Description and photos of various types of moths

Types of moths

Clothes moth

food moth

Coat and wool moth

Varieties of moths

Every person knows what clothes moths are. You can find these insects in any apartment or private house. They live not only in closets and pantries, causing irreparable damage to clothing and other things, but they also thrive in food. Food moths prefer to settle in cereals and grains. There are other winged representatives of this type of pest. Let's look at what types of moths there are.

general characteristics

The moth belongs to the order of lepidopteran insects that develop their activity at dusk. Adults do not cause any harm. They just reproduce and lay eggs. They do not have a proboscis, since the oral mechanism is equipped with powerful jaws capable of crunching the bones of any plants and feeding on their seeds.

What does a mole look like:

• The pest is very similar in appearance to butterflies.
• But these winged colorful insects feed on the nectar of flowers, having a long proboscis. An adult moth is not even able to digest food. She only breeds offspring. She accumulates all her energy while in the state of a caterpillar.

Therefore, you should not waste energy fighting adult moths: moth larvae feed on things and furniture.

Lifespan

Hardly anyone thought about how long a moth lives. She cannot be considered a long-liver. The total lifespan of a winged individual is from 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the type of moth. Insects move and fly little. The main activity occurs at dusk, as they are good prey for any predator.

To reach sexual maturity, the moth must go through certain stages of development:

• the female lays eggs twice a year, from which caterpillars appear two weeks later, the temperature is +20 degrees, which is favorable for the development of offspring;
• Moth larvae form a nutritious cocoon around themselves, where they develop for 3-10 months.

If we consider the full life cycle of an insect, then moth eggs go through a long stage of development to the state of an adult, all this time feeding on the materials and products in which they live.

Video “Ways to combat food moths”

We hope our tips will help you not only get rid of food moths in your home, but also prevent them from appearing. Remember that prevention is the most important measure to prevent any troubles. Share with us in the comments your methods of getting rid of food moths. Good luck and comfort to your home!

Many housewives prefer to fight food moths using time-tested folk remedies. They are harmless, gentle, and do not have a negative effect on the human body. The action of these products is based on repelling moths with a pungent odor. Food moths cannot tolerate the smell:

• garlic;
• aromatic spices;
• lavender;
• carnations;
• mint;
• wormwood;
• bay leaf;
• orange peels;
• rosemary;
• camphor;
• vinegar;
• any perfume.

The use of folk remedies in pest control consists of several stages:

1. 1Disposal of food containing detected moth larvae.
2. 2 Thorough washing of kitchen utensils, furniture, walls, floors with soapy water.
3. 3Treating food shelves with vinegar.
4. 4Roasting unspoiled bulk food products in the oven at a temperature of 60°C.
5. 5 Placement of the selected natural remedy in places where pests are expected to accumulate: orange peels, lavender, etc.

When using garlic, to enhance its effect, you need to remove the husk. Herbs and plants should be placed dried on kitchen shelves or placed in fabric bags.

You need to act consistently to get rid of all the larvae, eggs and adults that have settled in your kitchen. You should start with a total clearing of the territory.

Global cleaning

First of all, get rid of the source of moths and products contaminated with them. When you find them, tie them tightly in a bag and throw them away or burn them completely. If any product is only partially affected (no more than 20%), you can try to revive it:

1. carefully sort out the cereals or other food and put them in the freezer for two days;
2. heat-treat the sifted cereal at high temperature (in the oven, microwave).

We suggest you read: What causes moths in an apartment

Next, you should begin general cleaning:

1. Remove all contents of kitchen cabinets, shelves and drawers - vacuum them thoroughly, paying attention to joints and corners.

1. Wipe all furniture with vinegar solution or laundry soap. You can also use food moth repellents – “Raptor”, etc.
2. Treat all jars, containers, and dishes in a similar way.

Freeze containers in which traces of insects were found for several hours or heat them in the microwave for 5 minutes.

1. Go over the tops of cabinets and the ceiling with a vacuum cleaner.

Be careful when inspecting and cleaning - inspect all the cracks, corners, and gaps. If insect eggs remain somewhere, moths will soon appear again in the kitchen.

How to remove food moths that have already scattered into cabinets and crevices? Males can be caught with a trap containing a female pheromone - it attracts males and catches them with glue. Without them, females cannot reproduce, which means the moth will not appear again.

The remaining females will have to be killed according to the classics - with a newspaper or a firecracker. This is quite realistic, since they do not fly fast.

