Moths round two

So after fumigating the house, everything was stable for a few days. Then I started to pick up moths on the second floor - which due to the numbers seemed to be coming from my office. A few turned up in the wife's sewing room.

So, I suspect a new genration was hatched after the gas. I then fumigated those rooms and sealed the doors. Now I have to keep watching the pheremone traops to see if a new batch hatches. In theory I should not have to wait more than 10 days for an all clear, but all it takes is one egg laying moth and I have to start all over again.

This is why it is really great to be able to seal off rooms and check them seperatly.

cheaper moth pheremone traps

I normally buy my traps from Insects Limited,

However I just noticed that there are a lot more on the market that seem to be cheaper. Go to Amazon and search "clothes moth trap" and there are a few. I have no idea if these are as good or the same as the IL brand.

I'll have to ask a preservation expert I know. BUt it means not having to buy in amounts of 10.

At last! A.E.F. photographs.

Just as I finally find a copy of the 950 page WW1 Signal Corps photography caption book, It gets scanned and placed online.

While maybe not of great import to many, this is a major deal to those working with AEF photos. Its now free and avaiable to donload from the internet archives.

I can now keep it on my computer for rapid access, although it is a tad hard to work with as a pdf. However, this was almost the tipping point for my buying a kindle DX to be able to read pdf's on.

The Great Moth war

Using the pheremone moth lures I figured out that the main infestation seems to be coming from my wifes upstairs sewing room. However as most of my collectible wool is in a basement room I hit that right away with some of the yellow no pest strips. Better known as Gulf no pest strips, these slowley release a version of permethrin.

Permethrin is toxic to cats, but not dogs and humans. The permethrin vapor coming off the yellow strips settles to the ground, where most moths live, and acts as a neuro-agent. Its safe to use as long as people, or dogs, don't spedn a lot of time (like sleeping) in the area. Within a day after starting that I picked up no more moths in my basement traps.

I then nuked the house using aresol permethrin spayers. These are cmmonly found in hardware stores, and you seal the house, turn them on, and leave for 2 hours, then come back and ventilate. Now this is going to kill all the living moths, but probably not touch the eggs, which can hatch in a few to ten days. So I am going to have to do it again in 10 days.

One thing I had just never connected with, is that if you have a dog (or cat), they make you more suspectable to clothes moths. They shed and leave hair on the floor. Moths eat wool as it is an animal hair- just like pet fur. So if you have pet fur sitting around under the sofa or whatever, a moth flitting in has a greater chance of finding food for the babies.

And as moths are crappy flyers and like to stay low on the ground, it makes the best preventative measure against them is to vacuum.

Now I feel like I am fighting a guerilla war aginst them.