Does Bleach Kill Pantry Moth Eggs

Like their closet lurking cousins pantry moths are destructive pests act fast before they eat through and lay eggs on the stored food in your cabinets or pantry.

Does bleach kill pantry moth eggs.

You may notice the moth worms egg casings or webbing. The eggs of the pantry moth hatch in roughly one week. These pantry moths are tenacious. Go through your pantry checking items for signs of infestation.

Pantry moths lay up to 400 eggs and the eggs hatch within one week. Eggs are grayish to dirty white and from 0 3 to 0 5mm long. Eggs hatch in 2 to 14 days with larvae or tiny whitish caterpillars dispersing within a few hours. Meal moths probably laid those eggs at a food packaging facility or in the bulk bins at the natural food store.

Even if it s a minor problem. If you have adjustable shelves or pegboard grab a toothpick and clean out the little peg holes. After two to three months they go through the pupae stage and move into a cocoon. After mating the half inch long gray brown female meal moth finds a suitable environment for laying her eggs as many as 400 at one time.

And since it only takes 2 3 missed pantry moths to enable a new infestation its best to treat the areas and be done with them for good. An adult female pantry moth can lay 300 400 eggs at one time. Pantry moth eggs and pupae will no doubt be hidden in these areas and though vacuuming will remove some its not possible to get them all. Kitchen moth worms enter your home inside food.

There are more tiny little eggs hiding somewhere. Before you bring any dry foods into the house place them in the freezer for four to seven days to kill any larvae they may be harboring. The pantry moths can lay eggs under the lip of metal tins pantry moths can eat through your plastic containers eventually. After you bring home an item that contains moth eggs or larvae the moth worms quickly spread to other foods.

During the moth larvae stage they consume whatever they find and are the most destructive. Those are notorious for collecting moth eggs and webs. Rinse with a mixture of water vinegar and peppermint oil to kill eggs and repel moths. Once you ve found a few pantry moth nests and larva and wiped them out you may think you re done.

Pantry moth larvae are often mistaken for worms or even weevils a type of beetle that also likes flours and grains. Then it enters the larval stage during which it feeds and gains strength for its future breeding efforts. The female moth lays between 60 and 300 eggs singly or in clusters on or near the foodstuffs. Pupae are reddish brown and about 3 8 inch long.

Wash the inside of the pantry or cabinet with soap and water then with a weak bleach solution.