The most common clothes moth that people encounter is the Webbing Clothes Moth.  This moth is about 3/8-inch long, and has a cream color, with a tuft of red hair on the top of the head. The larvae are white.

Larvae will be found on fabrics among thin sheets of webbing that they spin to shield themselves. They often leave strands of silk on fabrics they infest.

 Habitat and Behavior

Clothes moth larvae feed on wool, feathers, fur, hair, leather, lint, dust, paper, and occasionally cotton, linen, silk, and synthetic fibers. They are especially damaging to fabric stained with beverages, urine, oil from hair, and sweat. Most damage is done to articles left undisturbed for a long time, such as old blankets, wool upholstery, feathered hats, antique dolls and toys, natural bristle brushes, weavings, wall hangings, piano felts, old furs, and especially wool carpets under heavy furniture and clothing in storage.  Damaged fabrics have holes eaten through them by small, white larvae and often have silken cases, lines of silken threads, and fecal pellets over the surface of the materials. Moths are destructive during the larvae stage.  

Clothes moths rarely fly to lights at night and instead prefer darkness, such as a closet or storage chest.  Any clothes moths fluttering around the house are probably males, because females travel by either running, hopping, or trying to hide in the folds of clothing. Female webbing clothes moths lay 40 to 50 eggs that hatch in 4 to 21 days.  Larvae like to feed on soiled material, spinning silken mats or tunnels and incorporating textile fragments and bits of fecal pellets. Larvae will wander some distance away from their food source to pupate in crevices. The pupa case is silken with bits of fiber and excrement attached to the outside. The life cycle is about 65 to 90 days.

Clothes moth development is greatly influenced by humidity.  About 75-percent relative humidity in a heated, dark room is ideal.  If  your infested closet has a humidifier, or is next to heavily used bathroom, make sure that the area is properly ventilated.

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Control

Locate the source of infestation before treatment. Examine closets and stored goods for larvae cases, moths, and damage. Larvae prefer to feed in secluded, dark places. Use a flashlight and nail file to check for woolen lint and hair under baseboards, in and under seldom moved upholstered furniture, in air ducts, in carpets at the corners of the room and along edges, in stored clothing, and in other places not readily accessible. Check furs or feathers, such as stuffed birds or animal heads, antique feather beds, or felt in pianos, woolen scrap piles, etc. Adult moths do not feed in fabrics, but may be seen in darkened corners at night.  Infested items should be thrown out, laundered or dry cleaned.  

Vacuum all cracks and crevices in closets and other rooms infested.  If carpets and rugs are vacuumed frequently and thoroughly, eggs and larvae will be removed before damage can occur.  Vacuum upholstered furniture carefully.  If you have pets, pay special attention to removing animal hair—it is a food source for moth larvae.

After vacuuming cracks and crevices in closets and other rooms infested, a Clothes Moth Pheromone Trap should be placed in areas that contain items the larvae feed on, such as wool, hair, feathers, or fur.  In small areas, we recommend just one trap.  Too many traps will confuse the moths and you won't achieve proper control.  For larger areas such as warehouses and retail stores, place the traps every 25 - 50 feet apart on a grid pattern.  The recommended height is eye level. 

Recent field research has discovered that 70% more Webbing cloths moths (Tineola bisselliella) are captured in flatter traps vs. the traditional hanging traps. These traps can be placed into drawers, under or behind couches and cabinets or behind doors or on shelves in the darkened areas that these moths prefer. The lower profile also provides less risk of getting clothes stuck in the glue and it is more versatile. Notice the bottom of the Stealth trap.  It has a designated area for recordkeeping to assist in monitoring.

For added control, a dust such as Delta Dust could be applied in the cracks and crevices, and under baseboards in areas where these pests are found.  Delta Dust is an excellent product that can be applied with the White Crusader Duster. 

Infested rugs, carpets, and the undersides of cloth furniture should be cleaned thoroughly and can then be treated with a residual insecticide such as Suspend or Tempo.

Sensitive items, such as museum pieces, wall mountings, furs, taxidermy mounts, etc., might require vault fumigation or treatment with temperature control.  Smaller items can be placed in your freezer for 3 days, to kill any existing eggs/larvae/pupae.

For application equipment, you may need the B & G sprayer, the Bugwieser, the Hudson Sprayer, or the White Crusader Duster.

Insecticides should not be used to treat clothing.