Pantry pests include many crawling insects but some can fly. In general, the beetles and weevils are easy to control. But there are flying pantry pests and these can present more of a challenge when trying to eliminate a problem because they can cover vast areas of the home. The more common flying pantry pests include Tropical Ware House Moths, Indian Meal Moths, and Mediterranean Flour Moths.
INFESTED WITH INDIAN MEAL MOTHS?
In most cases, meal moths were brought to your home with some type of stored food product. Examples would include flour, dog food, biscuits, pasta, cereal, dried beans, bread, spices, cookies, and other standard pantry items. Another common household item which can lead to an infestation is bird seed.
Here is a common meal moth close to an average sized finger so you can gain perspective of their size:
MEAL MOTHS LOVE BIRD SEED
The packaging standard for bird seed is much less stringent compared to human food. In fact, its actually quite normal for birds to routinely eat larval stages of most any insect including meal moths. For this reason bird seed will routinely contain contaminants such as insect eggs, pupae and active stages like larvae and adults.
Many times these insects go unnoticed when you buy product at the store but once brought home, developing larva will quickly migrate out and into your cabinet. Before you realize anything has happened, you’ll have a pantry pest infestation.
WHERE DO MEAL MOTHS LIVE?
Due to the wide range of meal moths we commonly find active in homes, it is important to realize that populations can easily survive outside the pantry. Be sure to include all areas of the home when trying to identify the main nest site.
If you are seeing small moths hovering around your pantry, dog feeding station, pet food storage bin or birdseed storage bin, you probably have some developing stages other than the active adults.
Meal moths do not fly well and will like to land in the area where they know to be home. They are easy to kill but you will notice they keep coming and they create quite a mess when smashed for such a small pest.
MEAL MOTH LIFE CYCLE
Ultimately you will need to break the life cycle of your meal moths to eliminate the problem for good. This means doing some cleanup and treating.
Crawling stages do not fly but can be seen on countertops and cabinet shelves. These larvae are quite small. In general, they’re not much bigger than a grain of rice and are easy to miss.
The live cycle of meal moths is like any insect; egg, larva, pupa and lastly adult.
When the egg hatches, the larvae will feed. After getting its full (which usually takes 2-4 weeks), it will then spin a cocoon where it will undergo metamorphosis. After its fully developed, it will hatch and emerge as the flying adult. The adult has nothing but reproduction on its mind and females will lay eggs quickly following fertilization.
Adult females will look for other places to lay eggs. Expect these locations to be close to where the original infestation began but it can end up on the other side of the home. Although the duration of time will vary for different species to complete their respective live cycles, the process for controlling meal moths is the same regardless of which species you have active.
GET RID OF MEAL MOTH INFESTED FOOD
To stop the cycle of meal moths, you will need to identify the infested food product which started the problem. Once found, throw it or anything else you suspect as being infested away. If you are unsure about an item, place it in a clear plastic bag where you will be able to inspect it every day or two to watch for emerging pests. Keep these “questionable” items stored for at least 4 weeks. If nothing emerges by then, consider it safe to save.
Now if you find insects accumulating in the bag within a month, you know the foodstuff is contaminated and needs to be discarded.
HOW TO TREAT THE MEAL MOTH INFESTED AREAS
Once the cabinets and pantry have been cleaned out and lay bare, you may treat before placing anything back. Meal moth eggs and pupae will no doubt be hidden in these areas and though vacuuming will remove some, its not possible to get them all. And since it only takes 2-3 missed meal moths to enable a new infestation, its best to treat the areas and be done with them for good.
The best way to treat these areas is to do what we call “crack and crevice” spraying. Basically this is best done with an aerosol; its when the chemical being applied is placed specifically into cracks, voids and gaps where the target pest is most likely to be nesting. This type of application should be done with a “tube” or “straw” injector which will enable you to get the product exactly where it needs to be.
WHERE DO MEAL MOTHS HIDE?
With meal moths, the larva will feed for several days and then seek a place to spin their cocoon and pupate. Although this can happen where they are feeding in boxed food, it will also occur where they migrate to throughout the kitchen. In fact its very common to find them in the cracks between shelves, behind baseboard molding, in door frames and then out around sinks, garbage bins, stoves, refrigerators and even under dishwashers. To be safe, you need to treat all these areas at least once.
