Moths

Yeah moths.
My friggin studio has become inundated with them.
I noticed the first one over a year ago. Ever since then, another moth comes out of nowhere and flies around (they're little house moths...not the big butterfly things).
I've spraid raid. I've spent every night while recording swatting the damned things. Like literally, I swat about 5 ever day.
I think I've gotten rid of em, then 24 hours later, another one flies in front of my computer screen. (they think the cursor is another moth and try to mate with it)

Spraying doesn't work to get rid of them cause apparently, one moth can lay 500 pupa.... and it takes 4 - 6 weeks for it to mature into a moth.
So even when I spray... a couple of weeks go by and they're back again.

I've literally swatted 3 of em while sitting at my computer in the last hour.
Moth balls don't work and apparently are toxic.... raid doesn't work cause the damned things lay eggs underneath furniture so you can't get at them.

Anybody got a foolproof way of killing these damned things???

(last year it was fruit flies and the year before that it was earwigs... I can't win)

My fool proof way would include a can of starting fluid and a lighter. But your best bet is to call pest control.

I had a big fruit fly problem in my house this summer/fall and we put a few cups of wine here and there, the flies flew in the wine and drowned. So if you get fruit flies again, try that.

Originally Posted by: elklandercc
I had a big fruit fly problem in my house this summer/fall and we put a few cups of wine here and there, the flies flew in the wine and drowned. So if you get fruit flies again, try that.

Yeah, I tried that. You get a whole bunch of em drowning.
Same thing with vinegar.
Unfortunately, they were so numerous it didn't make a difference.
One stupid thing I did was put a cob of corn in the microway to cook it.
I totally forgot it was there.
Three days later I opened the microwave and a whole swarm of em flew out.
Little bastards.

They're smart too. They can hide all day long. But the minute you start to make food, they're all over you.
I made a sandwich once and took it over to my living room coffee table.
I put it down for about 1 minute while I went back to the kitchen to get a drink.
I came back and there were about 5 fruit flies sitting on my sandwich..... blech.
It's amazing how they can stay hidden until they notice you're making food.


The moths are a pain too. They only like the dark. They fly around so that you see em flying in front of the TV screen but the second you put the light on they land and disappear.

I notice one thing... you can swat em with an open hand in the air and it breaks their wings. They can't get up again.... unfortunately they can still lay 500 eggs.

Unfortunately, you are going to have to find the larvae in order to get rid of them.. and depending on what type of Moth it is, that could be anywhere...

Unless you are really anal and can tear apart your room to find them, I would suggest pest control.. Once an insect gets in and starts laying eggs.. its really difficult to stop the cycle.

I had a problem with ants a few years back and it took several months to finally get rid of them...

Good Luck.. insects are a pain in the rear-end.

Get some neem tree oil and put it around the perimeter of your room, problem solved.

The Neem Tree is a natural way to get pests to avoid your spaces and works great!

Also neem tree mulch around the outside does wonders.
http://www.neemfoundation.org/organic%20farming.htm

Cheers!

I have one of those electric racket things, and if they're swarming you can get piles of them that way. I guess with that many it wouldn't put too much of a dent in them, but it sure is fun! And you can really kill a lot of them that way, I mean a LOT.

Moths friggin terrify me. They're the only thing I can think of that scare me. Of course, I'm talking about the massive gross ones. My house is full of the tiny ones, much like your studio. We've just learned to live with them. :)

Yeah...my wife also has an irrational fear of moths.

Can't say I've ever had an infestation like described, but from what I know about 'em you just have to clean like a madman. It might help to determine what species you got, if different types are effectively treated differently. They make sticky traps with pheromones that attract them, which I hear are really effective, but pricey. I guess a pet bat wouldn't work in a studio (flying by echolocation and all), besides being more annoying than the moths themselves. :)

Here's a partially irrational solution that might work (usually works for me). Allow a few spiders into the studio, they will place their nets and catch most of the flying insects in the room. I don't mean the fat, hairy spiders from hell, but those small-bodied spiders with thin long legs. I let them put nets bellow the ceiling and in the upper corners or the room, and remove them when they are too visible from the dust. Those who seek that medieval torture-chamber type of interior decoration might be tempted to leave them, but dusty nets are not sticky enough to catch anything, so I toss them out like a full vacuum cleaner bag.
Of course, moth repelling might be one of thousands of undeclared uses for WD40. :)

These are the little buggers. They start off as little grubs that hang from the bottoms of things so you can't get to em. Thy gestate for about 4 - 6 weeks at about 500 at time. Then they wriggle free and take off.
Next thing you know there's 5 or six of em flying around the room.

The only way to get rig of em is to swat em with an open hand and hit em with your figers... that way they go flying and land on the floor.

The stupid thing is, if you're working on your computer, when you use your cursor, they think it's another moth and it chases after it and tries to mate with it.

They're also nocturnal. They fly around at night and as soon on the lights they hide so you can never find em.

I'm getting the hang of em though.

Wait for em to fly by and swat em with your open hand so your fingers hit em and send em flying. It' breaks their stupid wings so you can step on em.



At least year there's been no earwigs.

Originally Posted by: acapellaI have one of those electric racket things, and if they're swarming you can get piles of them that way. I guess with that many it wouldn't put too much of a dent in them, but it sure is fun! And you can really kill a lot of them that way, I mean a LOT.

They hurt like s**t when people shock you with them though...

We had a similar probelm when the government or whatever released hundreds of thousands of these little orange lady bugs that bite and stink a couple years back. They were released to eat aphids that were eating the soy beans.

Good luck with the moths dude.