Safe way to get rid of pantry moths?

[bscal]

I am hoping some of you ladies will be able to help me. I have pantry moths and need a safe effective way to get rid of them. My DH wants to move all the food out of the pantry, spray Raid everywhere and then put all the food back. Well, of course that is not what I'm going to do!!

So far, I've put everything into sealed plastic containers (mostly Tupperware). Anything that was open I put into large ziploc style bags and I've been checking them daily to see if there were any signs of moths. And I have thrown out a couple of bags when I did see either moths or larvae in them. I've cleaned all the shelves and squish all the moths I see... and I keep finding the darn things!

I've read that cedar chips work to deter the moths... but I am mildly allergic to cedar and would prefer not to use it... it tends to make my eyes itch quite badly.

What other natural things can I do to get rid of these things? They are driving me crazy!

TIA for your help!
Beth

[Tangled Hill]

Here's a recent thread with lots of ideas. HTH!

[Peace+Hope]

haven't read the other thread, but thought i'd post here what i did:

i took every. single. pkg/bag/container/spice bottle out and looked it over and had to throw out a lot. in case you haven't noticed, they DO get in sealed containers... somehow. and sometimes you might find a single larva tucked into the threads of a lid or some other tiny space. i also sprayed my natural all-purpose cleaner and scrubbed every wall/shelf/corner.

then i bought traps at the hardware store specifically for pantry moths. they have an attractant (no pesticides) and a little sticky pad the moths stick to. for the stragglers, i hope.

[Dakota's Mom]

What do pantry moths look like. I am finding these tiny little black bugs in my food. They fly and hang around light when they can. But they are tiny. They don't seem to have large wings like other moths/butterflies do.

Kathi

[noobmom]

We had a mild infestation once. Luckily it was in a secondary cabinet and not our main pantry. I threw out all the food and vacuumed the area. That was pretty much it. I try to keep my food in sealed glass containers now and get rid of stuff (esp flours and grains) if they get old.

[eirual]

We had them last summer. I had to get rid of anything that was stored in a plastic or paper bag. They can get in throught the tightest most secured knot(s). I chucked pretty much everything that was in a bag (if you look into it and shake it around you can see the web-like junk they leave behind- everything they could get into went to the garbage- I didn't want to risk re-infesting a new/sealed container). I bought a bunch of canning jars (huge ones, medium ones, and small ones) and keep only sealed things in the pantry now. It did the trick.

They suck!

[A&A]

Originally Posted by Dakota's Mom

What do pantry moths look like. I am finding these tiny little black bugs in my food. They fly and hang around light when they can. But they are tiny. They don't seem to have large wings like other moths/butterflies do.

Kathi

It sounds like you are describing fruit flies.

Pantry moths start out as little white/off-white caterpillars, and then they turn into small moths.

Plastic bags won't keep them out---they're too thin. I've had to put everything in Snapware or Glasslock containers....In fact, I need to buy some more.

http://www.organize.com/brand-snapwa...FRYhDQodHHmEoA

http://thegreenergood.com/product280...FRcjawodWl8eoA


(Here are just a couple of links to snapware and glasslock.......you can buy them other places.)



I had to throw out a lot of food, too. Probably a lot of your stuff has them now.