Like carpet beetles, carpet moths are equally frustrating. This means that if you have clothes or carpeted floors, the last thing you want is to suffer from their infestation. Don’t worry though, because the ways to get rid of carpet moths aren’t as complicated as you’d think. Especially across the United States, the infestation of carpet moths has drastically increased and become uncontrollable.
While they don’t necessarily carry fatal diseases with them, carpet moths are damaging and detrimental to your home. This means that if you don’t want your entire home to fall into shambles with cloth and fiber pieces everywhere, this is where you need to intervene immediately.
Also, like the other insects, more than the adult version, you need to be afraid of the larvae form of the carpet moths. In this article, we will be discussing everything you need to know about carpet moths and how you can get rid of them from your home for good.
Also read: How to Get Rid of Groundhogs? 11 Effective Remedies
Table of Contents
What is Carpet Moths?
Don’t get deterred by the name of these insects; carpet moths aren’t limited to your carpet. The carpet moths are minuscule insects that infest the natural fiber items around your home, be it carpets or even the curtains and clothes you have lying around.
Although the mature carpet moths are pretty harmless, the larvae are extremely potent in eating away at the carpet fabric, wool, or even cotton items around your home. Since they like staying in the temperature-regulated areas, it isn’t surprising that you will often find them reproducing very quickly than you’d expect.
As for their appearance, there are a few different variants. Some feature the staple white and brown colors, while others have a darker hue to them. They grow up to 0.5 inches in size, making them extremely hard for you to spot around the house.
List of Ways to Get Rid of Carpet Moths
Since these insects are extremely small in size, finding and spotting them is quite difficult. This makes the eliminating process a little difficult. Don’t worry though, because we have some effective ways to get rid of carpet moths.
1. Start by Finding the Sites of Infestation
The first and most important step towards getting rid of the carpet moths from around your home is finding the site of infestation. Sometimes, you won’t even find them with the naked eye if you don’t concentrate well. The brown and tan appearance is easier to blend into the surroundings, making it difficult for you to find them around. However, you need to be thorough with the search. Try to scope out the common infestation sites like carpets, window sills, or damp walls.
Once you have an idea where the infestation is the maximum, you can then implement the various tips that we have sorted out for you below.
2. Assess the Degree of Infestation
Although it relates to the first tip, we’d recommend you check the entire house, even the basement, and garage, to decide whether you can get rid of the carpet moths yourself or you will need some professional help with the same. So, your second step is to assess the degree of infestation in your home.
Ensure that you look out for the undisturbed spots around the house, including under the carpets and behind the furniture. If you witness irregular holes in your clothes and other kinds of fabric, we’d recommend that you take immediate steps after that.
3. Turn Down the Heating
As weird as it sounds, the primary reason why carpet moths tend to infest in your homes is due to the warm environment inside. So, make sure that you turn down the heating for good. What you can do instead is switch on the air conditioning and make the place inhabitable for these small pesky insects. The colder the environment is, the easier it becomes for you to get rid of them.
The warm environment is especially ideal for the larvae more than the mature carpet moths. And, since the larvae are more destructive, we’d recommend that you do the needful as soon as possible before the infestation gets out of hand.
4. Change the Way you Store Clothes
Another important factor that you need to keep a check on is the way you store clothes. Since the larvae have a habit of feasting on the natural fibers, we’d recommend that you stack away your clothes in an air-tight plastic storage container, so nothing gets out of hand for you. You need to ensure that the storage container is tough and not made of cardboard because the moths will chew through it.
However, this is more of a precaution than a preventive measure since the clothes and cupboards are often infested at last. So, keep a check and locate the signs of infestation before you get into it.
5. Try Chemical Treatment
Since the rugs are where you will find the majority of the population of the chemical moths, you must try some sort of chemical treatment on them. This is to ensure that you kill the moths and prevent them from reproducing, which is like your biggest threat. However, using chemicals and toxins isn’t recommended if you have children or pets around.
If you are doing the chemical treatment on your own, we’d recommend that you start with a deep cleaning and vacuuming before you spray the chemical on the rug. Sometimes, if the infestation is beyond repair, you might have to consider throwing out the entire rug for good or burn it down to prevent them from making a return.
6. Use Carpet Moth Traps
Although they aren’t very effective for heavier infestations, they do work magic for smaller and initial infestations. What you can do is place them strategically on the rug that has been infested and wait for them to crawl inside the trap. Once they are trapped inside, you can take the trap outside and get rid of them. However, you need to ensure that you spray them outside and not anywhere near your home.
Also, if the temperature inside your home is warm, you are welcoming them with open arms into your house. So, turn down the temperature and use deep steam cleaning for the rug to eliminate them with the larvae before they even have the chance to hatch.
7. Try Vinegar & Water Solution
If the infestation has proceeded onto your cupboards, you need to act immediately before these small pests take over your clothes and damage them for good. What you can do is either bring all the clothes out of the cupboard, or you can use a diluted vinegar solution to get rid of the remnant moths from the wardrobe.
In case there are moths in your clothes, make sure that you wash them all with hot water to get rid of them and prevent future infestations.
8. Do Steam Cleaning Now & Then
If you have experienced carpet moths or other pests in your home, it is a given that you need to indulge in steam cleaning without any questions. Do a thorough cleaning of the entire space at least 2-3 times every week to ensure no chances of future infestation.
While dry vacuuming does the work to an extent, it isn’t the best way to get every last one of those bugs. What you can do instead is try steam cleaning. The heat from the steam does not just help with the deep cleaning but also removes any potential larvae growth that might be happening in the carpet.
9. Try a DIY Repellent
Not every individual is comfortable trying out the heavy chemical-infused repellents, and that’s completely fine. However, if you want to try out a simple DIY repellent, the combination of rosemary, thyme, cloves, bay leaves, and lavender can do magic for you.
Besides the fact that they have antibacterial properties, they have strong smells due to the essential oils, which isn’t particularly inviting for these pests. So, you can get rid of them from your home without further complications.
10. Try Pest Control
If nothing seems to be working out for you, the last resort is to get help from professionals. Always make sure that you contact reliable and reputed service providers who can genuinely help you with the infestation around your home. Sometimes, you will end up with poor service when you spend fewer amounts on them.
If you were wondering how to get rid of carpet moths, we hope this article gives you all the insights that you likely need to know. Just ensure that you follow along with the right methods and take immediate steps without delaying things out. Moreover, you need to check the infestation rate and what you can do to stop it. Your first aim is to prevent these pests from reproducing because that is when all hells break loose.
Also read: How to Get Rid of Termites? | 7 Natural Ways
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How to Get Rid of Carpet Moths Naturally?
The best way to repel carpet moths is to use rosemary, thyme, and lavender because their strong smell creates an aversion for the carpet moths.
What Attracts Carpet Moths the Most?
Moisture and perspiration are two of the most common triggers for carpet moths that they are attracted to. Food traces also attract them in abundance.
Do Carpet Moths Live in Synthetic Carpets?
Although quite rare, carpet moths are found in synthetic carpets too, but they are mostly found in natural material carpets like wool, cotton, etc.
