Clothes Moth Traps - Ready to Use - 1 package of 2 traps

I had been plagued by clothes moths for a couple of seasons. When they weren't going away (but my clothes were!) I bought some Safer traps at my local hardware store. They seemed to work, but some of the reviewers said the Pro-Pest brand traps a different type of moth than the Safer traps do, and I still had an unacceptable problem, so I tried both. I put one of each brand in the closets most affected. For the first couple of weeks, the Safer traps were catching moths and the Pro-Pest only had one or two, which could just have been accidental. Then I saw no additional moths for a week or so, and then all of a sudden the Pro-Pest traps had quite a few. My assumption is they have slightly different life-cycles and/or mating times and I have both types of moths. As others have noted, the traps catch only the males and it's the females whose eggs do the damage, and I do still see some moths here and there. That said, I've definitely had far fewer ruined sweaters and woolens since I started using both brands of the traps, enough so that I have decided I don't need to do any hard-core extermination. I will continue to buy and deploy both brands, because in my situation they do seem to work well in combination. My suggestion is that if one brand doesn't work for you, try the other.

I have had moths attacking my clothing for at least a year, as far as I know. I was reluctant to use pesticide, such as a fogger, for the same reasons most people avoid that solution. Trying the home remedies such as freezing my clothing, washing every single garment and blanket, or whatever else people suggest short of pesticides, just doesn't seem feasible. Someone told me about moth traps, but the only kind of moth traps available in stores where I live were the kind that are for "pantry" moths, which apparently are a different species. I tried the pantry moth traps anyway, figuring I had nothing to lose by giving them a shot. After a month or so, the traps had caught three or four moths. I probably swatted twice as many in that period, so I guessed I wasn't making a dent in the moth population since I'd see at least one almost every day. Finally I looked on the internet and found these "clothes moth" traps on Amazon, read the reviews, and thought it couldn't hurt to give them a try. I put one in each of the large closets where the moths seem to have established themselves. Within a couple minutes of putting a trap in the one closet, two moths suddenly started fluttering around. I was amazed. I thought, "Wow, that one review was telling the truth! These moths are going crazy!" I stood and watched them for a few minutes and became puzzled. The moths were flying around, landing on clothing in the closet, taking off again, flying around, almost as if they were drunk...but they weren't going near the trap. I figured they'd settle down and head for the pheromone-laden trap eventually, so I quit watching them and left them to sort things out without me. Long story short: Later that day, no moths in either trap. Next day, the same. It's now been several weeks, and not a single moth has been trapped. Not one. I really don't understand it. It's not as if the moths suddenly disappeared, because at night I'd still see them flutter by as I read or worked on the computer. As others have said in their reviews, the moth traps are probably not a complete and permanent solution to a moth problem. In my experience, they aren't even a temporary or partial solution. I don't recommend this product.

The first few days, the 2 traps lured a few male clothes moths--exactly 3 in each. I continue to kill moths inches or several feet away from these traps (it is almost like they've wised up by seeing their brothers held in permanent suspension) as none of the others venture inside them. I keep telling myself that the ones I am killing now by hand are the females and they are not supposed to be tempted. Many of them are pretty juicy so may have had eggs already. At least I feel like the traps have helped me with the ongoing battle. I have to add that about 5 nights ago, I went in search of clothes moths with my flashlight (turning on the lights makes them active and you don't want that when the intent is to sneak up and kill). I found two larger ones on a wall doing a mating dance. Really. They were chasing each other, making circles about the diameter of a nickel. First clockwise and then counterclockwise. Sort of fascinating. Until I crushed them with my thumb. They died happy, maybe. Update: I finally started getting good results. Attached a photo of 2 of my 8 traps. That said, I just ordered 6 new Pro-Pest traps, and they do not work at all. I am back to killing moths by hand again. I think it is possible to receive "duds".

To begin with, these traps do exactly what they're supposed to - catch clothes months. I have several clothes moths in each one. One of our big problem areas was on the wool rug under the sofa, so I placed a trap down there. Not only did the trap down there get a few moths, but the larvae also crawled right into it. Here's where it gets fun though... The one trap in the coffee table managed to catch some kind of large beetle - at least that's what I think it was. We live in FL & despite the bug guy coming to spray, all sorts of things get into our older house. Said beetle was so interesting that our cat managed to get himself trapped as well. There's nothing like the sound of a cat running around in a panic because there's a moth trap stuck to his paw. The more he ran, the harder it would stick. I finally managed to get it out after half an hour spent chasing him. So that trap is now the proud owner of several dead moths, a beetle and wads of black cat hair. Then last week we noticed the trap under the sofa had been moved to the other side of the room and there were some weird pieces in there. Almost like bug wings, minus the bugs. I couldn't figure it out, but figured the cat must have been messing with it and didn't think too much more on it. That night, I awoke to find a 4' snake in my living room. The trap must have caught the snake for a little bit earlier that day and it left behind some scales. So all in all, a very useful product for catching all kinds of things. If you have clothes moths, which we do (among other things apparently), then I would definitely recommend this.

