I didn’t think we had a moth problem. You don’t really notice them, and if you do see one, a flyswatter is a quick solution. I’d been looking at these Dr. Killigan’s Pantry Moth Traps for a while, and I thought, why not put one in the pantry, just to be sure a stray moth doesn’t sneak in.

To my surprise, the first week I had over a dozen meal moths in the trap. An investigation revealed an old box of cereal that was infested with moth larva. I disposed of the moth nursery, but the trap continued capturing moths for weeks. This was several years ago, eventually, the moth infestation disappeared, but I always keep one of these traps in the pantry, renewing it a couple of times a year.

With the stockpiling of staples during the Covid-19 era, protecting our pantry is more important than ever. My traps still collect the occasional moth, presumably arriving in a compromised food package, and I feel like these traps have blocked a number of potential moth infestations.

The last time I ordered a supply of the pantry moth traps, I noticed that the same manufacturer also makes Dr. Killigan’s Clothing Moth Traps. Since I was so happy with the pantry moth traps, I thought I’d give the clothes moth traps a try. Low and behold, I had another type of unseen infestation. This time, the source was the fur ruff on the hood of an old winter parka. Removing the offending article did not end the infestation. I never did find where the offspring from the original infestation had re-located, but the traps continued to do their work, and eventually, the supply of new moths dwindled.

I keep one of these traps in each of the closets where we store our woolens. Every now and then, a moth shows up in the trap. I assume they sneak in as eggs on second-hand wool articles, or perhaps just stray in from outdoors.

These traps work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get moths. The traps work by luring male moths into the traps with pheromones. But a mated female moth could arrive and lay eggs, or you could buy a product that has moths (or their eggs) inside, and you wouldn’t know until its male offspring shows up in your trap. For this reason, I consider the traps a necessary line of defense, no matter how clean your pantry is.

These moth traps don’t exactly improve my sleep, but it is comforting to know that I have a defense against these winged invaders. I like these traps because they’re inexpensive and easy to set up, but most of all, because they work.

-- Runciblefish 01/19/21