What Are Clothes Moths?
Clothes moths are types of moths that infest garments, carpeting and other textile products, using them as their main source of food. They don’t like light, and choose to infest cloth products that are stored in dark places, like closets, wardrobes and chests.
One of the most important things to note about clothes moths, however, is that fully grown moths do not feed on clothing, but their larvae do. Clothes moths lay their tiny, pinhead-sized eggs on garments and other cloth materials. Once these eggs hatch into moth larvae, the larvae then begin to feed on the abundant clothing fibers around them. These larvae are usually creamy white in color and can be up to ½ inch long. There are two main varieties of clothes moths that you may find in your home:
- Casemaking moths: The casemaking moth encloses itself within a silken, tube-shaped case that it drags around with it. These “cases” usually contain bits of the clothing fibers that these moths feed on.
- Webbing moths: The webbing moth is known for the silken weblike substance that it spins as it eats, leaving tubes and patches of it on the garment it’s consuming.