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

[Mothsemptiedmybankaccount]

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.

Get rid of any wool carpets. Only buy man made carpets. Wool isn’t scoured properly in China where most is processed and the dirt and grease remains in it and attracts moths.
Hoover everywhere.
Store wool clothing/blankets in plastic bags sealed up. Also feather pillows and duvets and anything silk.
Spray wardrobes with this www.amazon.co.uk/Transparent-Treatment-Clothing-Household-Protects/dp/B00B2KP7U0/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&crid=3U96C3TIB7AJT&keywords=moth+spray&sprefix=Moth+%2Caps%2C170&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1617305910&sr=8-5
As a preventative treatment. They also do one for treating carpets.
Kill any moths you see flying round.
Anything that has been nibbled that you want to keep put in a plastic bag in the freezer for 3 weeks.
I had an outbreak one year and once the wool carpet went, the problem was solved within one lifecycle, I think three weeks, of the moths. I still take precautionary measures.

Phone council. They'll do it for less than a tenth of the price (and tell you which of your neighbors have rats.....)

Wow, are they going to be getting the moths to sign disclaimers, personally written by senior partners at London law firms, prior to their extermination, to justify that cost?

Hi, I’m here to share my moth odyssey.

If you’re noticing the casings you’ve definitely got something which needs sorting. We inherited a moth ridden house and knew we needed to do something serious 😂

Rentokil gave us a similar quote, but I had read online that fumigation doesn’t cut it. We were desperate, they were eating our clothes and our carpets were shredded. After reading the whole internet, we took drastic action and we haven’t had a moth since, two years on.

So here’s what I did.

Ripped out all the old carpets in the house. Sounds dramatic but I’d say this was the most effective thing we did.

While carpets were out, got a company in to heat treat the house. They come with massive heaters and heat all your belongings to a ridiculous temperature over the course of the day.

We then had exosect pheromone tablets and holders placed in every room. This is what they use in costume departments / archives where chemicals can’t be used. It confuses the moths to the extent they stop breeding. Have a google - this is also a good non-fumigation option full stop, and will even work on its own.

We replaced the carpets with moth proof treated carpeting (from carpet right).

And we Hoover, hoover, hoover.

Any item which is bought second hand / on eBay goes in the freezer in a sealed bag for three weeks. No second hand sofas or soft furnishings.

Two years on - not a single moth to be seen. Keep your windows closed at night, if you live in a city area it’s likely everyone else in the street has them too so they’ll just come back in that way.

I sound mad, I know. But I was losing my mind. And it worked, completely!

Ps. I was also pregnant at the time of this madness so I needed fumigation free options. And it worked!

Hi OP, I was living with this annoyance for about a year. I would go to bed enraged that they were still there every night. Finally took the time to get rid of them last weekend DIY style and havnt seen a single moth since- it has only been a week so still early days but I saw a few every day so it looks like it has worked and hoping for the best!! 5.5k is outrageous!!!!! Although it was quite gruelling work (mainly because we had to move furniture to make sure we got to all the corners. We did one room at a time over a few days as had to move stuff from one room to the other. We only saw them in the rooms we had carpets in so think this is where they nested. This is what we did:

1. Cleared room and hoovered carpets
2. Sprinkled moth killer powder all over the carpet and left for an hour or so https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pest-Expert-Formula-Silverfish-approved/dp/B013EIB87I/ref=mpssa114?dchild=1&keywords=pest+expert+powder&qid=1617306809&sprefix=pest+expert+pow&sr=8-4

Hoovered the powder up.

1. Closed all the doors and windows and used a moth killer 'smoke bomb' to zap any on the walls or not on the carpet. Need to leave this for 3 hours to work it's magic. I think this sounds like what rentokill plan to do but they are so cheap and easy to use! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clothes-Moth-Killer-Smoke-Bombs/dp/B0127Q885S/ref=mpssa1110?dchild=1&keywords=pest+expert&qid=1617306794&sprefix=pest+ex&sr=8-10
2. Hired a rug doctor to completely clean the carpet (we were worried about eggs nesting in there or something)

Good as new!!!! I have now also bought cedar wood hanger things for the wardrobe to make sure they stay away as they don't like it.

I also have a severe moth phobia 😱 I would burn the whole street down, never mind the house! Reading all this is making feel quite ill 😂

Poor moths

Check any wool rugs you have. When we moved house, we discovered that my beautiful rug that had lived under the dining table for years was actually nothing more than a shimmer of tufts - the wee bastards had munched through the entire backing layer!

Wow, I never realised people hate moths so much! We always have loads here, we're in the countryside and they seem to fly in every time we open the back door! I just leave them alone, they just hang about in the kitchen or on the stairway by the light bulbs and as far as I know they've never eaten any clothes or anything.

