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Help!! worms crawling on pantry ceiling and down walls!! ahh



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amother


 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 6:42 pm
I opened my pantry yesterday and saw a dozen white small worms crawling around the ceiling... slowly making their descent on the walls. DH came home and got rid of them last night, but today there are more than a dozen crawling around. Help!!!! Did anyone ever have this? Where do they come from and how to get rid of them quickly and permanently? I hope they didn't get into the open bags of food etc.... ahhhhh! Please help! Any advice is appreciated. I can post a picture if anyone had it and wants to see if its the same thing...

TIA!!
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tikvuchka




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 6:53 pm
never had this problem Thank god but I would call an exterminator and throw everthing away!
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Nicole




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 7:02 pm
Ew. I feel for you that is so awful. Are they maggots? Do you keep potatoes or some other vegetable/ thing that can rot in you pantry? If they are maggots, you need to not keep rottable (for lack of better word) foods in the pantry and I would clean out the whole thing with bleach (dont know what your panty is made out of, will this ruin it.
Otherwise, yes, get an exterminator.
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!! I'm so so sorry! Very Happy
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MimiMommy




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 7:03 pm
tikvuchka wrote:
never had this problem Thank god but I would call an exterminator and throw everthing away!


This. Because even if you find the source, anything you spray there will get on your food. You could just take everything out to the bare walls and search for a nest.
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sped




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 7:16 pm
I saw that once in a large, institutional storage room. There it came from moth worms. The only thing that worked was getting rid of EVERYTHING - food, packages, boxes, containers, even baskets for organization, scrubbing down the room and filling it with mothball type of things. They left it like that for quite a while before trying to use it again.
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amother


 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 7:24 pm
Wow... thanks for the replies. we do have occasional moths but we are on the lookout for them so they never get out of hand. We put natural spices all over the shelves with an odor they do not like. So how are these worms connected to those moths?

Also, to all those who said to call an exterminator... is it my responsibility or my landlords?
(originally before we moved in, we made a condition to have it cleaned of moths- exterminated and all. But a week after we moved in we saw a moth... my dh and I are not the pushy type and didn't make a deal of it. However to get rid of the worms- not sure whose responsibly it would fall under)
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 7:32 pm
If you have moths sometimes, those are likely the larvae of the meal moths. OMG!!! I hate those. We have been battling them for years.

First, freeze all your flour, sugar, grains etc. That will kill eggs (which come in every sack of flour you buy).

Next, get containers that seal - not just close!

Third, get traps for meal moths.

Fourth, be very diligent about killing them.

Google meal moths to see horror stories. Once you see them, they have already mated and laid a ton of eggs.
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STovah




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 7:36 pm
I had this once. You don't need an exterminator. You need to throw out any open food items - pasta, grains, cereal, chocolate - that are currently in your pantry. Clean the pantry very well, and over the course of the next few days, the moths and worms will disappear. Once your pantry is moth/worm free, anything you put in your pantry should be in a tupperware type container.
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Liba




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 7:38 pm
I agree, they are most likely meal moths. They love flour, cereal and other grains. Canning jars with rubber gaskets are good for storage to keep them out, but for now I would put everything possible in the freezer or throw it out if it is already infested. Take it seriously because if you don't they will get into more and more food and keep on multiplying chv"sh.
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geshmak




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 10:38 pm
I once had these moths, they came from a box of rice that must've been sitting on the store shelves a while.
We threw everything from that cabinet away.
The exterminator we called down, told us there is nothing he can do for it, we just had to dump the old rice, and clean out that cabinet.
Since then I keep most of my grain items in the freezer.
Good Luck.
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mommalah




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 11:27 pm
"pantry moths"
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Bsimcha




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 11:41 pm
Been there, done that....

It was a nightmare getting fully rid of them. If you start examine all your food, you will see what the nests look like. You also have to be on the lookout for moths, they can be out of the food area too. They can be on walls, ceilings or flying around.
They can be in closed containers too. I have opened closed spice bottles and there was a nest under the cap, inside closed cereal bag etc...
You have to take every bag out of every box and examine, look at the contents well....

