Moths in the kitchen cupboard!

'noticed'

Sounds like pantry moths .
Discard any contaminated food and store everything else in plastic boxes .
You can buy pantry moth traps on Amazon and ebay .
Good luck .

Thanks for this information Esmay. I have ordered some moth traps so we’ll check packets again and install traps and hope that solves it.

We had lots of them in our previous house. They used to eat through all the plastic bags I wrapped things in and ate into things like packets / boxes of pasta, rice etc and left their little crawling grubs in there!
I wish I’d known about the traps because they were just horrible.

I had a plague of these in Spain and was told they were pasta moths, a regular feature! Having cleaned out all cupboards and thrown infested packets/boxes, I still found the odd few each time we went over.

Googled cures and found they don’t like cinnamon or bay leaves so bought fresh packs and decanted them into ramekins, one in each cupboard and it worked, never to be seen again!

After an infestation of flour mites a couple of years ago I now keep everything in airtight containers and freeze things like flour for a week when I buy it. I can’t believe how many things can cause an infestation in houses; I seem to go from one thing to another. Lots of advice on Reddit and Facebook thankfully.

MayBee70

After an infestation of flour mites a couple of years ago I now keep everything in airtight containers and freeze things like flour for a week when I buy it. I can’t believe how many things can cause an infestation in houses; I seem to go from one thing to another. Lots of advice on Reddit and Facebook thankfully.

Oh I didn’t know you could freeze flour.
Will do that.
Bought flour from a high end supermarket, when I opened it, well within date, it was full of those weevils 😩 luckily everything else was ok.

Lots of very good advice Gran's but
my stomach is turning!
I shall look in my baking cupboard immediately for the little #! swines. 😐

Mt61

MayBee70

After an infestation of flour mites a couple of years ago I now keep everything in airtight containers and freeze things like flour for a week when I buy it. I can’t believe how many things can cause an infestation in houses; I seem to go from one thing to another. Lots of advice on Reddit and Facebook thankfully.

Oh I didn’t know you could freeze flour.
Will do that.
Bought flour from a high end supermarket, when I opened it, well within date, it was full of those weevils 😩 luckily everything else was ok.

Wrap it up well so it doesn’t get damp. Leave it in the freezer for a week. The mites from my flour went literally everywhere; stock cubes etc etc. Had to throw so much away. Put bay leaves and cloves everywhere. I think the damp weather at the time made it worse. Took weeks to get rid of them but I was lucky, for some people it takes forever. Most of my food was in containers anyway but not airtight.

A few years ago this happened to us. It started with a few moths in the kitchen and turned into a plague whilst we were on holiday. We had to throw everything away - even jars of jam etc as they were inside the lids . In the end we had to take the units off the wall and scrub the walls. I researched the problem obsessively and think they came from a packet of rice and they were (maybe) Indian meal moths. Eventually we got rid but it was quite an expensive exercise and since then I keep flour, rice etc in plastic storage boxes.

This is intriguing. I've never heard of pantry moths or seen any. Now I'm on the lookout.

There are also larder beetles that like dog kibble. I found one on the stairs a few years ago but thankfully it was a one off.

My cousin had these a couple of years ago and they were the devil to get rid of. Apart from all the things detailed above you need to spray the insides of the cupboards with an insecticide (can’t remember which specific one) as they are tiny enough to get into the joints in the cupboards.

Meant to add, you can also get pantry moth traps on Amazon.

I put frog tape over all the crevices. Some of it’s still there. I now never get rid of those long legged spiders that lurk in cupboards cause I reckon they kill things are my friends.

We got pantry moths from a packet of brown basmati rice. I opened it and quickly closed it as soon as I saw black moths flying bout, but not quickly enough. Those few bred and it took me months and liberal usage of moth traps to finally (touch wood) get rid of them. The traps only catch the males, using pheromones, do the females fly around feeling unloved. Wretched things, they sit on the ceiling and walls looking malevolently at anyone around!

Eeek!! My moth traps are arriving tomorrow but we are going on holiday on Friday, so I will also get bay leaves and cinnamon in operation - and open the cupboard door very gingerly when we return!

You need some cloves... I keep mine in a small open jar..no flies or moths on me...

Bay leaves, worked for me !!

Back from holiday and thanks to the excellent advice, the moths had not proliferated. The moth traps had caught quite a few and no more live ones have appeared since we returned. Also thanks for the advice about bay leaves and cinnamon. The cupboard smells lovely every time it's opened. Fingers crossed that the problem is solved and doesn't recur.

So glad it worked for you 👏. I’ve told a couple of friends about the cinnamon/bay leaves and they too are moth free at last!

I bet you could eat them without any repercussions😄 not that I’d like to try of course.

The only thing I have ever noticed is what I think are tiny, tiny mites in a pudding rice I rarely use, so had probably gone past its use by date. I did throw it away, but logic told me that if I used it it would probably be fine🤔

I might buy some cinnamon sticks for my drawers to discourage clothes moths

Talking about the smell.

The best smell in our house is the dedicated space cupboard every time I open it I take a deep breath - gorgeous!

Perhaps I should store all my potential insect attractors in there as well - if I could find room!