They do n’t , technically . It ’s really their larvae , or caterpillars , that eat clothes , not the adult moths .
It ’s only a relatively small group of moth , the familyTineidae , that have any interest group in your clothing . Throughout much of the US , you ’ll only find twoTineidaespecies : the web apparel moth ( Tineola bisselliella ) and the casemaking wearing apparel moth ( Tinea pellionella ) . They ’re not attract to your closet for a meal , because the adults do n’t eat , and do n’t even have the mouthpart if they wanted to . Rather , your clothing is a unspoiled place for them to place a few hundred eggs .
Once these testicle dream up into larvae , then you ’ve get a problem . The baby need plenty of protein to move on to the pupa and grownup stages of their life wheel and have adapted to eating keratin , the sinewy proteins regain in animal hair’s-breadth and skin . This mean woolen , pelt , feathers , leather and even lint are all on the menu . Larvae have been known to jaw through cotton , acrylic , polyester and other plant - based and synthetic fibers , too – not to eat on them , but to make a path to their pet foods .
The Mothball Defense
When people have wear moths , they usually turn to mothballs as their first defense , but it is n’t the good one , admonish the National Pesticide Information Center . Outside of an airtight container , the concentration of mothball fumes is n’t high enough to wipe out the bugs , but can cause headaches for humans .
The salutary way to deal with an infestation , the experts say , is to dry out clean anything made of woolen or creature fibers and launder everything else in your wash political machine ’s raging wash cycle . Then , vacuum the base , the bottoms and tiptop of the shelves , and even the roof to remove any remaining eggs and hungry larva .
