What to do about pale-backed clothes moths (Monopis crocicapitella)?

B

BigBrother

Registered Guest
We moved into our current apartment in Southern California in Aug of last year. We had a mild infestation of the more common golden clothes moths, which fell easily to standard moth traps.

Well, now, in May, we've seen an emergence of these:

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Monopis-crocicapitella

I didn't suspect they were cloth-eating as none of them were appearing in any of our myriad traps hung around the place.

Turns out they weren't appearing because those traps don't catch them! I can only seem to find traps in the UK that target these.

Any tips? We can't do much active control (freezing, isolation, etc.) for a multitude of reasons and so traps have been our best bet till now.

Thank you so much.
 
I use pheromone traps from this company to monitor my storage for clothing pests. I don't see your moth in their list, but it might be worth contacting them, to see if they have any advice?
https://www.insectslimited.com/museum
 
I would suggest thermal treatment by a pest control company if you have a lot of items to treat. That method is used for entire hotels, among other things. It’s very effective. I use my oven for treating individual pieces of clothing.
 
We get these moths in Australia too and although I use the pheromone traps, I can't say if they're being caught in them or not, just that it's an ongoing battle here because the climate and conditions are very conducive for them.

Here's my blog post which has tips for managing the situation but my brief advice is to check everything to find infestations, eliminate the infestation (clean, store, blast with heat, whatever method you prefer that keeps your textiles safe) and clean the area with disinfectant, vacuum up eggs etc. Moths love being left alone in the dark to do their evil work so if you deprive them of that, you'll be streets ahead.
 
I’m a little late to this thread, but I’m also in Southern California and I’ve only seen the pale backed clothes moth over the last year. Prior to that I’ve never seen a single one before! I use a couple brands of moth traps alongside one another and the Dr Killington’s traps are the only ones that I’ve purchased that consistently attract pale backed clothes moths.

BigBrother said:
We moved into our current apartment in Southern California in Aug of last year. We had a mild infestation of the more common golden clothes moths, which fell easily to standard moth traps.

Well, now, in May, we've seen an emergence of these:

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Monopis-crocicapitella

I didn't suspect they were cloth-eating as none of them were appearing in any of our myriad traps hung around the place.

Turns out they weren't appearing because those traps don't catch them! I can only seem to find traps in the UK that target these.

Any tips? We can't do much active control (freezing, isolation, etc.) for a multitude of reasons and so traps have been our best bet till now.

Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
 
I came back with a new recommendation for a trap. These have caught a huge number of pale back moths, more so than any other trap that I’ve purchased. Don’t be fooled by the unfortunate graphic design!
They ship from the UK, but I haven’t found any product currently sold in the US that can come close: https://amzn.eu/d/hU9NFx8
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top