Carpet moths have become popular in our homes and come in different names, such as clothing moths, keratin moths, webbing moths, pantry moths, or meal moths. When they invade your home, carpet moths breed and feed on wool or other natural carpet fibers and clothing.
The larvae of carpet moths are the ones that damage natural fibers. These larvae resemble small worms and will eat any natural fiber with keratin until they are ready to pupate. If not taken care of, carpet moths can quickly destroy your carpet and spread around your home.
How do you get rid of carpet moths? In this post, I’ll talk about that. However, here are the signs to check out for carpet moths.
Carpet Moth on a Carpet
Signs of Carpet Moths
The most common sign of carpet moths is damage to your carpet. While it may seem obvious, this is mostly overlooked. Check for damaged areas or patches around your home, focusing on unused, darker, and humid areas. Look for threadbare patches on your carpets and rugs. The patches might be small, so look carefully.
Despite their name, carpet moths are not going only after carpets. If you have natural fiber materials, like furnishing or clothing, also look for damage. They can easily move to other areas in your home, like into your wardrobe.
Apart from checking for damage, look out for egg cases around skirting boards and in corners. When the eggs of a carpet moth hatch, they’ll leave cases that begin to dry and harden. Look out for these small white cases that resemble grains of rice.
If you notice any sign of carpet moth infestation, then it’s time to get rid of them. Below are several ways to remove carpet moths naturally without using chemicals.
How to Get Rid of Carpet Moths Naturally
Vacuuming
Regular vacuuming is one of the ways to stop a moth infestation and reduce its growth. Vacuuming is one of the efficient ways of removing dirt, debris, and other organic matter in your carpet.
Vacuuming will help remove moth eggs and larvae and also clean up hair, skin, and food debris that larvae need to survive. It should be done at least once a week, and you should pay attention to areas beneath your furniture, dark corners, and hard-to-reach places. These are the areas where moth larvae are more likely to thrive.
When vacuuming, you can add a mix of baking soda and white vinegar. This mixture has antibacterial properties and can also help freshen up your carpet or remove stains and spots left behind by moth larvae. For effective results, you can sprinkle baking soda at night and leave it to settle until you vacuum the carpet.
Use Natural Herbs or Plants
Apart from vacuuming, you can also use natural herbs and plants to reduce the infestation and create inhabitable conditions for the carpet moth to thrive. One natural herb you can use is cedarwood. Cedarwood has a strong smell that will repel moths, and in fact, most of the commercially available moth repellants come from the wood.
Apart from cedarwood, mint, lavender, and eucalyptus are effective at repelling carpet moths. Place dried leaves of mint with peppermint oil to help deter carpet moths from laying their eggs on your carpet.
Fly Paper and Fish Oil Trap
Flypaper is a fly-killing paper that is extremely sticky and coated with a sweet fragrance to attract the flies. When flies land upon it, it traps them. Flypaper is an effective method of trapping flying pests in your home, and it can be utilized to trap carpet moths.
Because carpet moths are not attracted to fly paper, fish oil is applied to the flypaper to attract it. This is effective for both adult carpet moths and larvae on your carpet. Fish oil attracts the moth, and the flypaper does the rest. To be effective, place the fly paper near affected areas.
Use Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth is a powder that is made by crushing the remains of tiny aquatic organisms called diatoms. The diatomaceous earth is sprinkled on your carpet to reduce moth infestation. The powder works by absorbing the fats and oils from the cuticle of the insect’s exoskeleton, causing them to dry out and die.
If you’re looking to try out diatomaceous earth, check out the Safer Brand Diatomaceous Earth, which is quite effective and works with different pests in your home. When applying diatomaceous earth, remember to use personal protective equipment because it can irritate your respiratory system.
Diatomaceous earth effectively kills a wide range of crawling insects in your home. Ants, bedbugs, centipedes, crickets, fleas, roaches, and moth larvae, among many others, are not spared. It is easy as just sprinkling it on the affected areas, and it starts working. It does not have adverse effects on humans or the environment.
Diatomaceous earth works only when it’s dry. If you wash your carpet or clothing, be sure to reapply it again. Though it can be messy, diatomaceous earth is very effective in killing moth larvae on your carpet and other pests in your home.
Wrapping Up
If any of these methods fail to eradicate the population of carpet moths in your home, then it’s time to call professionals. However, most of the time, these methods work effectively. Apart from trying to get rid of carpet moths, you can also invest in synthetic carpets in the future. Carpet moths are attracted to natural carpet fibers like wool. Nylon, polyester, olefin, and other synthetic carpet fibers are great and keep carpet moths at bay.