So, we’ve sorted out a little bit about where the eaters of your food could have come from. Now it’s worth moving on to the question of how to get rid of food moths. You should immediately prepare for the fact that the battle will be long and exhausting. Cereal (or food) moths will not easily leave their homes, where it is warm and there is a lot of food. Therefore, we stock up on patience, weapons of struggle and begin to get rid of insects.

1. You will definitely have to throw out all foods that may be of interest to moths. These insects are found not only in cereals or flour. They love dried fruits, tea, sweets, pharmaceutical herbs, and spices. Unfortunately, you'll have to throw everything away. Even those bags in which the food moth larvae are not yet visible. The moth could have time to lay eggs, which are not particularly noticeable, but under favorable conditions, new babies will soon hatch from them. And everything will start again.
2. The next step that will help remove moths should be to thoroughly clean up the kitchen. You will need to wash all the shelves, drawers, and even the doors and sides of the cabinets with water and vinegar. Be sure to treat all the cracks and grooves where the larvae could hide. Yes, this is a long and tedious task. But you have hope of getting rid of food moths for a long time, or even forever. After wet cleaning is completed, leave all cabinets open until they are completely dry.
3. You can also treat food storage areas with special chemicals: smoke bombs, sprays, gels. But it should be borne in mind that these are somewhat toxic products, and animals and children should be removed from the kitchen during processing. You should definitely wear a respirator and gloves. After processing, be sure to ventilate the room, wash the surfaces, and only then put the jars and bags of food back in place.
4. If you are unsure of the measures taken, a good food moth trap will help. You can buy such a thing in any department that sells pest control products. These products are laid out in food storage areas. The trap is completely harmless to people, but insects attracted by the smell stick to the surface and die. Thanks to such traps, you will know whether the cabinets need to be re-processed or if you no longer have to worry about your supplies. And the second plus is that dead insects will definitely not lay eggs.
5. Be sure to rinse with hot water and a good detergent all containers where food containing moths was stored. If these were fabric bags, wash them in very hot water. They cannot be used immediately - only after serious processing.

Varieties

Types of moths
There are about 3,000 representatives of these insects, and only a few dozen of their varieties are pests. They don't differ much in size. The main differences are in color, habitat, body and wing configuration. The following types of moths are best known to man:

• household: clothing, food, furniture, fur coats, carpet, wool;
• in the wild: ermine, foxglove, chestnut;
• in agriculture: cabbage, potato, wax, fruit, grain.

Interesting!

In nature, the life of a moth depends on weather conditions and the time of year. The man offered her more comfortable living conditions: constant warmth and food in abundance. Therefore, everyone knows from their own experience in dealing with this scourge how moths multiply in human habitation. It reproduces all year round, and the caterpillars of these apartment lovers go through all stages of development faster than their counterparts living in natural conditions.

Moths can get into an apartment in a variety of ways. Food or potato representatives most often enter the home through food products that are stored in warehouses for a long time. They lay eggs directly in the packages. The wood pest enters through ventilation ducts.

Source of pests

Determining the appearance of a pest in the kitchen is not difficult. But first, it’s worth understanding how food moths get into our home.

The pest most often enters the house along with food brought from the store. Especially if the products are packaged. Moths spread on a large scale due to improper storage conditions and violations during the processing and transportation of food products.

The pest, once in the kitchen, in a favorable habitat, begins to multiply quickly, sharply increasing its numbers. It is very difficult to stop this development process: neither plastic packaging, nor hermetically sealed containers, nor increased temperature and humidity can help.

Food moth larvae can be found in flour, a variety of cereals, pasta, baby food, dried fruits, groceries, nuts and seeds. An adult tries to lay eggs on these products.

When feeding on food, moth caterpillars constantly weave themselves into a silk cocoon. Upon careful examination of the affected products, you can notice thin threads, lumps, and nests with caterpillars.

You need to figure out how moths and their larvae harm humans. The main harm of food moths is food spoilage. By inadvertence, eating contaminated foods that contain moth larvae, their waste products, and replaceable skins can result in serious poisoning of the body.

Having noticed signs of the presence of food moths or an adult moth in your kitchen, you must immediately take all possible measures to destroy it.

The signal to start the fight is the eggs, larvae or corpses of moths found in bulk products (cereals, flour, spices). Another sign of food contamination with this parasite is a thin cobweb.

Before deciding how to get rid of kitchen moths, it is important to understand where they got into your kitchen.

An insect can enter an apartment in different ways:

1. fly through a window that does not have a mosquito net (usually this happens in the evening);
2. penetrate through the ventilation shaft;
3. sneak into the kitchen on food packages - cereals and cereals, dried fruits, spices, flour, biscuits and other groceries (which were stored in a warehouse without observing sanitary standards);
4. come from the garden (tomato, potato moth).