Preface: WARNING to people with short attention spans. I am long winded. I'm a Senior Citizen and I don't care. I keep and use industrial felt which is 50/50 wool/synthetic material. No bug problem in the first 2 years I have started using it. In the last two weeks, I start to see moths flying around the felt. Oh, oh, trouble, trouble. Googledee peck, peckity google. IDENTIFY MALEFACTORS. It's not so easy catching the little buggers on the fly so I bought both the Propest and the Safer sticky catchers. $40 worth from Amazon. It appears I have plain Clothes Moths. Light brown wings, less than 1/2" long. No mottling on wings. Both moth catchers I received, are triangular open cardboard tubes with the sticky lining inside and their own little tiny strip of bug alluring super secret squirrel perfume inside. Did taxpayer money fund the research for this secret stuff? We want to know. Neither brand captures all flying moths like a magnet as at least one reviewer has stated. In fact, if you snore through the lit, only male moths are snagged. Mommy moths are laying eggs all over the place. Yeaah, Grrrrrh. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to notice that moths fly like drunken sailors. Amazingly, in the course of a week, two Propest tubes each caught a dozen moths. Two Safer tubes were almost useless. One caught 2 moths and the other caught none. I moved all of them around a little every day. The Propest tubes are twice as big as the Safer ones and I think this is a factor. I, as a senior citizen, am on board to try to do the Green thing as much as possible. Clearly however , once moths are flying all over your house, you are not going to get rid of all traces and iterations of them with any shade of Green song and dance, pyramids, good vibrations, force of argument and certainly not the inevitable cursing. Very much alive female moths, now bigger, flew around my face annoying me and raising my blood pressure to dangerous levels. Killing all the boy moths is productive and fine with me but leaves, presumably, an equal number of maybe pregnant and/or very horny mommy moths. Hmmm, maybe a plot for a Japanese horror flick. The last time I had moths, 15 years ago, long and short, I used pesticides to finally rid myself of these pests. I cannot tolerate these pests, and now, regrettably, for practical reasons, I have decided to take the advice of my wool felt supplier: Raid Max Deep Penetrating Fogger. Stay tuned. UPDATED 4/2/11. I have not fogged my place in spite of moths having been noticed in all my living and working area. I am foolishly avoiding what I know I must do. Folk with local (closet only, it seems) problems, take note. My avoidance behavior (procrastinate, avoid the obvious) strategy may benefit some of y'all. Once you notice moths flying all over, you MUST assume they have moth eggs in all of the most unlikely (at least to you) places. The Propest tubes continue to catch dumb boy moths. Each of 2 has several dozen while the Safer tubes stopped attracting after 2 (total) moths. Safer is useless for Clothes Moths. Very sad results, similar to other web results, I wonder what Safer execs talk about at board meetings. My procrastination has led to a slightly different strategy to deal with the really annoying, remaining, mostly big, smarter, and/or female moths. Yeah, the ones that arrogantly fly in your face. You're gonna love this. Fly paper rolls with Lanolin specks on them. Details, details: Warm the fly paper rolls in hot water in a ziplock bag so they unroll almost straight flat. At least 20 minutes in the hot water. After you pull them open, you may have to weigh them down a smidgen to keep them straight. This is also much more effective even on little fruit flies. Then, get lanolin oil or grease. Lanolin comes from sheep wool and moths luv anything woolly (qv). At least this is what I guessed, since I invented this idea. Four oz of pure lanolin oil cost $10 in Manhattan so I'm sure most of you can pay less for it. Women use lanolin for personal and or beauty reasons so it may be knocking around the house already. Put a bunch of little specks of oil on your flypaper with anything small: fat toothpick, head of a bobby pin, skinny vodka straw, etc. After a day or two, the big moths are stuck, stuck on glue. Since fly paper is good for the smallest of fruit flies, I'm not sure why only the big moths are caught. Is food (lanolin) more important than sex (secret pheromone stuff on those tubes, what you pay a premium for) to some moths? I leave this to young bloods to diviniate. But it works for me. It seems to me, if you don't have the worst case home/shop commercial felt everywhere situation I have, that you can control moths preventably and proactively, even be sensibly Green, for very little dollar. Fly paper with lanolin costs 25 to 50 cents a pop and is effective for at least 6 months. UPDATE October 13 2011: I posted my own Moth Horror Video for y'alls edumafication. I have had serious health issues and had to lay low for some time. Foolishly (maybe), I didn't use the Raid Max Deep bombs. Mommy moths have been humming Girls Just Want To Have Fun everywhere. For perspective, I have absolutely the worst case scenario for a moth problem. Almost 3000 square feet of mostly open space (home and shop). Mommies laying eggs in every nook and cranny. I detest bugs and in 35 plus years of living in my little home, I have had almost no (a rare case of the muses smiling on me) roaches, ants etc. I do bring home some exotic bugs from the absolutely incomparable Union Square Farmers Market but my handy dandy bottle of Boric Acid powder seems to take care of them. My place is quite messy but I have always observed proper sanitation (don't feed the bugs) which is crucial to keeping all bugs at bay. My video shows the effectiveness of my El Cheapo flypaper invention. The fly paper catches all of the bigger (presumably Mommy) moths while the tubes catch the smaller, stupider (maybe) boy moths. I have to revise my damning opinion of the Safer tubes. They do catch Clothes Moths but not very quickly nor effectively. The Pro-Pest tubes are much better value. I will reiterate, once you see moths, the horse is out of the barn. Damage is likely and all of this is only a holding action. I would like to avoid the use of serious chemicals in my house but sometimes it is simply unavoidable. Proper sanitation (yeah, I know this encompasses a lot) is the best defense against moths. I hope all of this helps.