By treating all these areas, if migrating larva move over the treatment, they will die. This helps by breaking the cycle and is key. Since no chemical can kill eggs or pupa, it is very likely that some will still exist following the cleanup so be sure to treat thoroughly at least once. The good news is larvae are quite weak and susceptible to chemical. But you need to use the right one.
And the right one for meal moths is called FS MP. It comes with a special straw injector tube which makes for an easy application. FS MP uses an oil based carrier which can penetrate pupae and eggs so you’re able to get faster results as long as you treat all cracks and crevices where they might be hiding.
hollie says
Hi there. I just posted a comment about maggots last night in the maggot section of the site. But after your reply in looking further into what kind of bug we are actually dealing with I have realized that we have indian meal moths on our hands. We have a large walk in pantry where we store food, crafts, paperwork, fabric, you name it – its where all our access stuff goes as storage. The other day I opened the door and saw maggot like worms on the ceiling. I was so freaked out and almost had a panic attack. Realizing today that these are harmless has helped a little bit, but oh my we have a big job ahead as far as breaking the life cycle of these things. I’m guessing I have to throw out just about everything in there even expensive supplies. What about our board games, tea light candles, oh my goodness there’s just so much to go through and wash.
What I need to know is how do we deal with these larvae which are everywhere and what products you suggest we get to break the entire lifecycle. Realistically I’m guessing we will have to take everything out and either throw it away or wash it. Wash every square inch of the pantry. Any advice would be so helpful. Thank you so much!!!!!!
Tech Support says
First, no need to throw anything away just yet. Here’s why.
The larvae you see have most likely already fed and are looking for a place to spin a cocoon and pupate into adult moths. And until you empty the area, I suggest you don’t spray anything but instead, merely vacuum them away. Vacuuming once or twice a day should keep them under control for the time being and since they will die once picked up in your vacuum, no need to worry about them once removed.
And once the area has been emptied, you’ll need to sift through the food items with the goal being to identify just what is infested with live larvae. Once any activity is found in anything food based, discard the infested item. More details on this process is above, in our article, here:
https://bugspray.com/indian_meal_moths.html#how-to-get-rid-of-indian-meal-moth-infestations
And once the area is empty and suspect food items discarded, treat the room with FS MP Aerosol as explained in our article here:
https://bugspray.com/indian_meal_moths.html#how-to-get-rid-of-indian-meal-moth-infestations
Next, let the room sit for a day or two before putting anything back. This way you can know for sure if the room is still harboring migrating larvae. So if no new larvae appear in the room after it’s been empty a day or two, you can start putting stuff back after it’s been treated with the FS MP.
Lastly, install some moth traps (2-3) in the room to help gather foraging adults. If done correctly, your problem should start to subside and be gone within 1-2 months.
Here are links to these items in our cart. Please show your support for our business by purchasing the items we recommend from the links provided. Remember, this is the only way we can stay around and be here to answer your questions and keep this valuable web site up and running. Thanks for your business!
FS MP: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/aerosol/fs-mp-insecticide-15-oz-aerosol
Meal Moth Traps: https://bugspray.com/traps/pheromone-and-food/meal-moth-2-pk
hollie says
One more thing to add… this is the room our air conditioner is held in, that means they could be in the vents as well. And there is an open vent on the floor that seems to have access to a whole underground dirt area. I mean its a dream for these things to mass produce in. Do you think we will need help from a an actual expert?? I feel like there are a lot of these things. Thankfully my cats are eating the moths!
Tech Support says
Air conditioners are a moths worse enemy because they create dry air and dry air kills insects. Additionally, adult moths will target food items on which to lay eggs – not dirt or outside areas. So regardless of the air conditioner being present and/or vents in the room, the adults will be targeting something food based like pasta, flour, cereal, pet food, etc. on which to lay eggs. And so will the larvae since all they do is eat. In other words, neither phase is interested in air conditioners; they just want to be around food.
Now once the larvae get their full, they will migrate out into the open which is what you’re seeing now. But this is just a symptom of the bigger problem and this bigger problem is the infested food stuff that needs to be removed.