Bird Seed Moths have taken over - HELP!

[sootykitty]

I started noticing these pests about a month ago and now they are EVERYWHERE. I've tried the sticky traps that the bird store sells, but I have yet to catch even one of them. Does anybody know how to get rid of these? I'm not even sure how I got them in the first place. I buy my parrot bird food from Petsmart, already sealed and supposedly pest free. What do I do now?

[catschair]

First, put all your bird seed in the freezer for at least 24 hours -- that will kill the eggs, and the seed will be fine to use. You may want to keep it there if you have lots of adult moths around. How to get them out of the house is another problem......any good ideas?

[wildirish]

Any bags of food can get moths, they only need to make a very tiny hole to get in. I quit buying from stores a long time ago, as the food seems to sit on the shelves longer, I order online now.

The freezer advice is what right, it will kill the eggs. AS to the adults in the house, I sucked them up in my shop vac and threw the bag out! LOL!

[Sashagirl]

Our house is being taken over by those seed moths too.We buy the
non toxic fly strips and place them inside empty bird cages or where the birds aren't and that seems to work.We don't but the strips from Home Depot or Lowes because they are a waste of money and don't really work.We get the ones from Walgreen's if you have one in your area.

Marcia

[Monica]

moth traps pheromone, Yard, Garden Outdoor Living, Outdoor Sports items on eBay.com

Get a pheromone based moth trap.... set into a small cage and hang from ceiling or put where they most congregate.

Lay out large pans of water to catch moths if they fly into it

Store all bird seed in freezer for 24-48 hours to kill anything inside. After this, continue storing seed here or in the fridge.

Go through your pantries and look for anything such as flower, cake mixes, or anything of the like. Search the bags for any tiny holes. You may want to go out and buy air tight containers to move all your food into. Certain foods you may need to repackage. Anything that has a hole in the bag should be tossed out. Any bag that has been opened needs to be dumped into a container and sorted through (or use a shifter). If any bugs in the mix you can toss out. If clean, repackage it!

[Cpip]

im having the same problem!! they are taking over!!

[SisterBlue]

I have a huge moth problem too, always have. I did the freezing thing for years but it didn't seem to make any difference whatsoever. My local bird shop has some new glass hanging traps that I'm going to try in my pantry.

-SB

[Oscars Mom]

those pheromone traps work great.They have them at garden centers and natural food stores.Id also reccomend vacumning outclosets/cabinets that have foodtoo. One of the stages looks like a stiky webby thing you can see on the walls .you have toscrub them off and wash with bleach water.Try to light up the area when you vacumn causethe worms are hard to see.I got huge pasic storage containers at the dollar storeand keep any food with paper packaging in them cereal/flour cookies etc everything.Its a huge painbut your closets will get cleaned out and eventually the moths would be gone.I think the lures only last for a little while so I change them out about once a week if there is alot of moths

[sootykitty]

I will try all your suggestions. I have purchased the traps with the pheromone lures, but I still haven't caught a single moth in them. I have been using them for about a week now. I think I'll try to suck 'em up with the vac as previously suggested. At least that way I can get rid of some of them. At least I'll get a clean house including the dreaded pantry. Then its off to the dollar store for some air tight containers for cereals, etc. At least the shopping part will be fun.

[LouieBird]

Been there, done everything imaginable when they decide to be a part of the flock.
When all else fails, just give 'em names
They don't live too long and the budgies seem to enjoy them

Brad &