The Attack of the Pantry Moths

[mbarker]

Last week on Tuesday, the pantry moths attacked.

I'm not sure how long they had been preparing. We had trouble with them last year, and Mitsuko had been patting herself on the back about having driven them out.

We're talking about little moths, maybe one centimeter at the biggest? And they seem to pick on foods. Since Mitsuko hates moths of any kind, these really bother her. Last year they got into her kitchen cabinet, and she washed all the dishes in it. Several times. Along with throwing out anything that even showed a hint that they might have been on it, let alone in it.

Anyway, Tuesday evening at about 11 p.m., after working on the computer in my room at our apartment, I turned off the computer and got up to go to bed. That's when I realized that there was a swarm of moths behind me.

Between the Tower of Clothes, the closet in my room, and the old microwave cart that Mitsuko uses as a sort of pantry shelf, they were swarming. I thought at first I must be hallucinating, but Mitsuko came in, shrieked, and confirmed that they were really there.

I said they must be coming from some of the things that Mitsuko had piled on the pantry cart. She said that couldn't be it, that she knew what was there and they couldn't be in it. But she was busily trying to catch them on the walls and in the air, so I started taking apart her piled supplies.

First the ones on top, including the square tins that she likes so much. She assured me that they couldn't be in there, they were cans. But I took each one out and opened it. Whoops. That's got loose cookies in it, and those look like larva and moths. And what about this one? What is that plastic bag that has turned black and green inside? Oh, just throw it away?

Then I started into the stuff on the lower shelf. What about this bag of mochi rice? Oh, no, that's thick plastic, they can't be in that. But I picked it up and turned it around under the light. Whoops. Bugs!

And then there was another big bag of her favorite brown rice. No, you don't need to look at that, it's thick plastic.

When I picked it up, the rice . . . writhed. It moved, as if grey water were swirling inside the plastic. I have to admit, I sat down in surprise. Then looked more closely, and realized that the bag was full of little moths.

We were lucky it was Tuesday night, because Wednesday is trash day. So we bagged the various containers that were suspect (or in some cases, pretty definite).

It was after midnight when we settled down again. I was beat, but at least we thought we'd won this time.

Of course, every day since then we've been finding a few more here and there. But at least the swarming seems to have stopped.

I will admit, yesterday Mitsuko had a new tactic. Someone had recommended some kind of bug spray, and she had a can of it. And she sprayed one or two bugs in my room. Then when I went in after a while and choked, we decided that maybe this wasn't the best approach. Or at least, she's not going to use it when I'm around.

I suspect we're going to keep on battling them for the rest of the summer and part of the fall. Then when the weather turns cool enough, they'll vanish again.

Until the next attack of the pantry moths.

Comments

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

These often are found on the ceiling or up high on the walls, unfortunately. Not so sure how a dog would deal with that (although it might be amusing to watch).

[dialyn.livejournal.com]

Where there's a will, there's Bella. ;) If they detached, she'd have them. Or maybe I could design a hoist....hmmm, maybe not a good idea.