Monday, September 8, 2014

Armothgeddon - Battle of the Bugs

The gloves are off, this is an all-out test of wills. A war of the wings. A fight to the finish. And we will win. We are bigger. We have brains, and opposable thumbs, and step stools. Yes, they have wings and there are many of them, but we will prevail. 

The rice moths, aka pantry moths, continue to plague us. We threw out all the rice. We threw out all the flour and unidentified flour-like pantry items, just in case. The pasta is in the freezer, a cool if not dry place, along with the chia seeds, the quinoa and other various seeds and grains. The fridge has the rest of the food refugees, the cereal boxes and nuts. That is it. All the remaining food in the pantry is either in cans or jars. Take that you miserable moths.

A war is fought on many fronts. Now that we've cut off their supply line, the offensive battle begins in earnest. It's time for the latest in pantry moth weaponry, and that involves moth love potions and sticky pads. We have tried two, and we'll share the results. Because where there is moth death, there is victory.

 The first of two products promising to kill pantry moths is Safer Brand Pantry Pest Trap. Here is what the Safer Brand folks say:

Protect your pantry!  You could be bringing moths into your house without knowing it! (Why would I bring them in knowing it?This two-pack of pantry moth traps (4 traps total) offers an economical and convenient natural pest control solution to moths flying around your pantry. Effective moth control starts and ends with the Safer® Brand, Eradicate the population in your pantry by attracting the males, trapping them, and breaking the breeding cycle. (I'm picturing little tiny bottles of beer and  little bug screen TVs with non-stop football playing. That would attract the males.)









The second product we tried was Terro Pantry Moth Traps. These were the cutest, they look like little tents.

Attracting and killing grain moths, flour moths, meal moth and seed moths. These include the Indian Meal Moth, Tobacco Moth (We're safe on that front) Almond Moth, (Please no, leave our nuts out of this!) Mediterranean Moth and the Raisin Moth. (Raisin Moths? Is nothing sacred?)

These easy-to-use glue traps attract and kill the most common moths. The moth traps contain a powerful pheromone lure (is that like a cologne for insects?) that attracts moths to the trap’s sticky surface where they get stuck and die. (Serves them right for flying right into the moth singles bar.)








And the winner is? (Or the loser from the moth's point of view?)

The Tent of Temptation, the Lure Lounge, the Icky Sticky Shack - the Terro brand product is three times more effective than the Safer brand. We put them up on the top of our cabinets and those pesky pests were in for a surprise when they flew in but they didn't fly out. We're thinking of putting up some tiny little neon Bugweiser signs.


Moth pick-up joints.