Bugs!

I'll see if I can find the article and I'm not sure how authoritative it was but they seemed to know about the subject. I don't think it confirmed why the thawing and refreezing worked though.
 
I think it's mainly the food that needs the special attention though. That is where they can hatch out from. After hatching out the eggs can be on anything in the cage. I can see why people make their own mixes! But it's not an easy thing to get right.
 
Here it is. It refers to clothes moths rather than pantry moths but I would think the principle would be the same for any type of moth.

Killing clothing moths by freezing is easy too, and just a smidge more involved. To kill clothing moths by freezing them, the items must 1) first be at least 70° F (21° C), and then 2) placed in a freezer set to below 18° F (-8° C) for at least 72 hours. It is the abrupt cold followed by freezing that kills the larvae, rather than just the freezing, so step one is important. Freezing may not kill all the eggs, though, so after you have frozen your items once, put them in a plastic bag for several days so any surviving eggs have a chance to develop, and them repeat the freezing process as described one more time. That should do the trick.
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Article here

I'm not sure how reliable it is. It mentions 72 hours for the first freezing, waiting a few days then a further freezing but doesn't specify how long for the second freezing.

English heritage say - freezer for two weeks (for clothes moths again).

The best way of killing adults, eggs and larvae is to deep freeze items. Seal them in plastic 'freezer' bags at -18°C for at least two weeks.
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www.english-heritage.org.uk

Understanding Clothes Moth Infestations

References to clothes moths are speckled throughout the historical record. The Romans were probably responsible for the spread of pests to Europe as they expanded their empire – evidence of infestations of wool by clothes moths exists in Roman archaeological material.
www.english-heritage.org.uk
 
This one is specifically for pantry moths (Indian meal moths) and says a month to kill eggs! The time scale is getting longer and longer ..........

There are photos in this article if anyone is squeamish about close up pictures of moths.

Yes, freezing will kill Indian meal moths. Keep your infected food items inside the freezer for 4 to 7 days to eliminate the larvae and adult moths. But you have to keep them in the freezer for up to a month to kill the pantry moth eggs.
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Pests 101 article

So we need to draw a conclusion somewhere. It would be easy enough to leave a bag of hamster food in the freezer for a month while another bag is being used up but means waiting a month for the first bag!
 
I was reading another article somewhere that said a few days would kill them so it does seem that there are a lot of different ideas out there.

Keeping food in the freezer, if you have the space, for a month would be ok if you were prepared & remembered to reorder in time to keep it up.
When I was getting my food mix made up at mixerama I always ordered a lot due to delivery so most of it probably stayed in the freezer for a few months anyway.
 
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Yes I guess the longer you can leave food in the freezer the better. I will probably stick to a week for most items but try to leave food in the freezer for more than a week.
 
To throw another theory into the mix, i heard of an article the other day that recommended to do away with freezing and purposely expose a bag of hamster mix to warmth.
The idea is that if nothing hatches in the sunshine or warm airing cupboard, it's bug free.
Pick and mix springs to mind. I'm going to stick to freezing once and my system of replacing a bag i take from the freezer with a new one.
 
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I am also going to stick to freezing once but leaving the second bag in the freezer until needed.
 
Beryl said:
To throw another theory into the mix, i heard of an article the other day that recommended to do away with freezing and purposely expose a bag of hamster mix to warmth.
The idea is that if nothing hatches in the sunshine or warm airing cupboard, it's bug free.
Pick and mix springs to mind. I'm going to stick to freezing once and my system of replacing a bag i take from the freezer with a new one.
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I don't like the idea of trying to hatch something out ha ha! It also sounds a slow and tedious experiment. As I understand it, virtually all pet foods contain moth eggs and the idea is to just prevent them hatching.
 
I was wondering about sticking the hyacinth tunnel in the washing machine on 60 degrees but no soap powder. I would think they do ok getting wet. Freezer is getting a bit full!

Also saw other articles specifically about pantry moths which said freezing for a week kills moths, larvae and eggs. Which is the info I have always gone with. So maybe clothes moths are harder to kill. But I will still leave things in the freezer longer if possible.
 
