Friday 30 May 2014

I is for..........Infestation

Hmm, not a particularly nice subject for my A-Z post this morning, but an apt one as we still seem to have a bit of a clothes moth infestation.  We first noticed the problem a few months back when a woollen duffel coat in OH's wardrobe was swiftly thrown out, after discovering it was acting as a moth-filled breeding ground.  A few other items also had to be thrown out including OH's only suit, as they had received some damage, but as neither of us had any cashmere or many pure wool clothes in his wardrobe, the damage was reasonably limited.

The wardrobe was cleaned out and I managed to acquire a moth attracting sticky trap on eBay, which I duly place in the wardrobe.  Now, I'm not a great fan of this type of trap, not a nice death for any creature and I especially won't use them for rodents, as I've heard stories of them biting their feet off to get free, but I wasn't sure what else would do the trick.  It just wasn't acceptable to have the little blighters living in the house and potentially munching away on fabrics I had in the sewing room, or clothes for that matter.

The sticky trap worked reasonably well, judging by the number of dead moths that found themselves attached to it, but some were escaping into the bedroom and beyond.  I hung a few homemade lavender bags and essential oil soaked cardboard tags in the wardrobe too, as I'd read they didn't like the smell of lavender and sure enough it did make them active enough to kill a few.  I've spent weeks now swatting them as and when, which isn't pleasant I know.  I don't like to kill any creature if I can help it, but don't really have any other option.

Last week, I decided that further action was needed, so I popped up to our local hardware store to see if they had anything that might help.  I picked up a bag of napthelene mothballs to put in the wardrobe and managed to get a spray to kill any odd moths I see flying around.  I also ordered more sticky pads from eBay, but made sure I bought a supply this time, as I think I was a little naïve to think one would suffice.  Hopefully, I might be able to get to grips with the problem now that I'm suitably armed. 

Does anyone have any advice for getting rid of clothes moths?

Joining in with Mum at Mum's Simply Living blog in blogging using the alphabet backwards.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my goodness, I'm going to have to go and check the wardrobe. We had moths in the front room a few months back around the edge of the carpet. A good hoovering mopped up a few.
    Love from Mum
    xx

    ReplyDelete