Who the fuck are these moth bastard and more importantly how do I get rid of them?

[BingoMarieHeeler]

And where are they coming from???

We had our whole kitchen ripped out and knocked through so now our kitchen is in a brand new bit, so it’s not room related. And that was at the end of last year so it’s not seasonal. Although the weather at the minute is quite November-ish, so maybe it IS seasonal?

I’m actually so devastated that they have returned to our new kitchen - we can’t have anything nice it seems, between the moths and the kids!!!

Luckily they’re pretty stupid and therefore easy to swat. They’re about a CM long I’d say.

But who are they and why are they here????

Check your dry food packets.

We had a bad case of food moths and we found the larvae in the creases and seals of bags of flour and sugar, packets of couscous, boxes of teabags, cereal boxes etc. Basically anything in paper or cardboard packaging.

We had to go through all our dry food and throw out anything with larvae in it. Then we sprayed down all the surfaces in the pantry with white vinegar (I think) and left it to air.

We got some big plastic boxes with lids that clip tightly shut and now we keep all our open packets of dry ingredients in there. I also got some massive glass food storage jars from IKEA and we keep a lot of our dry ingredients in those now.

If they are food moths you will find the larvae in your food packets but you might not spot them in first glance, they are small and pale coloured. You have to look carefully.

Realised my phone has a bug identifier button so could have just done this in the first place 😄 I reeeeally don’t want to find all the larvae but I’m going to have to aren’t I 😄

Yes. Sorry. It's a bit like when your child has nits. You have to get every single little fucker.

My condolences.

Having your new kitchen put in must have disturbed something.
Hope you manage to get rid!

Headed straight for the oxo this morning and found one live little grub 🤢 stock cubes were ironically in an airtight container but I just never close it 🙃

Have found one coccoon shell/moth carcass at the back of a cupboard but no motherlode yet.

Now I’m all itchy and can feel something wiggling on me

I disagree with the others. These are actually dead easy to resolve.

They ONLY eat exposed food. They don't touch carpet, clothes or fibers. Once you eliminate the food supply access, they'll disappear. Obviously catching the adults will help, but it's an easy fix.

Systematically go through all your food that isn't in jars, tins, or closed boxes and either throw them out or inspect them and put them in tupperware for now.

Hate to tell you but I had a massive infestation of these and the worst was the muesli, stored in an IKEA sealed plastic container. It was visibly MOVING - I still feel sick thinking about it.

Also got into unopened boxed breadcrumbs. So inspect everything that isn't in an unopened tin.

For finding the larvae use a toothbrush in all the crevices. Ceiling as well as cupboards, we had tiny cocoons lodged in the cornicing....

Ok great! I’ve done that this morning (as I mentioned, our cupboards are mainly empty) and everything is now sealed 🤞🏻🤞🏻I appreciate your optimism!

If you have a lot of flour, it stores well in the freezer in tupperware type boxes. It's fine to use straight away, and extends the shelf life.