Indian Meal Moths

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Yuck! Recently, I came home to an explosion of moths in my house. I started seeing them a week or so before they appeared en masse--one or two here and there, and I didn't think much about them. Then one evening, it appeared we were bombarded. I started spraying and sweeping the moths up, when I noticed that there were a lot on the ceiling of one room. I was disgusted.

Stacy helped battle the buggers and clean up when she eyed the 10# bag of wild bird seed in the corner of the room where they appeared most. We'd found the source, and threw the bag outside.

We since have learned that the moths were Indian meal moths, and they commonly find their way into homes via--you guessed it!--wild bird seed. They apparently feed on the seed, and once they appear, the mating and population increase can really take off. They created quite a challenge to get rid of them.

Be forewarned: if you bring wild bird seed into the house, keep it in a tightly closed container. And if you see one or two of those little moths, ferret out the food source.