I have had a mild infestation of the little half-centimeter pests for months in my NorCal apartment. After reading some of these reviews, I ordered a couple Pro-Pest traps and bought a couple of the Safers at my local hardware store. At first I had a Safer trap in my closet area, where the bugs seem to cluster. Bagged two intruders in a couple days. Then I got the Pro-Pest in the mail and put one in the closet, while shifting the Safer to another room of my small apartment where there had been sightings. In a couple weeks the Pro-Pest has bagged eight terrorists, while the Safer -- in a less populous area -- now has two more. In addition I continue to smoosh them on walls whenever I spot them, and am constantly on the lookout. I also shoot them out of the air with a spray solution of either glass cleaner or Pine-Sol. It doesn't kill them, but sometimes they flutter to the floor, or they to light on a wall where I obliterate their sorry carcass with hand or flyswatter. Only once have I seen what I think was a female -- not flying but skittering down a wall. Smooshed her flat. I'm still finding several of these bleeping things a week after weeks of trapping, so I suspect that only a fogger or discovery of the nest(s) will eradicate them. Early on, I discovered two nests, one in a wool rug and another in some seldom-worn slippers that had wool linings. I dispatched the bugs and worms which promptly cut the population. But they continue to appear, alas. So somewhere there is a covert Al-Qaeda cell eating my wool. Got to search every corner or they may be here forever. UPDATE Feb. 28: After four weeks with each trap in a different room, I have 16 moths in one and 17 in the other, so it seems that the two brands work equally well. But of course the critters are still wandering into the traps, and I still keep smooshing others that I spot on the wall, so there is an active nest that I will have to find before the problem is solved. The commercial traps are catching moths but not eradicating them. I also tried the fellow reviewer Senior Citizen's trick of fly paper baited with lanolin targeting the mommy moths. Have not yet caught a single moth with three strips.

Set up three traps in three closets, followed instructions and securely folded and pressed seams. Within three days ALL three traps had come undone, collapsed, and adhered the trap's sticky sides to each other. Complete waste of money. No idea if they actually attract moths as they failed almost immediately.

So far so good. I put one on a wool carpet after I vacuumed and it trapped quite a few. We now see few if any buzzing around. It also trapped them in another room. I know this is not the only solution, but it was gratifying to see that it worked straight out of the package. The moment I opened it in the kitchen several started flying at me. We have clothing moths, by the way, not the food pantry moths. They came in after I brought in plants from the porch when a hard freeze was predicted. I did try the traps for pantry moths first (only thing carried at the local hardware store) and they caught nothing even when placed beside the Pro Pest clothes moth traps. So it's confirmed. - Make sure you get the right trap for the type of moth you have. Highly recommend - and they last a while so you can move them around if you don't catch anything in the first few days. I put one on the carpet where I'd seen some crawling, and the other on top of a vase at eye level after moving it from a counter in the kitchen. Brought two other brands at the same time. But testing them one at a time. This one was first.