Do clothes moths have predators?

I recently helped a client to deal with this problem. He had an infestation of both carpet moths and clothes moths that was spectacularly bad. Fortunately we were in the position of being able to replace every single item that was affected (he had very little of anything and his place is just a one bedroom flat). We threw out all the furniture and carpets, all the bedding and clothing, then re-decorated every room before using industrial grade moth killer. The pheromone trap has captured nine moths since we treated everything. All his new furniture, carpets and clothes are made of synthetic materials and I'm still going in twice a week to continue spraying the rooms. I won't stop spraying until the moth trap hasn't caught one for a month.

I have cedar wood ‘planks’ with hanger hooks in them. They’re about 6” long, I hang them everrywhere, put rings over hangars in cupboards, and blocks into drawers, trunks, wherever I store clothes. Haven’t seen moths yet, hmm, hope that doesn’t jinx it. I wear only wool, cotton etc! Natural fibers. But the cedar wood works. Get some cedar wood oil, that may make it easier, paint inside drawer or cupboards etc.

You could make your fortune importing/exporting the mothballs as they can't be bought for love nor money here in UK. As I said before the naphthalene is too poisonous to handle. I know we all survived but there you go. Our generation was made of stronger stuff.
It is horrible when you find your best clothes eaten.
I lost a hand spun, hand knitted cardigan. Boo hoo.
I keep everything vulnerable in plastic ziplock bags and try not to keep anything for "best"
Socks in a plastic box with a lid.

DH ties all went to the compost heap.
I wonder what I would find if I moved the large wardrobe.... and that's a good idea about the double sided tape coconut.
Why am I sitting here you ask!
I may need smelling salts for my constitution before the next tackle begins.

I had 4 stunning expensive cashmere jumpers i bought ages ago from Marks, when clothing was far superior in quality compared to now, and kept them in plastic bags. One day i decided to take one out to match a pair of slacks i was wearing and was stunned speechless - all covered in holes. I have no idea how they got into bags, and chewed their way through my beautiful tops. They've all been binned now - i was devastated. Good luck - growing up in Oz we always used Moth Balls - which made the whole house smell strangely, but it certainly worked. If it works in the sub-tropics it should work anywhere.

I found the only thing that works is keeping things in strong plastic bags designed for the purpose. They don't seem to touch my cotton though

They are not particular are they alig99
They prefer wool if available but cotton and I think they eat paper too so books may be a problem.
My best decision was having a small chest freezer, kept cold. 3 days in there, then out for 24 hours so the eggs hatch and then back in to kill the larvae!

There is a persian carpet importer in the city who offer to put your things in their industrial freezer for a fee. Even moth larvae cannot survive at minus 40 degrees c.
I have been told that a tumble drier will kill them as will a microwave and ofcourse drycleaning fluid will work too.

I had this issue a few years ago, I used lavender, cedar wood balls etc and swatted every one I saw. A pest control man said we would need to have every item of clothing dry cleaned ? then all carpets fumigated after removal of furniture ! We had a 3 storey town house then ! Just impossible to do. I did put double sided adhesive tape all round my skirting boards and that trapped loads, plus put those awful fly papers up all over. Try to find the site of the pupa, ours were under the sofa (dark and dusty places) then you can hoover them up and kill them before they hatch.

PS It's reckoned none of them like lavender or bay (Acana is a lavender oil spray) so I shall be putting sprigs in all the dark places!

My sympathies regarding moths. I’ve just cleaned out my dead mothers house and she loved natural fabrics. It was so sad to see expensive clothes destroyed and her lovely cream wool carpets that she’d had for 50years. I am greatful to the lady who described the larvae. I thought it was wood worm. Now I know! I buy suit bags off eBay to store my wool coats in. I also have a an electronic blue zapper thing in the kitchen which runs overnight so my house is bug free by the morning. I think you can still get hold of those toxic mothballs. I’ve still got them in my wardrobes.

We had noticed a regular few in our bedroom. We assumed getting in through window. But we discovered eggs/moths amongst hats/gloves etc. under our ottoman bed. They'd eaten through a few things. We removed everything. Threw out some things that appeared to have unhatched eggs in them. Cleaned storage area of bed. We hoovered room thoroughly,particularly under bed, which was close to the floor. Checked items round room and found a couple with eggs. Washed them carefully as they were items with sentimental value - a handmade penguin DH bought me in the Falkland Islands. Bought some cedarwood moth repellents and put them around room. Think it's done the trick. Think the main thing you need to do is have a really good clean. Check all clothing, soft items, curtains and carpets, to make sure you get rid of all the eggs. They are easy to miss and will continue to hatch.

