What Clothes Moths Eat

Clothes moths are small 12 inch moths that are beige or buff colored.

What clothes moths eat. The cricket will eat the remains of the stain and during its feast will often cut the threads of the fabric. There are only two types of moth larvae that have the ability to digest the fibers that clothing is made from. Instead it is the voracious appetite of the moth larvae doing the feeding. Many people are under the impression that the adult moths named above are the culprits when it comes to the holes in cashmere cardigans or wool jackets.

If you see a swarm of moths it will. The tineola bisselliella or clothes moths and the tinea pellionella or casemaking clothes moth are two such species. Adult moths lack the mouthparts needed to eat your clothing lint. The most common pests in the american household are moths and carpet beetles.

Facts about clothes moths. The casemaking clothes moth tinea pellionella with brownish wings and lighter colored hairs on its head is less common than the webbing clothes moth. Moths themselves do not eat clothing. Moths are destructive no doubt but they dont actually eat your clothestheir babies do.

They are often mistaken for grain moths infesting stored food items in kitchens and pantries. Do moths eat clothes. Unlike some other types of moths clothes moths are seldom seen because they avoid light. Moths are one of the most common bugs that eat clothes.

However they find body soil food and beverage stains and laundry starch very attractive. A female moth flutters about and finds a spot suitable to lay eggs. They do not attack clean clothes. According to blake newton an extension entomologist at the university of kentucky moths lay eggs on fabrics caterpillars hatch from those eggs and then the caterpillars munch on the clothing.

There are primarily only two species of moths that damage clothes in the usthe webbing clothes moth and the casemaking clothes moth. Besides the usual plants and leaves larvae are very fond of fibers in clothes. Both are members of the family tineidae bisselliella. Adult moths eat significantly less than their caterpillar counterparts if they even eat at all.

Adults can only drink liquids and prefer those that are high in sugars like nectar sap and fruit juices. Crickets are not commonly thought of as an insect that eats holes in clothes. Two species the case making clothes moth tinea pellionella and the webbing clothes moth tineola biselliell. When those eggs hatch the larvae or caterpillars of the moths devour clothing.

Moths are often called textile pests but as mentioned its not the moths who eat clothes but rather the larvae or caterpillars.