Pest Guide for Pantry Moths
There are thousands of species of moths throughout the world and although they’re closely related to butterflies, there are things that set them apart. While some moths can help with pollination, others can attack farmers’ crops. However, one of the most frustrating type of moths for humans is the pantry moth.
Features
Pantry moths are around 8-10 millimeters in length with a wingspan of 16-20 millimeters. The upper-half of their wings is a yellowish gray color while the lower-half of their wings can be bronze, dark gray, or copper in color. They also have a dark band that separates the upper and lower halves of the wings.
Once pantry moths have a presence, they can quickly multiply. Female pantry moths can lay between 60 and 400 eggs on food surfaces; these eggs take 2-14 days to hatch and once they do, off-white larvae with brown heads will emerge.
Diet
Pantry moths are appropriately named, for most of their diet consists of things found in your pantry. These moths eat many grain-based foods like cereal, pasta, bread, and flour, but can also eat spices, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, cookies, and even birdseed and pet food.
Infestations
Pantry moths can chew through plastic bags and thin cardboard, so make sure you store your pantry foods in tightly sealed plastic or glass containers. In addition, make sure you keep your pantry clean and sweep up any crumbs in and around the pantry.
If you do find pantry moths or larvae in your food, throw the food out immediately. To be safe, you may also want to throw out any foods that aren’t stored in a tightly sealed container (even if you don’t see moths, there could be eggs in the food).
Pantry moths can be very hard to get rid of, so if you find yourself with an infestation, contact our pest control company as soon as possible. We’ll assess your situation and get rid of your infestation for you.