I have cleaned out my pantry, scrubbed it, sprayed with a bug spray and examined every item well and still had some showing up a week or two later. I assume I missed a small nest despite my thoroughness...

I felt like I had to go to war against them...... Not fun.....
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FranticFrummie




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Oct 23 2012, 11:53 pm
I agree with all the above comments.

Basically, pretend it's erev Pesach, and you're super machmir! All chametz and kitniot must be removed from the house and thrown away. (btw, the moths love nuts too, not just grains) Fill a spray bottle with bleach and spray every surface well. Let the bleach sit for at least an hour before wiping down.

When you bring new grains into the house, freeze them for a few days before storing them in seal-able containers. If you live somewhere cold, it shouldn't be too hard to keep them away. I grew up in California and we had to do a big grain purge every 3 months to keep them at bay. My friends in Israel are constantly battling them. I once opened a brand new jar of Osem soup mix, and had a moth fly right out at my face! shock Apparently a lot of people had a problem with that shipment, and the store had to buy back cases of the mix.
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exhausted




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 24 2012, 7:10 am
I had them also a few years ago. The nests can be very hard to detect, they look a bit like very small spider webs. I found them in my barley, open box of couscous and around sugary things. I have a tupperware with odd candies, colored sugar and other such odds and ends and they were all over that. I threw alot out, washed everything and started keeping all grains in sealed containers. I also keep alot of things in the freezer now for that reason. Good luck! It's a huge job but once you find the source you should be able to control it.
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vintagebknyc




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 24 2012, 8:19 am
meal worms, a total and disgusting PITA.

chuck EVERYTHING in your pantry that isn't in a closed glass/plastic/metal container. these evil creatures will eat packets of salad dressing.

wash every surface of pantry in bleach (and I'm not a bleach user like other people are, but this needs to be done, including all crevices). then do it again.

do not put anything back (cans, etc) that has not been washed on the outside with a sponge with bleach. from now on, all items in pantry must be in glass/plastic/metal containers. no boxes of pasta, nuts, bags of rice, flour/sugar/boullion, etc. (I bought quart sized mason canning jars, a box of 24, super cheap. nothing goes in any cabinet without them)

this happened to me twice, the second time because I didn't take it as seriously as I should have.

edited because, again, my lousy proofreading skills.
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Bsimcha




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 24 2012, 9:21 am
I will just add one thing again, even closed jars, need to be opened and check the rims, I think that was I left out the first time around. It is an overwhelming job that must be done. I like the comment about making believe its erev pesach... It is really like that...
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yamz




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 24 2012, 9:27 am
Everyone has given great advice so far. I just wanted to stress that those dreadful little creatures can eat through sealed bags. So if you bought a bag of rice, for example, and never opened it yet, it might still have moths inside. In fact, the moths might have come into your house that way. All grains and flours must be stored in hard plastic/metal/glass containers with airtight lids. Also, moths eat almost anything. This means the flours and grains and nuts that people mentioned, but also chocolate and dried fruit. It's very upsetting to have to throw out so much food, but just do it. It's not worth saving some food if it means you missed some larvae and start the whole awful cycle again.

Several posters have mentioned scrubbing scrubbing out your cabinets really well. I just want to stress that moths like to lay eggs in the crevices, so make sure you really pay close attention to bleaching all the corners and the space between the shelf and the cabinet wall.

One more thing: Buy pantry moth traps, they really work! The traps on their own will not eliminate your problem, but they will visibly reduce the number of moths in your home. I recommend replacing the traps as often as necessary (every few days/weeks depending on the severity of the infestation) until you do not see any more moths stuck to the traps. They are pheromone based glue traps. You drop a red square onto the sticky side of the trap and the male moths are attracted to it and get stuck to the glue . Pretty disgusting, but hey, whatever it takes. If you live in the US, the traps are available in Home Depot or Lowe's.

Best of luck. I really feel for you!!!
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amother


 

Post Wed, Oct 24 2012, 8:42 pm
Thank you all soooooooooo much for all your advice, tips, and most of all experience!!
I feel so much better knowing you've been there done that, and got rid of them... I know it will be a lot of work, but now the burden is less. Thanks again- I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer.
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