This pest has many ways of entry, and it can hide anywhere. Therefore, it is important to carefully inspect the entire room and find not only the source of the moth, but also the products already infected with it.

You should check:

1. the tops of kitchen cabinets - insect cocoons can hide here;
2. ceiling, chandelier, wallpaper joints - moths can be in cracks, dark corners;
3. the contents of all cabinets and drawers, including unpacked cereals (cardboard, foil, polyethylene are not an obstacle for this parasite), jar lids, seeds, animal feed.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with: Gray mouse with a black stripe on its back

After a thorough inspection of the entire room, you can begin to completely destroy the enemy.

It is necessary to approach the destruction of the pest using comprehensive measures to destroy moths at all stages of development. It is not enough to destroy only contaminated products with larvae - it is necessary to methodically check the premises for the presence of clutches of eggs, and also take measures against flying individuals.

Carry out prevention and use special moth repellents

To begin with, it is worth carrying out a complete audit of kitchen cabinets to identify moth-infested cereals and other products. Cocoa, tea, milk formula, and animal feed must be destroyed, since it is very problematic to remove pests from such products. You can try to process cereals and dried fruits - fry them in the oven at a temperature not exceeding 60 C for half an hour.

Cabinets, chests, pantries, kitchen areas where moths were noticed should be treated with insecticides - “Armol”, “Antimol”, “Raptor” (a special remedy for food moths), “Combat”.

There are special Aeroxon traps for flying moths, the effect of which is based on attracting individuals with a special smell. The arriving moth simply sticks to the surface of the trap.

Clothes moth

Clothes moth
It is a small straw-colored insect up to 9 mm in size. This pest cannot appear just like that. He gets into the house with things that are bought in the store. The larvae are already hiding in clothes or furniture. After getting into the apartment, they simply begin to develop intensively and expand their habitats, settling on other wardrobe items in the clothing closet. The larvae especially love products made from natural materials, wool, and fur.

In several other ways, clothes moths can appear in the house:

• through open vents and windows;
• ventilation communications;
• from neighboring apartments.

In order not to breed malicious tenants in your apartment, it is necessary to install nets on window openings and ventilation vents.

Important!

Clothes moths can destroy not only old, but also new clothes. Worn items and second-hand furniture are more attractive to this species, as they make the path to the food source easier.

To prevent clothes moths from infesting your home, you must carefully inspect all seams, fur items, and shoes purchased at retail outlets. How to get rid of clothes moths if flying butterflies do appear:

1. It is necessary to spray the products with special aerosols, wash them in hot water or treat them with steam.
2. You can take things out into the sun and fry them for several hours.
3. After processing, store in special tightly closed duffel bags.

What does furniture moth look like and what happens?

Today the name “furniture moth” is nothing more than a collective name. Since at home there is more than one type of pest, and almost every one lives in the furniture (most often in the closet). But each species has its own “specialization,” that is, a favorite type of food, which is wool, carpets, cotton products, and grain. In accordance with its preference, the pest received a name, so an insect lives next to a person, the varieties of which are called carpet, fur, grain, clothes. And only one of these species was called the furniture moth, which, due to its similarity, was combined with the clothes moth.

All furniture moths appear to humans as small, inconspicuous moths, but this is exactly how they look during the last stage of their life. Moreover, the flying furniture moth does not cause harm; its main task is to lay eggs and die in a short period of time; this takes from 8 days to several weeks. The butterfly cannot feed, since it has an undeveloped mouthparts; in addition, the flying furniture moth cannot poison food.

The appearance of the moth of all varieties of this pest is similar - it is an insect not exceeding 9 mm in length, its folded wings look like a triangle. Coloring at home is usually nondescript, but it can differ, for example, the ermine moth is quite colorful, that is, it looks attractive. But what this insect (all its varieties) looks like is not so important; you can get rid of it using the same methods.

The damage is caused by the larvae of the pest, which very few people have seen. Outwardly, they look like an ordinary small caterpillar. She is unable to move far and quickly, so the female lays each egg in a place where there is food (cotton clothing, furniture upholstery, carpet, other woolen product). Larvae individually do not cause much harm, but a large number of them spoil the presentation of things and even destroy them. Therefore, the fight at home is carried out when the insect is in the form of a larva, which is quite realistic and at the same time troublesome to get rid of, regardless of what types of furniture moths live in the home.

What causes furniture moths?

