact us if you have any other questions.
Answer last updated on: 07/09/2013
