How to tell you have them
Small moths with copper and gray wings flying in the kitchen at night, and silky webbing in flour, rice, cereal, nuts, birdseed or dry pet food, point to the Indian meal moth. Tiny pale gold moths that avoid light, and holes in wool, cashmere and silk, point to clothes moths. In Florida, small flat gray cases, a bit like a pumpkin seed, stuck to walls, ceilings and the backs of furniture belong to the household casebearer, also called the plaster bagworm. The larva lives inside the case and drags it along.
What they damage
Pantry moths ruin stored dry food. Clothes moths eat natural animal fibers such as wool, fur and feathers. Casebearers mostly eat spider webs and lint, and occasionally wool.
What treatment looks like
For pantry moths, the cure is finding every infested package: open everything dry in the pantry, throw out anything with webbing or larvae, vacuum the shelves and corners, and store new food in sealed glass or hard plastic. We treat the cracks and shelf supports where larvae pupate and set monitoring traps to confirm the source is gone. For clothes moths, we inspect closets and stored wool while you dry-clean or launder the affected items. For casebearers, we vacuum the cases, remove the old spider webs they feed on and treat the cracks where they collect.
How long it takes
Pantry moths usually disappear within two to three weeks once the source is gone. Casebearers drop as webs and lint are cleared, often within a month.
Florida notes
Heat and humidity keep moth life cycles fast in Pinellas, so a single forgotten bag of birdseed in a garage can fill a house with moths within weeks. Moth treatment is covered on every plan, starting with Quarterly.