Hi everyone! I have truly tried everything to rid myself of clothes moths, specifically Tineola Bisselliella and Monopis Crocicapitella. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Tune in if you have expertise in this field and / or to read about my escapade and adventures in the name of banishing clothes moths from my life. It's a page turner...
An entomologist saw my moth trap in September 2023 and confirmed I have both Tineola Bisselliella and Monopis Crocicapitella.
To give you the quickest overview possible I’ve truly tried everything to get rid of them.
Here’s some high-level background:
From October 2022 until September 2023, I lived in a house that had a bad moth infestation.
In September 2023, I got rid of literally every single thing that I owned, and kept only two passports, a laptop, and a cell phone, in the hope of getting rid of the moths once and for all. I was moving to the east coast and decided it was worth the sacrifice of stuff (which I didn't have that much of) if I could be moth-free.
Unfortunately, no luck. I got rid of my possessions and over a seven week period, I lived in three different hotels, where I changed rooms every three days. During this time I also bought entirely new clothes every three days (I mean every item — from shoes, to bag to underwear, jacket and socks) and discarded the previous set.After this period, I thought I was in the clear. But after two weeks of living a normal life (staying in one place and keeping the same set of clothes) holes appeared after about seven days.
In the following experiment which lasted two months I introduced the following: I also treated my hair with anti-lice shampoo that contained pyrethrins and sprayed each set of clothes with a 0.5% Permethrin spray.
Here’s a deeper dive on almost everything I’ve tried to get rid of the moths over the past year and a half:
The day before I flew to NYC, I bought brand new clothes, bags, shoes (everything) before my flight. I moved into a sublet that was definitely moth-free. But a couple of days later I found holes in my brand new items.
I then went traveling in North America. I moved hotel rooms every three days and bought a new outfit every time I moved to a new room and discarded the previous outfit. After seven weeks of doing this — I still found holes.At this point, nothing made sense.
To recap: I was changing my entire wardrobe every three days and I was staying in moth-free apartments or hotel rooms that I was moving out of every three days. I know moths aren’t meant to dwell on hair or skin, but I suspected that they must be living somewhere in my body.
So I embarked on a new two month experiment. I added permethrins to the mix. For the next two months, I used anti-lice shampoo in my hair, smeared 5% permethrin cream on my body, and regularly blow dried my hair, knowing the high heat kills eggs — just in case.
I was also still moving hotel rooms and changing my wardrobe every three days. And, I’d also read that bed bugs can find a home in electronics. There’s no evidence to suggest that’s the case with my moths, but I wanted to be as careful as possible, so I left my laptop at work during this entire period of three months. I also got Bell Environmental to apply their InstantFreeze, usually used to kill bedbugs hiding in electronics, to my laptop.
By this point, I thought I must be moth-free, so I let down my guard. However, again after two weeks of not swapping out my clothes and accommodation every three days, I found seven moth holes in a shirt and bag. I was in high-end hotels at the time and I am confident that they were moth-free. So at this point, I’m at a loss. It’s been more than a year and a half, I’ve invested thousands of dollars in trying to get rid of the moths, as well as countless hours of research… and nothing has worked.
What I’d like to try now:
Is there a machine with a magnifying glass powerful enough to scan my laptop, passports — the three things I can’t get rid of — to see if that’s where the moth eggs are living? And/or a machine to scan my hair and skin for moth eggs? Essentially, I would like to know for sure, where the moth eggs are being carried.
Any other ideas?Everything I’ve experienced has gone against received wisdom around moths. For example, they've eaten synthetics, holes have in some cases appeared within 48 hours of me wearing a brand new cotton item.
If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears. And I’d also really appreciate any resources or research you could send my way that might help point me in the right direction.
Many thanks!
