Pantry moths...

Daisy

Daisy

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I woke up to an unpleasant surprise this morning ... pantry moth larvae on the ceiling. I had a Rat Rations order a couple of weeks ago so maybe they came from there. Or maybe the new bag of Harry Hamster I bought the other week. I removed all the larvae I could reach and will have to look out for moths. How have others got rid of pantry moths?
 
Oh no! Was this even after freezing the food? I know Beryl has experience with pantry moths so hopefully she will reply soon.
 
RainbowBrite said:
Oh no! Was this even after freezing the food? I know Beryl has experience with pantry moths so hopefully she will reply soon.
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I have to be honest: I'm too lazy to freeze food (and we don't have the freezer space anyway.

I've never had a problem with Rat Rations before. Funnily enough, the only food I have had a problem with were rye flakes from Holland and Barrett which hatched lice. That's awful considering they're intended for humans to eat as breakfast cereal.
 
Daisy said:
I have to be honest: I'm too lazy to freeze food (and we don't have the freezer space anyway.

I've never had a problem with Rat Rations before. Funnily enough, the only food I have had a problem with were rye flakes from Holland and Barrett which hatched lice. That's awful considering they're intended for humans to eat as breakfast cereal.
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Thats so worrying! Lots of people use those for breakfast.
 
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I’ve had them too aargh! If you’ve found larvae you may have caught it in time. My first outbreak was something I could write a book about! Had never heard of them till I got them.

About three years ago I managed to prevent one by nipping it in the bud. I saw two moths on the wall behind the hamster cage - squished them and immediately deep cleaned the cage (had to move hamster to another cage temporarily). Sure enough there were larvae in the house area. I must have caught it before any more hatched out but it was a nightmare as a recently set up cage with all new items. I had frozen all food so can only assume it was some other item I hadn’t frozen (a hide and some hemp may maybe). Or that I had missed freezing a treat stick or something.

I’ve never had an issue with Harry Hamster before. It was some hay based complete food that caused my first outbreak. Opened bag in a cupboard. But then I’ve been freezing food for years. It could be from other items from a pet store. I literally freeze everything I buy from a pet store but bedding now! Unless it’s plastic or ceramic and I wash those.

If you get rid of the larva and find out where they’ve come from, you might nip it in the bud. It is probably from a hamster cage though with a nice warm hoard. It was when the heating came on in cold weather that they hatched out with my first outbreak. Bung everything in the freezer you’ve bought and check the hamster cage!
 
Daisy said:
I have to be honest: I'm too lazy to freeze food (and we don't have the freezer space anyway.

I've never had a problem with Rat Rations before. Funnily enough, the only food I have had a problem with were rye flakes from Holland and Barrett which hatched lice. That's awful considering they're intended for humans to eat as breakfast cereal.
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Without wanting to freak people out we found a maggot in a fish cake from a well known supermarket recently! It was dead obviously but even so! I’m surprised at the rye flakes though. Sounds awful! Did you take them back?
 
Maz said:
Without wanting to freak people out we found a maggot in a fish cake from a well known supermarket recently! It was dead obviously but even so! I’m surprised at the rye flakes though. Sounds awful! Did you take them back?
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I had already decanted them into a tin and thrown away the packaging so I didn't bother taking them back.
 
Daisy said:
I have to be honest: I'm too lazy to freeze food (and we don't have the freezer space anyway.

I've never had a problem with Rat Rations before. Funnily enough, the only food I have had a problem with were rye flakes from Holland and Barrett which hatched lice. That's awful considering they're intended for humans to eat as breakfast cereal.
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I know what you mean about freezer space! Maybe stick all the food items in lock and lock boxes - then if anything hatches out you can see!
 
If you bought a few things from the same place it could be difficult to establish the culprit unless you see something.
 
I've had issues with ratrations when i found a dried chilli in a dwarf hamster mix and haven't bought anything there since.

I had pantry moths twice but luckily caught it in time. I deep cleaned two cages where i had seen a moth flattering around but didn't find any evidence of anymore in there.

I saw them on walls and killed them on sight. I still see the odd one or two every few months and kill them.

I must admit that for a while i became quite paranoid and constantly walked around the house with my face looking upwards. I killed a few innocents while not wearing my glasses like spiders and feel bad about that.

I check the hamsters cages more often since then and freeze all food, treats, millet etc. I keep food in glass jars so i'd see if anything came to life in there.

I never found out where they came from but could be from the birds nests under the roof.

I think you need to wash as much as you can, vacuum a lot and check your hamster cages.
 
I definitely got a bit paranoid ha ha! They didn't really cause any issues but it drove me mad trying to get rid of them. The key is to do something straight away and not stick your head in the sand (like I did at first!). It could be from any supplier really although it does make you wonder if some company's storage facilities are better than others. Freezing is supposed to kill the eggs. You can get moth eggs in flour as well but I've never had any issues with that. Weevils maybe!
 
I think the main thing is freeze the items you bought (if you can) and have a clean around as Beryl says. If you can just see larvae and get rid of those you might get away with it :) . One tip I had was - if you hoover them, empty the hoover bag afterwards or they can hatch out in there.

I would have a little look in the hamster (or gerbil?) cages as well. It was warm hamster sitting on the food with the central heating on that had mine hatch out. The eggs are in most pet foods I believe but they only hatch out in a nice warm environment. And not at all if you freeze stuff first to kill the eggs. I freeze all the food for a week now. (After reading 2 days wasn't enough!). Off to get a bag out of the freezer now :)
 
So in both my cases, the eggs were from the food, but they only hatched out once they were in the hamster cage/hoard. The right environment presumably. Usually it's either hot weather in summer or in a cosy centrally heated house in winter.

Sorry! You probably know most of this already Daisy!

I actually had carpet moths hatch out as well as Indian meal moths - two different types. Which was why my pheromone traps weren't working at first. The carpet moth traps worked though. Eventually!
 
Kebab's a bit strange in that he doesn't hoard or pee in his house, although it's big enough. He hoards in a hide on his shelf and pees in a corner. This makes his cage maintenance much easier as I rarely have to disturb his nest. I just check it every now and then. I got him when he was 2 and he had only had a little hut before then so I suppose he just got into the habit of hoarding away from his nest. I've checked his cage all over and didn't find anything. I replaced his hoard with new food.

One gerbil pair, Tilly and Wispa, don't seem to hoard at all. One of the other pair (Twiglet) is hoarding a lot right now. Not all gerbils hoard, but when they do it's often triggered by the onset of autumn - getting ready for winter. However her hoard is under several inches of bedding so I think I will leave it for now. Most likely if anything hatched, Astra would eat it pretty quickly. She loves insects and meat.
 
All sounds good :-) Raffy hoards in a little pot on his shelf too - but he does have a hoard in his house as well. I think special things go in the little pot!
 
How is it going? :-) Did you manage to get rid of the larvae?
 
Maz said:
How is it going? :) Did you manage to get rid of the larvae?
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There have been a few new larvae but so far no moths. Hopefully removing the larvae will be enough to prevent a moth infestation.
 
I hope so. It probably will be fine.
 
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