Where does the mole come from

Many owners of even the cleanest apartments periodically have to think about where the mole comes from. It seems that everything in the house is clean and there are no other insects, but these nondescript gray butterflies are beginning to be seen more and more often. In fact, the reason for the appearance of the moth depends primarily not on the cleanliness of the dwelling itself (as, for example, in the case of cockroaches), but on other factors.

The most important thing is what kind of mole started up in the house, what type it belongs to - there is a clothes mole and a food mole. These are similar to each other, but completely different in their biology pests enter the house each in their own ways.

Important!

Guessing where the mole comes from in the apartment, it is useful to remember that she does not care about the sanitary condition of the room. The pest equally effectively infects both non-hygienic barracks and elite housing. The main thing for her is the availability of food supply, and it is this food supply that is most abundant in expensive homes.

 

The path of the food moth to the apartment

To understand where the mole comes from in the kitchen (food), it is worth remembering how often you have to bring home products from the store. Basically it is in the original packaging that unpleasant parasite gets into the apartment. The reason is unsealed packaging or improper storage of a food product in a factory, warehouse, or directly in a store.

Moths' favorite food is cereals, seeds, nuts, dried fruits, dairy mixes, flour, animal feed, dried berries, herbs, and roots.

On a note

Very often, products in warehouses contaminated with moths are sold at bargain prices. Sometimes this means that by buying buckwheat or flour with a “holiday” discount, the housewife provides herself with a headache and bewilderment about the appearance of a moth in an apartment. It is important to remember that food moth does not appear in the kitchen by itself - in most cases, the owners of the room themselves bring it in.

Sometimes the reasons for the appearance of moths in the house become clear after talking with the neighbors: the pest moves through the ventilation systems passing through the house. This means that the mole in your apartment may well appear from the next room.

Important!

A mole is a bad flyer, and it moves quite rarely between apartments. Much more often, the larvae, pupae, and moth eggs enter the house with food or furniture.

If there is a grocery store on the first floor of a residential building, perhaps it is the place where the food mole in an apartment building comes from. Storage of cereals and flour in warehouses in large quantities provokes the reproduction of this pest.

Like any other winged insect moth it may just fly into an apartment, for example, from the landing through an open door, but this happens extremely rarely.

 

How does the mole of the apartment get into the apartment?

So where does the mole come from in the closet, if all things are new, clean and neatly folded? To find out, you should remember whether the following products have been bought recently:

• natural wool carpets
• furniture upholstered
• fur or wool outerwear
• woolen or knitwear
• shoes with natural fur.

If a mole started up at home after one of these purchases, then it is safe to say that the larvae were already in it at the time of purchase.After settling the mole began to multiply and spoil other things that came across on her way. Unfortunately, the pest can even be in expensive things from proven stores that protect their reputation.

Purchased in the store or used furniture can also serve as an excellent "vehicle" for transporting moth larvae to a new place of residence. This is especially true of old furniture, in which it is very easy to get to the "tasty" filler.

Clothes moth may choose a more exotic way to enter the house - on the hair of pets. In principle, the mole does not parasitize living beings, but it is even possible to use their fur as a temporary shelter. Cases where the mole appears in such a way are quite rare, and only adult butterflies and dogs with long, shaggy hair - bobtails, giant schnauzers, wire haired dachshunds, and South Russian shepherds can be settled this way.

The above are the main ways in which the clothes and food moths appear in a person’s dwelling. But whatever method of its penetration, it is important to prevent the parasite from breeding throughout the apartment.

 

Causes of contamination of the food moth room

Fully insure against the appearance of a food moth in an apartment is unlikely to succeed, because to infect a kitchen it is enough to have one flown into individuals or one larva in packed groats. It is much more important to create such conditions at home that do not allow the moth to multiply comfortably and spoil the food.

First, let's see what conditions for the food moth are the most favorable:

• Feed. Without food, a mole simply cannot multiply, so it always needs a source of food: boxes with flakes, bags of flour and nuts, or at least dried herbs.
• Comfortable place to live. Moth prefers lockable kitchen cabinets, pantries, where she can live and eat at the same time. It is almost impossible to find a food moth on the open kitchen shelves - it avoids light.
• Lack of airing and twilight. The moth does not tolerate fresh air and direct sunlight, preferring closed rooms where food is stored.
• Lack of strong odors. There are scents that moths are very unpleasant and make her move away from their source.These include the smell of citrus, lavender, eucalyptus, tobacco, vinegar.

 

How to prevent moths from entering the house?

Anyone who knows well where the mole comes from in an apartment can competently approach prevention of its appearance in a dwelling.

To avoid the appearance of a clothes moth is possible only with the help of a thorough inspection of all new things that enter the house. Even if a fur coat or hat is purchased at an expensive store, it is worth looking carefully at its outer and inner sides right there for damage by moth larvae. At home, you should hang out the purchased item on the balcony and leave it there for three days. It is worth doing it in clear sunny weather without dampness, so as not to spoil the fur or wool.

Lavender decomposed in a cupboard or orange peels (they need to be changed as they dry) will become a wonderful fragrant prevention of clothes moths; you can also put an open bottle of essential oil of any of these plants.

For lovers of finished products, you can offer special moth sections, which are hung in the closet and also have a pleasant aroma. The very fur coat, hat or carpet can be treated with moth spray - this is especially recommended whenstoring warm clothes in the summer season.

It is interesting

There are a few more ways to keep your favorite things from the clothes moth. Before storing them, you can impose them with fresh newspapers or put some strong cigarettes in your pockets (the moth does not like the smell of printing ink and tobacco, but it can persist for long and ruin the pleasure of wearing things). Another good way is to freeze things or products. To do this, in the cold season, they can be “forgotten” for a few days on the balcony, after which any mole will die. The central heating battery also works, which destroy the mole on small woolen and knitted things - socks, hats, sweaters.

Principles for the prevention of food moths are similar to the above. After coming from the grocery store you need to look at all the goods where the mole can start: cereals, dried fruits, nuts, dry spices, herbs. If nothing is found there, the food can be stored in glass jars or linen bags.

Some popular recipes are advised to soak the bags with brine or just salt water. Definitely not worth storing grits or flour in an open factory package.

It is recommended to periodically air kitchen cupboards and wipe the shelves with vinegar, lay lavender or orange peels in them. It is not recommended to purchase cereals and nuts in large quantities “in reserve”, since the longer such a product is stored, the greater the chance of moths multiplying in it.

 

Interesting video: how to get rid of butterflies and moth caterpillars