What are the different types of moths?

Moths, unlike their vibrant butterfly relatives, can be bothersome. From devouring your clothes to infesting your pantry with larvae resembling maggots, these pests can cause considerable damage. But are all moths equally harmful?

Read on to discover more about clothes, carpets, and pantry moths and find effective ways to eliminate them.

Clothes moths thrive on eating animal-based fibres. That covers anything from wool to feathers. So, in the wild, you’ll find those pests hanging around bird nests and carcasses. Pretty harmless, right?

Well, trouble begins when they find their way indoors. Light deters them, and when you couple that with their love for textiles, you can see why they’ll make a home out of your closet in no time.

While the adult moths don’t eat your clothes but lay eggs, in 4–10 days, the eggs will turn into larvae (with special jaws). Then, the larva feeds on the fabric, leaving nasty holes in the nooks and crannies, like under the collars.

Although holes in stored clothes are a telltale sign of a moth infestation, you’ll probably want to spot and identify the culprits before jumping to conclusions. To do that, you have to look out for two species. The most common one is called the clothes moth—so much for creative names. Some people also refer to it as the webbing moth. Either way, that’s the Tineola Bissellia, and it’s buff all over except for a reddish head tuft. Casemaking (T. pellionella) moths are similar in size and general appearance. However, you can tell them apart from their webbing cousins by the specks on their wings.

Washing the infested items at 50°C or higher for 20–30 minutes should be enough to eliminate moths at all stages of their lifecycle. However, that won’t be possible for wool and other heat-sensitive materials.

To get the situation under control, try the following tricks:

If the above doesn’t help, call us and try our moth heat treatment service.

If you check the overview table, you’ll see that we’ve listed the Trichophaga tapetzella as the carpet moth, but the situation is complicated.
Although it’s technically the carpet and tapestry moth, the T. tapetzella is no longer common. First, Nature says that today’s central heating pushes it away from our homes.

So, when people say “carpet moth,” it’s safe to assume that they’re referring to one of the cloth-eating moths we’ve covered earlier. As long as the rug material isn’t 100% synthetic, clothes moths can feed on it just like they would with clothing. In this case, they won’t leave holes behind but rather track marks or “bald” patches. That’s where the animal-based fibres were eaten, and the backing was left exposed.

Thanks to their two-toned wings, adult T. tapetzella moths are easy to identify.
On top, near the head, the wing is dark brown or black. Then the colour abruptly shifts to a creamy (sometimes iridescent) white near the bottom.

If you can’t spot that pattern on the moths in your home, move on to the two likely culprits:

You might even spot the larva of either species under wall-to-wall carpeting or around the edges. So, keep an eye out for webbing or cases!

Spraying an insecticide over and under the carpet could get the job done, but you’ll probably need multiple treatments or steam and ULV fumigation done by professionals.
To boost your odds, vacuum regularly and expose the rug to light and foot traffic to disturb the little buggers. Plus, a good beating can help get rid of the pesky eggs.

If that doesn’t cut it, it might be time to clean the carpet professionally. It’s also worth noting that the larva could have gotten to the upholstery. So, a thorough inspection and clean-up will go a long way.

Not all moths are out there to ruin your textile. The Plodia interpunctella prefers dried fruits, nuts, grains, cereal, flour, and spices—the typical pantry stuff. Some people call them “Indianmeal moths”.

Pantry moths have bronze heads and flaunt a distinctive wing pattern. The top of the wing is pale grey, but it transitions to a reddish/bronze hue midway. On the red half of the wing, you could spot black bands. Not every moth hanging around in your pantry will be an Indian meal moth. If you see something that doesn’t fit the description, it could be the brown house or the Mediterranean flour variety.

The brown house (Hofmannophila pseudospretella) moth is a bronze-brown with spots, and its larva form can eat both fibres and pantry items.
Meanwhile, the Mediterranean flour (Ephestia kuehniella) moth is greyish and hard to identify. Unlike what the name implies, it doesn’t just feed on flour. It feeds on pasta, rice, and other dried foods.

Even though the food contaminated with Indianmeal moth eggs and larvae most likely won’t cause any health problems, we still recommend you start the clean-up by throwing it all out. Next, use water and soap to clean the pantry. This way, you’ll avoid using insecticides in your kitchen. The key here is to pay particular attention to all the crevices and corners!

A final word of advice? It’s much easier to prevent infestations than to deal with all this hassle. So, your new best friends are air-tight food containers, compression clothes storage bags, and a sturdy carpet beater.