Wow, I never realised people hate moths so much! We always have loads here, we're in the countryside and they seem to fly in every time we open the back door! I just leave them alone, they just hang about in the kitchen or on the stairway by the light bulbs and as far as I know they've never eaten any clothes or anything.

Clothes moths aren't the normal ones that fly into your house, they're very small.

Oh OP, I feel your pain! Sounds like kitchen moths as opposed to clothes moths. Do you get kinda cobwebby stringy stuff where they’ve been hanging out? Yes, they like the spines of nice dry books too.
You can rid them yourselves but it’s a tedious, long and arduous process. I’d get some more quotes in to make sure first.
If it’s still going to cost that much then:

• put all dry goods in sealed tupperwares. No matter how much you splurge on large tupperware to fit all your cupboards, it’s not gonna be close to 5.5k. Everything. Every dried parsley, bag of flour, muesli, the works. Tedious as hell, but that way any outbreaks are contained.
• some mumsnetters wallop their dry goods in the freezer for a day or two when they get home from the supermarket to kill any incoming bastards. Never done that but might be worth it while you’re purging (or once you’ve purged)!
• moth paper thingies are a rubbish deterrent and in my exoerience do nothing other than to make you smell like an old lady but those triangle traps lined with sticky-back paper do the trick. Hang up about fifty in all the dodgy areas: kitchen, pantry, utility, bookshelves. Literally all the packs you can get your hands on, and then some more to replace with in a few weeks. Again, a bit of a splurge but still miles off 5.5k. Seriously, loads. Every shelf, ceiling, floor.
• regularly (i.e. every day) check for moth maggots inching their way towards the light and squeeze the wee buggars in some kitchen roll till they pop. Gross, but that way there’s no chance if them hatching (or multiplying) in your kitchen bin later that afternoon.
• be strict with your family sticking to the regime and stick at it for bloody ages.
• get rid of any of that cobwebby stuff immediately upon discovery.
• get more sticky triangle traps.
• get more sticky triangle traps.
• don’t get lenient.

One fine day you will realise that you haven’t seen a moth in a week or two. Good luck!!!

I tolerated a few moths around the place until I realised they were clothes moths and my cashmere was at risk..

A couple of cans of spray from wilko sorted it. And I binned a basket container in ds'room where they had been merrily breeding. Not seen one since although I do keep vigilant.

@Laeta

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

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

killing everyone we physically saw

Ha ha!

We had clothes moths.

You need to find the source, it’ll be somewhere dark and undisturbed.

I knew my source was downstairs as that’s where they mostly were. Then one morning I saw one crawl out between the planks of wood of the understairs cupboard. So emptied the cupboard

Found an old hessian bag crawling in moth grubs. Everything was slung in the garden and the carpet in there was ripped out. Some stuff like shoes was cleaned and put back in the house. Some fabric bags thrown out.

I sprayed all inside the cupboard and set loads of sticky traps.

It sorted the problem.

As others have said and don’t forget to check your suitcases! We had a horrific infestation they were eating the carpets and then opened a suitcase it was full of them 🤢

My friend had moths. Her carpet was an expensive wool one a d the moths were laying eggs in the carpet. She got rid of the carpet and that solved the problem.

@BLToutanowhere I actually snorted at your comment. Thank you so much. Don't know when the last time I belly laughed was x

@Picklypickles we are not talking about those kind of moths (the big night time ones that are like dark butterflies)

We are talking about the infestation of tiny carpet moths that eat through your woollens

Totally different

I had clothes months and got rid of them after 2 long years. It was horrible.

Your need moth killing spray, moth sticky things to trap the males and if possible get rid of your wool carpets.

Go through everything and get rid of anything that has been invested (you will see the holes). Then wash everything you can at as high a temperature as you can.

Buy plastic boxes to keep stuff in that you dont wear because moths love quiet and dark corners.

Keep on doing it and you will get rid of them

Our local council outsources to a local contractor but lists prices on the council website. It doesn't specifically say moths but there is a "miscellaneous" section that mentions bedbugs, so I'd imagine moths are covered under that. It says £108, including VAT. That'll be per visit though.

Agree with @Rooby19, natural pest control is your friend. They were the only thing that finally got rid of them for me.

It was also fun to tell DH I'd just put 10, 000 parasitic wasps in his pant drawer.

[quote PrintempsAhoy]@Picklypickles we are not talking about those kind of moths (the big night time ones that are like dark butterflies)

We are talking about the infestation of tiny carpet moths that eat through your woollens

Totally different[/quote]
Oh!! I don't think I've ever come across tiny carpet moths before, I feel like a fool now!

Not a fool, just lucky

Do your local council deal with this sort of thing? We had them in for mice, very cheap and really nice and helpful.