I think the washing machine is worth a go.
I only looked at things that were specifically about pantry moths & none of them seemed to indicate that they’re that hard to kill & freezing for anything from a few days to a week seemed to be the generally accepted method.
 
I think so too :) I have another hyacinth tunnel if it turns into a disaster ha ha. It's actually Raffy's but he hasn't used it for ages so would just need some airing.

I have never queried it before Elusive, but about 2 to 3 years ago, I had an outbreak in a cage that had been newly set up from scratch not long before and everything had been in the freezer. Had two or three moths on the wall behind the cage, and on investigation the cage was fully of larvae and webbing at one end - the food/nest end. (Beryl may remember that was the cage that disappeared under a heavy fall of snow after I had put it outside to air).

The odd cage item had only had a few days rather than a week - The food had all been frozen on arrival but that was some time before, and then left in a normal storage place.

So just the sight of a moth or two climbing in through the bars and one walking up the ramp to the food was enough for me to take action!

So it's possible some eggs became undormant again after so long and with warm. So I will be leaving food in the freezer until needed now!
 
I have just seen a moth that looked like an adult pantry moth on top of Clive's cage.
I got it though.

I've done a substrate check/change recently and not found any traces of moths and i freeze food for a lot longer than a week.

Moths are everywhere this year. I have seen two in the house and i see them at work ( i work in a number of different services).

As a precaution i'm going to put Clive in a spare HH for the day on Friday and take his Plaza apart. It's the grooves and joints i want to check and they need a clean anyway. I also want to adjust his set up, lower the shelves and replace some items that could harbour bugs with disposable or washable ones. He doesn't burrow so i'm taking the panels off. I can fix them to the top should he decide to climb which i doubt.

If i find any evidence of moths then the cage will need a major clean.
 
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Sorry to hear that. It's a pain isn't it. We had a huge moth in the kitchen the night before last. Definitely not a pantry moth, but enough to drive me to bed early! So poor Raffy missed a night coming out. I left OH to find it but it disappeared. I hate that when you know it's somewhere and can't find it. It didn't appear again last night and Raffy virtually flew out of the cage when I opened the door!

I didn't get to see my smaller ones close enough to see if they were pantry moths or not - one did look like it a bit. Touch wood haven't seen any in the room since, but I'm going to set the nightcam on Raffy's cage tonight just to check nothing is going in and out of his cage. I really hope not as that cage was only recently set up.

Incidentally, fly papers sometimes catch the odd one and then you can see them better.
 
The only cage i haven't checked yet is Eddie's which i'm planning to do begin of next week. I'm going to change the part of the cage he doesn't use and open it up a bit to give him more space. It's quite dense and difficult to keep an eye on things like bugs. I also wonder if a crowded set up creates more heat and humidity. I may be talking rubbish though.
 
I think it's just room temperature really. Both my previous outbreaks have been in winter in a very warm room. I don't think the set up makes a difference. The hot weather in summer as well.
 
Things haven't changed. I'm still flummoxed by the pantry moths.

I don't like fly paper. I remember it so well from when i was a kid and kept getting my hair stuck on it.

Sometimes i worry that i may inconvenience the hamsters unnecessarily by nosing about in their homes but then i remember Pickle's cage.
 
Having a peek and a poke around shouldn’t disturb them too much. I’d check hoard area first and the bits of cage near that.
 
I jhust wonder if you’re seeing pantry moths or something else, there are bound to be moths about at this time of year, I’ve had several come in, many of the smaller ones look similar, but a pantry moth isn’t likely to be flying in your window or door so if you keep all dried food in airtight plastic containers & check things regularly the chances are it’s not a pantry moth.
I don’t know what might attract them to a haamster cage, maybe they pick up on a smell that attracts them.
Personally if I saw a small moth i would just do my best to catch it & take it outsidw where it wants to be, moths like all our insects are in big trouble right now & even the little brown ones matter.
 
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