Moth Insecticide

[If not now...when?]

I have crain and possibly clothe moths in my Apartment. There are also 2 cats. The people below us have the same problem (2 story house) and we all want to spray, but are concerned about the cats. The exterminator says they use CONQUER as a spray and fogger and that everyone and the cats need to be out of the house for 4 hours, but we are concerned that 4 hrs is not enough for the cats and that that the chemical can linger for days on and possibly hurt or kill the cats. We have used the PANTRY PEST before, but that only traps the adults. The exterminator, obviously, said 4 hrs is enough for the cats (never had any problems before), but that is coming from the guy who wnats the business. ANy ideas or suggestions? How good or bad is CONQUER? Any alternatives?

Thank you

Paul

[Salty Thumb]

[e-mail] (If not now...when?) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I'm assuming you mean grain moths. I don't anything about Conquer, but I got rid of mine by getting rid of ANY food that might have eggs, using the pheromone traps to get the adults. They kept coming back, but after two years, I used one of those Electronic Pest repellers, and haven't seen any since. The electronic pest repellers don't do squat for most insects and I'm not absolutely positive they worked on the moths. I guess it might have, since the moths are such bad flyers, perhaps the ultrasound made it difficult for them to get around. Make sure you do all three things, or else you'll never get rid of them.

The larvae like to crawl around the house to look for a place to pupate. (I know because i've seen them and also shells of them that spiders sucked dry). I think there is also a dust you can put in crevices to kill them, but I don't recall using it. If you search for Indian Meal Moth (which is what I had) you should be able to get more information. I think the Virginia Tech site (vt.edu) was helpful.

Try to get a MDS sheet for whatever pesticide you're planning on using if you go that way. It should have exposure rate for humans (but not cats).

Good luck, those things are the worst.

-- Salty

[Salty Thumb]

[e-mail] (Thalocean2) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If the container isn't made out of metal or glass, the larvae will chew through it or so I'm told. Besides, who would want to save food with a bunch of nasty moth larvae and webbing in it?

btw, it's not the moths that do the damage, it's their kids.

- S

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) If the container isn't made out of metal or glass, the larvae will chew :) through it or so I'm told. :) Can't say I have ever seen them chew through plastics, even zip-lock bags. Have seen different type of weevils cut through baggies.

[Beecrofter]

All my grains and such are now stowed in a small chest freezer, it's the only way to win short of pesticides.

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) All my grains and such are now stowed in a small chest freezer, it's :) the only way to win short of pesticides. :) With the pantry pests, there is no winning even with pesticides since 99% of the time they are brought in food products. Another trick is to not buy from bulk suppliers, food products are allowed a few insect parts (such as eggs) per pound(s) :/

[Salty Thumb]

[e-mail] (Beecrofter) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Do you have any problems with mold? (Is the freezer plugged in?)

- S

[Frogleg]

For grain (and chile!) moths, seal flour and grain products in sturdy glass, plastic, or metal containers. A lot of foods come with moth eggs/larvae/whatever included, so an occasional container may grow critters, but they won't spread so badly. They *can* get through baggies and cellophane. The surest deterrent is to store everything in 'fridge or freezer, which is seldom practical.

I keep moth-desirable clothing and other wool stuff (off-season) in a cedar chest with some additional cedar paneling strips. Google for "clothes moths" for prevention/control measures. There are some new products and sprays for clothing that may be of interest.

Spraying an insecticide for moths is pretty much an exercise in futility, and as you posted, probably not healthy for pets and humans.