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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Rentokil quoting £5.5k to eliminate moths -- isn't that rather dear?

106 replies

Mothsemptiedmybankaccount · 01/04/2021 15:57

We've had moths for a year in a 3-bed house. I notice ten or twenty of the fat blisters hanging about on the walls every night when I go to bed in our bedrooms at the mo. Don't know where they're coming from. They appeared when DH decided to reorganise all our books during Lockdown 1. We got Rentokil round today to quote for getting rid of them. They quoted £5.5k for five fumigation sprays, which have to happen once a week and we have to stay out for four hours minimum afterwards. Doesn't sound very safe. On the fourth week, they bring their 'heat pod', which all our clothes (family of 4), duvets, sheets, go into and it heats them to 60 degrees centigrade, for an hour.
I know moths are tenacious little bastards. But am I being unreasonable to think there must be a cheaper/less toxic way? NO - I have solved this problem without emptying my bank account and spraying my house with neurotoxins, here's how; YES - This is the only way, I speak from bitter experience.

OP posts:
RickiTarr · 01/04/2021 17:16
Shock

That’s crazy money.

HeckyPeck · 01/04/2021 17:24

I skim read your title and thought the first word was the name of an MP and he was going on some weird mission to eliminate moths from his constituency. It still seemed expensive! 😂

RickiTarr · 01/04/2021 17:29

😂🤣 @HeckyPeck

Oneeyeopen · 01/04/2021 17:45

@LakieLady yes. I only discovered it was a deterrent after finding dead moths in my dried goods, flour, sugar etc. I had to throw everything out. I put new bay leaves inside the cupboard about every 3 months.

TaraR2020 · 01/04/2021 17:48

'Dear', dear? I think so, dear!
Good luck!

Dobbyisahouseelf · 01/04/2021 18:04

@GlutenFreeGingerCake Grin

ItsMarch · 01/04/2021 18:04

We had a local guy come round and fog a nest for us.
Cost about £100 for the first bomb, which didn’t work so he came back for a second go included in the price.

FWIW neither bomb worked and we ended up using stuff off Amazon and killing everyone we physically saw. They went eventually.

Not in a month of Sundays would I pay that price.

waitingfortonight · 01/04/2021 18:05

I feel for you! This happened to me a few years back.

I had a two bed flat at the time and Rentokill were so expensive. I got a local dude in for £600

RickiTarr · 01/04/2021 18:08

(Derail: @GlutenFreeGingerCake do you have the secret to good gluten free ginger cake?!)

roses2 · 01/04/2021 18:10

The council is always the cheapest option for this type of service. Look at your local council website for pest control services.

PicsInRed · 01/04/2021 18:35

For that price I would expect all of the moths to be gilted and mounted for display.

GladAllOver · 01/04/2021 18:45

Fumigation kills beneficial creatures too.
Natural control is best. Let your spiders run free and they will deal with the moths

SicParvisMagna · 01/04/2021 18:47

I have a phobia of moths so I think I'd just burn my house down at this point.

RickiTarr · 01/04/2021 19:24

That would be slightly more expensive even than the 5500 quote @SicParvisMagna Smile

Rooby19 · 01/04/2021 19:36

Here’s a biocontrol solution. These things are so tiny you won’t know they’re there!

www.dragonfli.co.uk/products/clothes-moth-egg-killer-trichogramma-evanescens

MeanMrMustardSeed · 01/04/2021 19:39

As others have said, your really need to know what bastard type of moth you’re dealing with. Until then you’re pissing in the wind.

celandiney · 01/04/2021 20:10

We pretty much eliminated clothes moths ( the odd one still appears every now and then but that's all).
Hoover really thoroughly,move furniture,get into all the crevices - they lay eggs and make their little cocoon things in those kind of places.And keep doing it regularly til they are gone.( it did involve,for me,moving rather more furniture than I normally move when hoovering...Grin).And they got my old teddy SadAngryI picked them off him and then bagged him up and put him in the freezer to get of any I'd missed.
And we had a happy summer when our evenings were punctuated by cries of " moth! Over there,no there,kill it" with much jumping around like nutters catching the flying adults.
I kill any adults I see,still.
It worked,no longer a problem.

Regularsizedrudy · 01/04/2021 20:10

That’s mental. Do they even know what kind of moths they are?

SicParvisMagna · 01/04/2021 20:12

@RickiTarr

That would be slightly more expensive even than the 5500 quote *@SicParvisMagna* Smile
Haha it would, unless I can figure out a way to make it look like an accident and claim on the insurance ;) Honestly I'd have to move out until they was dealt with. I'd actually have a heart attack if I woke up to that every morning Blush
MarthaJonesPhone · 01/04/2021 20:16

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but once you've dealt with the moths you will need to chuck your hoover.

According to the carpet fitter who found moths in my old carpet if I didn't I'd end up with moths in my new one.

Laeta · 01/04/2021 20:25

OP I'm not sure I'd follow @ItsMarch advice!

For the love of god ... that's drastic!

killing everyone we physically saw

EarringsandLipstick · 01/04/2021 20:31

@PicsInRed

For that price I would expect all of the moths to be gilted and mounted for display.
The comments are brilliant on this thread 😂
MisfitNotMissFit · 01/04/2021 20:39

Apparently if you get some pieces of cedar wood, sand them down, then leave them around your house in wardrobes and in rooms works brilliantly. Give it a bit of a sand every so often to refresh the smell and it should keep going.

Advice from someone who had an infestation, so maybe worth trying too.

LuluJakey1 · 01/04/2021 20:42

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

Not expensive if you live in a stately home!

I won't use Rentokil they are extortionate, get a couple of local quotes. I often get my house fumigated for around £100.

Why would you often get your house fumigated? Is this a thing? I have never considered it.