***The image is of a worm crawling on one of my black and white images from the series "Hairscapes". Cheeky Worm!
I am at war. I saw a few moth or two fluttering around inside my cabinets during the last two weeks. I've had this before and inevitably discovered some opened bag of pasta or crackers that had little black bug casings in them. Upon throwing that away the problem has always disappeared -- until now.
I saw the fluttering and looked around and threw away a pack of crackers here or there. But honestly I am now spending time in two houses and I don't pay as much attention to such nuisances. Well I was home last night, making a shipment of chicken noodle soup for my father and I noticed a cute little inchworm on my counter. "Oh how sweet!" thought I. I assumed it had come in with my vegetables from the garden or a rose I'd recently clipped outside. And I took it outside and released it.
Later I begin futzing around in the kitchen and notice another inchworm hovering in front of my face from a silken string. "Wow, how rare is it that one sees two inchworms in a day?" thought I. Again with the catch-and-release. But I'm a busy gal what with starting another photography class and yesterday trying to have a 4-way conference call on a 3-way line. I don't have time to ponder. Well I didn't, until it was midnight and I was doing dishes and I discovered another creature hanging in front of my face at the sink.
I swiped at it in a little less friendly manner and looked up to the origin of its dangle...and I notice probably TEN of these little worms above my head. Like an Alfred Hitchcock movie I turned my head and looked around my ceiling and they are EVERYWHERE!! They have even migrated to the dining area which has a popcorn ceiling now tell me that's not tenacious for a half-inch creature whose life depends on sticking to a surface!
I go on a late-night google panic and type in 'worms that look like inchworms on my ceiling" which takes me to e-bug.com Several people are reporting these bizarre sightings and yet no one seems to have an answer. Finally, buried in bowels of the thread some woman remarks that it could be a pupal form of a grain moth. Finally I got the possible name of the beastA I quickly looked through my cabinets, threw away some pasta that was left open, killed a moth I saw flying about and sprinkled some bay leaves on the pantry shelves as one lady recommended. Then I cleaned the worms off the ceiling and washed my counters and swept the floor.
Today I woke thinking the nightmare was behind me but upon looking up through my half-awake eyes, I spy even MORE worms on my ceiling!! The horror. This calls for major research followed by dramatic actions. Apparently these creatures are quite prolific breeders and find the oddest places to hide. They are not only attracted to flour, crackers, pasta, cereal and rice but I learned that they also adore nuts, chocolate, spices, bird seed and dog food!
I went on a mission and got rid of every opened grain. Then I discovered that yes they were in my nuts (the treasured leftover Jack Daniels, sugar-coated pecans leftover from my Christmas present from cousin Susan) but they were also in a bag of straws 'straws??' and had bored a hole through a brand new bag of flour!
I threw out most everything and put anything that looked absolutely untouched into the freezer. Apparently you usually get these buggies from some product you've bought in the store that's infected. Yuck! So I have a new rule which is that when I bring in grains like flour or pancake mix or cereal, they are going to spend a week in my freezer before ever touching my shelves! This is supposed to kill whatever evil insect might be lurking in your food. Bleck. Anyone hungry yet?
I think I'm done. I've ditched everything except cans and frozen the rest. I've taken my 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water solution and saturated my shelves and thrown all the potentially infected food out but it seems there are even MORE bugs appearing on the ceiling. What might I have missed???
I look around and when you're worried about bugs crawling over your head you don't always think to look down. Well poof, there it was.... 4 bags of partially eaten dog food tucked into a corner of the kitchen. My dog with his impossibly delicate stomach has really given me trials on finding food. I always 'intended' to donate any partial bag he tried and rejected to neighbors but hadn't yet. Ahhh procrastination...who knew it might yield moths??
Upon looking at the dog food I see the faux inchworms and lots of em'. I haul it all out to the trash which luckily lives far away from my house and spray the whole area with my vinegar solution. I then turn the bottle from spray to stream and turn my kitchen ceiling into an inchworm shooting gallery.
I think I've found the source which is terrible important and now I will deal with the aftermath. From now on I intend to freeze my grains and then put everything I can in either a hard plastic, lockable container or a glass jar. I have also read that putting 3 bay leaves in containers of flour keeps the moths out and doesn't flavor the flour. Someone even puts a stick of Wrigley spearmint gum in each container and swears it doesn't change a thing but I find that hard to imagine. Either way one must be hyper vigilant as these buggies can bore through plastic, paper, Ziploc bags, you name it!
Oh yes and final note? Don't keep dog food or bird seed laying about. And, almost forgot to mention, some people swear by pantry moth traps that have a pheromone on them that attracts the moths and then they stick to the insides. Another said you can make your own trap by leaving jar tops of 1/3 boric acid to 2/3 cornmeal and the bugs will eat it and die. But for now I'm all about the freezing and containers.
Sorry to gross you out with my ordeal but it was so difficult to find information ont his when I needed it! Hopefully this post will help someone else who is suffering the curse of the ceiling inchworm.
Bleck!
