Seriously.. Pantry moths!!! (part 2)

Got a bitter enemy.???Give them a moth infested gift.  You know a "loose lid" just add eggs cookie mix jar. (Just joking) Trust me when I tell you it is a nightmare.  These things are industrial.


Okay the moth saga was longer than a week.  I kept getting moths.  I had a couple of days that were bug free, I got all excited.  Well, I counted the chickens before the eggs hatched.  These little SOBs are not easy to get rid of.  So I called in the professionals when I had a dozen one morning when I got up.  They came and "bombed" the room sprayed the corners and walls down.  Leaving me this wonderful mess.  I was told to leave the door closed for at least six hours.  Which I actually left overnight.  The next morning I started the battle again.

Lets just say there were tons of dead bugs everywhere.

I am NOT looking forward to cleaning this up. But I am getting ready to complete empty this room again. I am tempted to stack the food outside on the porch for a couple of days while I figure this out.

I will tell you that for the first time and to my horror I had three live moths flying around my kitchen when I got home.  They escaped the pantry and the poison kept them out.  I about lost my mind.

The issue with these damn things is that if you miss ONE larvae you start the cycle all over again.  And the worms are in the strangest places..  Like a tote of cookie cutters.  WHY?? 

They crawl all over the place after they eat to "spin" themselves into cocoons.  So the "mobile" worms are full and moving to their intended cocoon area.  The moths do NOT eat anything.  Their sole purpose is to reproduce.  By the time you see worms they have left the food source and are going to the next stage of the cycle. 

Which makes absolutely no since where they decide to cocoon.

Like the top of the lip of the vinegar bottle.

Flip all the containers over.  Sadly I did this the last time to no avail. 

This time I completely emptied the room.. The next morning I had live MOTHS.  "Are you f*ing kidding me!!"  This is where a crazy person says burn the house down.. OR moves. Well, I don't have either of those options.

 But I found the issue.  This wonderfully worthless dead space.  WHAT THE F*CK.  Some man did this you just know it...  Women don't waste any space in a pantry.  Pantry shelve space is premium.

You can't really see the issue but this is LOADED with hundreds of live larvae, moths, and  the cocoon stage... 

And they are ALIVE, even after the pros sprayed.  They can bomb the room with a product that kills even the eggs.  But you can not be in the house for 36 hours.  I am not quite there yet.  But honestly I will do that if this doesn't work.

But I did do a TON of research on these damn things and saw a post late last night about a woman's grandfather use to pour boiling hot water on the cellar shelves.  So Me being ME, I got scalding hot water from the tab and started dumping cups down the corners.  Well, that made me worry about mold -we live in Houston.  AND it wasn't appearing to do anything.  So I boiled a gallon of water.  I mean a rolling boil, I added 1/4 cup of bleach to it and climbed back up my ladder.

There were TONS of bugs.  The white stuff is Sheetrock dust.  Which the larvae will eat as well.

I dumped one cup at a time down the corners, and along the wall.  I looked down the hole and I was so shocked that I did the gig on the top of the ladder.  The boiling water melts the silk, it knocks them down and kills them at the same time.  It TOTALLY works... I dumped a couple more cups then I cleaned up that mess.

I bleached the shelves and even if I didn't want to, it was time to put the stuff back.  I have been wanting to rearrange things.  But I have never gotten around it.  Again, I have no idea where the first moths came from, because I keep everything in plastic.  I went and got more jars for ALL my pasta now.  I would love to say that this did it.  But at the moment I do not know.  I have killed a good six moths in there since I put all the stuff back.  I also put out moth tape and I have a good ten in that.  But I am told they could have been flying around the house and waiting for me to leave the room alone.  I am hoping that this time works.  

Happy Bug killing.

(From the moment I saw the first moth until it was a full on infestation was maybe two weeks.  The moment I started the battle until I was moth free was maybe a good two months, but was honestly only a couple of weeks after I found the corner problem.  It took the pros three "bombs" or sprays and the moths were finally gone.   They came and sprayed the room once a week for a month. I am now a month moth free.  Which I am told means they are gone.  But I won't lie, I still look around the ceiling and shelves every time I go in there.)