moth traps?

[Soundguy]

The wife raises small birds ( finches, parakeets, cockatiels.. yada yada.. ).. she has a room full of them and thus buys seed in the 20# bulk bags. Offacionally we get these small ? moths? that are about 3/8 to 1/2 inch long.. they are apparently the end result of a small caterpillar that makes a coccoon of about the same size. Once we open a bag that has these, we play heck for the next week doing search and destroy before they get out of hand.

I had heard one time there was a trap or other chemical 'aid' for these.. and maybee I think I even saw pics and there was a name listed her ont he board.. a few months back.. though i can't find it now.

any clues?

soundguy

 

[jdbower]

Were you referring to this thread?

 

[TBDonnelly]

We've had the grain moths in the past. Birdseed and dog food brought them in.

It took a lot of due diligence to get rid of them. Stored the Birdseed/dog food in the garage in sealed metal trash cans. Got rid of any old/opened pantry items. What was left was sealed in plastic containers. Went thru many of the 'Pantry Pest traps' before finally ridding the house of the grain moths.

Don

 

[Soundguy]

Pantry pest traps? can you expand on this.

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Ahh.. now i found them.

thanks

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Were you referring to this thread?

you da man!

exactly what i needed.

soundguy

 

[Redneck_Randy]

Put serveral of them out Soundguy. I put 4 of them in my pantry to get ride of them. They did do the job getting ride of them. Just make sure you get the right pheromone traps.

 

[Soundguy]

I'm going to stop by lowes on the way to my night job.

I assume it will say pantry moths onthem.. correct?

soundguy

 

[jimmyj]

I work in the food business and was interested to see this thread. Indian Meal Moths are a real pain and I can maybe help a bit.

a) they thrive in birdseed because it is not ground or cooked like other foods. Many of the seed items you buy for domestic or wild birds are fumigated but that does not kill the eggs or pupae (common for insecticides).

b) heat stimulates them to hatch. Think of the wilds - bug lays egg, egg sits dormant over winter, warm weather wakes it up and viola, a new bug.

c) find the "mother ship" - there is always a colony that is the source of the infestation.

d) you can kill them by freezing. If you have a small bag of seed toss it into the freezer overnight

e) pheremone traps are not intended to stop infestations. They are actually indicators to detect infestation and the level of same. You need a bug spray or something to kill them off.

f) some birds, particularly canaries can get very sick or die from bug sprays. Remove them all if you fumigate the room.

g) probably the best thing to do is toss the stuff, clean the room like crazy, and start over with the seed in separate airtight containers. That way you can limit the spread and also identify problems when they are isolated.

Good luck!

 

[TBDonnelly]

Do a search on "pantry pest trap". You'll get about 16,000 results.

All good points from jimmyj........

Don

 

[Soundguy]

This isn't our first rodeo with the birds.. been doing it for years. Usually we throw the seed into the deep freezer in a garbage bag for weeks while we use up the other bags ( we buy large bulk bags ), then when we do pull the sesd out we keep it in an airtight cannister as we use it.

the problem started when my wife left for a trip and bought a spare bag and left it in the bird room.. when that bag got opened.. a good handfull of moths escaped.. those are the ones i'm trying to control..

I'm well aware of the insectiside issue with small birds.. etc.

the bag was the 'point source'

so far we have kept them isolated tothe bird room, and the bag was sequestered to prevent further release.. just want to deal with the escapees befre it gets out of hand.

looks liekthe traps are doing their thing.. i went and got some already.

soundguy

I work in the food business and was interested to see this thread. Indian Meal Moths are a real pain and I can maybe help a bit.

a) they thrive in birdseed because it is not ground or cooked like other foods. Many of the seed items you buy for domestic or wild birds are fumigated but that does not kill the eggs or pupae (common for insecticides).

b) heat stimulates them to hatch. Think of the wilds - bug lays egg, egg sits dormant over winter, warm weather wakes it up and viola, a new bug.

c) find the "mother ship" - there is always a colony that is the source of the infestation.

d) you can kill them by freezing. If you have a small bag of seed toss it into the freezer overnight

e) pheremone traps are not intended to stop infestations. They are actually indicators to detect infestation and the level of same. You need a bug spray or something to kill them off.

f) some birds, particularly canaries can get very sick or die from bug sprays. Remove them all if you fumigate the room.

g) probably the best thing to do is toss the stuff, clean the room like crazy, and start over with the seed in separate airtight containers. That way you can limit the spread and also identify problems when they are isolated.

Good luck!