Where can I buy something illegal and toxic to kill clothes moths?

[latrucha]

As I only have about four tops left without holes.

Bugger bugger bugger.

What do I do?

Have you got a loft? Piglet's advice is spot on, it has to be the chemicals.

The plastic sticky chemical strips are really good for working out where they are coming from, you will get more stuck to strips where they are lurking. Easy to put under the sofa, under wardrobes etc.

If you do have a main area where they are hanging about, there is at least one company that sells a sort of chemical smoke bomb that you let off and shut the door on. Killed everything in my spare room in one go. You then repeat at end of the lifecycle. Since then, hanging strips and paper chemical strips in drawers, plastic storage bags etc. Problem has gone.

maybe you didn't notice them? I've had case-bearing moths which make a tiny tube they live in. it is far smaller than a garden caterpillar.

sometimes when hot-tumbling clothes to kill the eggs, you find little brown traces of the bodies caught in the fluff.

At least if you put those plastic hanging things in the wardrobe, you can be fairly sure they won't breed in your clothes.

I once found lots (not in my house) under a bedroom cabinet that had obviously not been moved or hoovered under, they had eaten it almost bald.

OP you won't necessarily see anything like a big nest. I didn't. Still had a wardrobe full of holes within days though

eaten the woollen carpet so it was almost bald, I mean.

just to check...

all the stuff you washed, did you tumble-dry it and immediately put into a plastic crate or plastic bag with a moth-killing hanger or card?

if not it might already be reinfested.

sorry

We do have a loft.

I'm going to carry on working on the principle that if I clean everything to within an inch of its life and put in poison and traps as I go along I won't go far wrong. Is that optimistic?

I have come to a drawer with my grandmothers' antique embroidered linen in it. I have no idea what to do with it. Shall I just shove some poison in with it and hope for the best. (My freezer is too small to fit it in - it's big bedspreads and things - also everything that goes in there comes out smelling of fish Lots of mackerel in there.)

I don't use the sticky traps myself, but I suppose if you haven't tracked down the source, you could spread them around and see which catch moths. It is most likely in some place where you never look.

Old water pipes are sometimes insulated with brown wool felt, and people used to put old rugs and carpets in lofts sometimes to insulate tanks (modern fibreglass is far better though). It may be very dirty and dusty... I'd wear a dustmask and gloves.

There may be dead wildlife up there.

As for the old linen, if you have a tumble drier, you can put it in there and the heat will kill any eggs. If you put in a bounce sheet it will probably not get very creased. You can use the tumbler for non-washable things too, as lomg as they are clean (any stains or sugary drink spills will set).

Did granny leave you her fur coat though? They are very prone to moth.

Is it definitely moths? With it being the clothes you are wearing could it be the washing machine?

All the clothes I was wearing got little holes in and it was because there was a tiny piece of glass in a hole in the washer which was shredding my clothes every wash...

Sorry if it's definitely moths and it's a dumb post!

I don't know that it's moths at all, except the holes look like that. I'll check my machine. There aren't any holes in DCs clothes though.

Do you wash your and dc clothes separately?i would imagine a loose underwire would do the same kind of damage

No, but the great moth hunt will have to wait for a bit as we're off for Christmas tomorrow.

Have a lovely time and come back and tell us when you find them! You've got me intrigued!

grow a southernwood plant, seriously. It really really works. Put big fresh handfuls of that all round wardrobe.

On saturday I found some in a kitchen cupboard so I cleaned it out and threw all the flour etc away.

Then, as I was on a roll I did another cupboard. There were no moths at all in that one so I was just giving it a tidy.

Or so I thought....................

I innocently opened a tin that used to contain cashew nuts and loads of moths flew out!!!!!!

Like those joke snakes in a tin.

Naturally I dropped it and out fell an almost solid net/web the shape of the tin.

Savoy, I'd have died! How gross. This is an old thread btw, wonder how OP got on after Christmas.

I spoke to a pest control man a while back, and he said they have a product which is like a powder bomb, makes a mess but kills everything. I know I have a problem with moths but mainly in the attic just haven't got round to doing anything yet!

I know this is an old thread but I have found moths too!!

I have now traced them to the rug under my bed, I've found lots of cocoons and brown larvae looking things within the rug. I put lots of mothball things under there yesterday and nothing seems to be wriggling or moving today.

My question is: can I hoover them all up and keep the rug or do I have to get rid of the rug now?

Really don't want moths anymore!!

You can use a spray for the rug (and I would do the carpet and mattress as well as there are probably thousands of eggs)

That room is going to need a lot of hoovering, and you ought to put moth-killer hangers in your wardrobes and drawers.

Once you have an infestation it needs a lot of work to clear it.

Thanks Piglet.

I do already have the mothballs in the wardrobes, drawers and about the place.

I was going to look at the carpet too when I manage to get the bed moved and the rug up. It is a divan bed. I don't like the idea that they could be in the mattress too! Ewww!

I think I will get rid of the rug altogether.

Where do the moths come from in the first place? It is a relatively new bed, could they have already been in the bed when it was delivered?

what sort of mothballs?

if the rug has not been regularly vacuumed, they could have been breeding there for quite some time.

If it will fit in the big drier at the laundrette, that will kill any eggs and grubs, but you will need chemical treatment to prevent reinfestation, as the room is presumably full of eggs.

One person can usually push a bed up on its side and lean it against the wall to hoover and spray underneath.

No it won't fit in the drier its too big for that, so I guess it will have to go.

Thank you for your help and comments and I will take them on board in my quest to eradicate the moths. I am appreciative of the help.

Having said that, I am a bit about your comment about one person can usually push a bed on its side..... etc. You don't know what position I am in and whether I am capable of moving a bed.

Oh god I'm also worried.

We moved last year (newish house, no dark dingy corners). Now and again I'd notice the occasional moth dead or alive in our room.

Last summer, soon after we moved in, I washed out the fitted wardrobes, sprayed them and hung up moth deterrants. We had such a big clear out before we moved that we don't actually have stuffed wardrobes. They are full(ish) but not overloaded. I haven't seen any holes in anything.

Then this morning, after no moth sighting for months, a moth fluttering about. A single one. I don't know what do There never seems to be more than that, and even then only now and again. Or I might see a dead one.

It's like The Birds. Only Moths instead I'll declare war happily but I can't see where I should begin.

Also I can't see how I can freeze all our clothes. We'd need a freezer the size of a wardrobe.

freezing is not the usual, or the easiest, or the preferred method.

A tumble drier is far faster and easier. Use the big one in the laundrette if necessary.

When you say moth deterrents, do you mean scented products which have no effect except to make your holey clothes smell nice; or do you mean moth killers containing Transfluthrin which, usually for a period of six months, kill moths, grubs and eggs?

foxy

sorry if you feel slighted. No, I don't know what position you are in, hence "usually."