I found an infestation of 50 carpet moth larvae under the spare bed at Easter. They look like grains of rice. I removed the furniure but had to check all of it as they climb to make cocoons and they were in the drawers. I then sprayed with Acana and a month later sprayed again. I also got the carpet moth pheremone traps and caught some in them (replace strips every 3 months). I now hoover much more than I did, especially along the skirtings, keeping an eye open for the larvae. I find they are inclined to pop up on the carpet the day after hoovering! I seemed to have won now, apparently it's been a bad year for them. The moths are inclined to scurry round the carpet, trying to find a dark place to lay eggs. Clothes moths are a different moth, I use clothes moth pheremone traps, cedarwood rings and as they're inclined to fly higher and land on walls, always watch out for them and swat them with a teatowel!

Someone we know paid Rentokill to fumigate or whatever, The bill was astronomical and they would only give a 3 month guarrantee. The moths are back.

I am slowly tackling a room at a time and I think with all my weaponry, they will have to look elsewhere for food.
What I can't understand is what they find so delicious in the shower? I have a full trap in there. Are they coming through the ventilation hole?

There is a tawny owl roosting in the Ivy on our wall Bradfordlass don't give me ideas.

I have the same problem. In particular many of my cotton tops have been attacked and ruined but moths. I was bitterly disappointed when a brand new never worn one was chewed within a couple of days of being purchased. These tops are hanging not in draws, not in a dark wardrobe. I’ve tried spray and lavender etc but it still happens. We even have got new carpet and underlay... bizarrely they never seem to attack my husbands cloths and generally the holes appear in the middle of the tops. I’m despairing that I will ever get rid of them.

We had an infestation in our previous house. It’s the larvae that do the damage. We moved a very large wall unit and they had completely destroyed/eaten the carpet underneath. We bought several spray cans from a pest control website and treated the problem ourselves - I think it took about 6 cans!! I would strongly advise calling in a pest control company - they are very persistent and destructive little things. Good luck with it.

Our last carpet had masses of moth holes in it. The new one has been treated against moths and all good, so far. We have a sticky pad thing from Lakeland which has a few casualties on it and a 'tennis racket' type thing which you hit the moths with and press a button and they are zapped. It works for flies too! I got it from Amazon. Touch wood we don't seem to get them upstairs so our clothes are fine, so far.

Do clothes moths have predators?

They do. Introduce a few bats and a couple of owls into your wardrobe.

might be worth speaking to a professional extermination company, either council or other company. I think you've done all you can and seem to be fighting a losing battle.

I hate them. DS brought an infested jacket back from uni and it was a while before I discovered it!
I fumigated his fitted wardrobe and painted the inside. I now spray all wardrobes with moth killer and hang up traps.
Occasionally I see one at this time of year and assume it’s flown in.
They seem to be a real pest everywhere.

The thing about them is the eggs are tiny and look and feel like sand. So of you feel the bottom of a drawer and it feels like sand but you haven't been to the beach recently - yes you guessed!
I wondered what became of all those fur coats paddyann
My DM had one too.

my late mother gave me a fur coat ..a very nice fur coat but I dont wear fur.It had been a gift from my dad for an anniversary in the days when women had a wardrobe of furs.My sisters got fur coats too but mine went in the attic.Not long before she died my OH was up in said attic and I asked him to chuck the coat down so I could check it....laughinly said in case mum wants buried iin it..just as well she didn't there was only the skin left!! It had been in special tissue inside a box but they still managed to get it!

Yes Grammarretto, Waitrose moth traps - work every time.

I never actually see any...but third t-shirt today with holes in it.. aaagh!!!!

I discovered carpet moth under my sofa earlier this year, they'd eaten whole in the rug. I went to moth killer.co.uk, sorry can't do links, and they sent me spray, powder another spray and a pheromone trap and it worked! Not sure if you can get pheromone traps for clothes moths. I have heard that putting clothes in the freezer kills the larvae.

I have never had them before this year, but they are persistent little blighters. I think it must be a bad year.
I have used the Arcana. spray, and the hanging ones in the wardrobes. I did send for some moth smoke bombs and used them upstairs. I also found that they seem to like the damp towels overnight, so now shake them every morning and squidge any if they appear.
On Thursday I went into our loft to retrieve something and on the underside of the loft hatch were lots of dead ones. Ugh! I washed all the hatch with soapy water and ammonia, it was the only thing to hand, and hoovered, again.
I haven’t seen any for the last day or so, but I do feel like a hunter on the prowl every day for anything that looks as though it may be a dreaded carpet moth.

I use these from John Lewis
www.johnlewis.com/acana-hanging-moth-killer-and-wardrobe-freshener-pack-of-6/p3597144

And an aerosol spray of the same make. It seems to work - I do see moths sometimes but they seem half-dead & don’t seem to have attacked any clothes. I started using them after a couple of cashmere sweaters were ruined but since I’ve been using them, no more disasters.