Although the furniture moth can fly, it does not move long distances, so at home it can only appear in the form of a larva or egg. This means that the pest can enter the home with damaged furniture, especially for used items. Also, larvae and eggs fall into an apartment or house along with clothes, carpets, most often purchased second-hand or in second-hand stores. The food type of the pest is carried with flour, grain foods, and animal food. There are other reasons for the appearance of furniture moths, but they are all similar - the larvae and eggs come from outside. Therefore, pest control at home should begin from the moment new clothes, fabric, furniture, and carpets enter the home; at this time it is easiest to get rid of the larvae.

Wool moth

This species is quite widespread. It lives not only in apartments and warehouses, it can be found in mills and museums. The larvae eat dirty clothes and dust. Therefore, you can hear the name dust moth. The larva is not able to completely eat clothing, but spoiling it well is not a problem. The wings can have a span of up to 2 mm. The front ones are painted light brown, with a golden-pearl tint. The hind wings are distinguished by a beige color, and there is a fringe along their edges.

On a note!

This species is very prolific; the female is able to lay up to 90 eggs during her very short life.

Fur moth

This species can bring huge trouble to owners of products made from natural fur. Insects have a unique oral apparatus, thanks to which they easily eat fur fibers.

Owners of shiny wings, which are covered with silvery pollen, a span of 15 mm. The fender liners are light grey. The larvae of these insects have an almost transparent body and a worm-like shape. After the moth is completely saturated, it goes to its nest, but along the way it destroys the lint that interferes with its path.

Furniture moth

This type of moth is light yellow in color with golden wings. The female lays up to 300 eggs within a half-month. The larvae begin to move actively only when they gain access to adequate nutrition. The moth lays its eggs in crevices of wood, under furniture upholstery, eating it. Every homeowner dreams of getting rid of moths in their apartment. Indoor moths are afraid of sunlight, so the larvae begin to hide in cocoons. Unfavorable conditions prevent caterpillars from developing and parasitizing.

food moth

Food moth
Larvae of this species prefer to feed on grocery products, so they will not touch wool or fur. They are omnivorous for foods that contain carbohydrates. The most popular characteristics for larvae are:

• flour;
• cereal;
• seeds;
• pasta;
• cookie;
• dried fruits;
• nuts;
• candies.

Their presence can be detected by molded lumps of cereal and cobwebs on the grains. If tunnels are made in pasta, then this is a sure sign of the presence of parasites. Food moth larvae can be found wherever there is free access to food.

Important!

Moth caterpillars can even cope with plastic bags, so it is better to store food in metal, glass or wooden packaging.

The reproduction and development of the larvae of this species is faster than that of the clothes one, since the food of food representatives of insects is more varied and nutritious. If you find larvae in food, you need to throw them away immediately and try to get rid of food moths in the kitchen as quickly as possible. If the contamination is small, then the grains can be sorted, the flour sifted and everything calcined in the oven at a temperature above +50 degrees.

You should not eat unprocessed contaminated foods, as they can cause the following phenomena:

• allergies;
• poisoning;
• decreased immunity.

A few facts about moths

The food moth is a completely unremarkable insect of a gray-brown color and small size (1-1.25 cm). During the day it hides in cabinets and drawers with food, and at night it flies out of the bins. The lifespan of this butterfly is quite short - 3 weeks. However, the danger lies in the fact that in this short period of time it manages to lay thousands of larvae, which will subsequently become a real disaster for food and, accordingly, humans.

There are several types of kitchen moths:

1. flour is the most frequent guest in city apartments;
2. cocoa - resembles a wardrobe;
3. southern granary - it is quite difficult to fight it.

The larvae of this insect will not stop in front of a plastic bag in which bulk products are stored. Once they have access to food, they begin to grow rapidly, filling the kitchen with an army of adult parasites. This process is endless, so it is important to detect them in time and prevent mass spread.

Wax moth

This insect is a threat to beekeepers. When settling in hives, caterpillars eat honey, bee bread and bee larvae. If there are a lot of pests, they can damage the protective layer of the hives, which prevents the bees from freezing in the cold.

Interesting!

Man has learned to use moth caterpillars for his own purposes. Since fermentation in the moth's stomach produces a substance called wax moth extract, which can destroy pathogenic bacteria, people have begun to use it as a natural remedy to treat many diseases. The extract-based preparation is known as wax moth tincture.

Potato and cabbage moth

These pests can destroy crops. Their difference lies not only in color, but also in the type of food that they prefer. Dirty gray moth, settling in potato tubers, damages the integrity of the fruit, and in the spring, during sowing, it again enters the soil.

The cabbage representative looks like a straw when its wings are folded. It flies poorly, but multiplies quickly, damaging the juicy young leaves of the vegetable. As a result of such proximity, the cabbage crop may die.