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Clothes Moth

close up of a golden brown clothing moth on blue and white cloth.

Clothes Moths in Florida

Adult clothes moths have a distinct, iridescent sheen on their wings. One species, known as the webbing clothes moths, feature golden or yellow wings with bright red or orange hairs on their heads. Casemaking clothes moths have a similar shape but differ in color, with brown or tan wings speckled with dark spots. Both species measure about a quarter of an inch long, though webbing clothes moths tend to be slightly larger. Their larvae are pale yellow or cream-colored with dark red or brown heads. These moths can inhabit vents and ductwork, where their larvae feed on trapped lint, hair, and debris. Unlike most moth species, clothes moths actively avoid light.

Clothes Moth Habitat

Clothes moths settle in areas with an accessible food source, often found in closets, storage boxes, chests, dressers, and taxidermy displays. Indoors, their larvae commonly infest wool clothing, carpets, upholstered furniture, and any old wool rug remnants they can find. Lint from wool rugs and pet hair accumulating behind baseboards, or in floor cracks, can also attract infestations. A common egg-laying site is the carpet beneath the back legs of a sofa, as it’s an area that often evades any vacuuming. While adult moths, pupae, and eggs do not feed, the larvae are responsible for fabric damage. They consume materials like wool, feathers, hair, leather, fish meal, lint, and other animal-based fibers. Items frequently targeted include scarves, coats, toys, rugs, blankets, sweaters, taxidermy mounts, and upholstered furniture.

Clothes Moth Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

The larvae are known to cause damage, as they feed on all of the mentioned materials. Casemaking clothes moth larvae carry a silk cocoon with them, expanding it as they grow. This disguise is made of the fiber they’re currently feeding off of, making them difficult to spot, and allowing them to feed unnoticed if you don’t catch them.

Sawtoothed Grain Beetle

Sawtoothed Grain Beetles in Jacksonville FL

The sawtoothed grain beetle is a common stored product pest found throughout the United States in homes, grocery stores, food warehouses, and grain storage facilities. Similar in appearance to the merchant grain beetle, the merchant grain beetle has the ability to fly, while the sawtoothed grain beetle does not. Adults find their way into stored grains, flour, sugar, nuts, and other dry material of plant origin through cracks and crevices of imperfectly sealed containers. They are incapable of attacking sound grain kernels and often occur in food previously infested by other stored product pests. Their flattened body allows them to easily penetrate broken kernels of grain and packaged materials. Not only do they contaminate food, they often cause mold problems due to moisture build-up.

Sawtoothed Grain Beetle Habitat

Sawtoothed grain beetles are commonly found in food manufacturing, storage, and retail facilities, as well as pantries in homes. This stored product pest feeds on bread, cereal, dry pasta, dried meats, candy, nuts, and other dry goods. A single female can lay up to 250 eggs within cracks of kernels of grain. As with other pantry insects, it is the larvae that do most of the damage, however, the adult is most commonly encountered. A typical discovery of a sawtoothed grain beetle infestation occurs when adult beetles are discovered crawling around a pantry area.

Sawtoothed Grain Beetle Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Sawtoothed grain beetles are not known to carry or transmit any diseases to humans and do not bite or sting. They are nuisance pests and will contaminate and damage food that is stored in the home. Adults can readily enter sealed cardboard boxes and soft plastic packaging. Sawtoothed grain beetles typically enter homes in products purchased from grocery stores that are already infested with larvae or adults. The primary infestation usually originates at the manufacturing facility where the product was produced.

If you have sawtoothed grain beetles in your Jacksonville FL property, contact your local pantry pest control experts for help.

Indian Meal Moth

Indian Meal Moths in Jacksonville FL

The Indian meal moth is a global pest and received its common name because it feeds on the meal made from Indian corn or maize. The Indian meal moth is easy to identify due to its characteristic wing pattern where the rear half of the wings is distinctly copper or bronze-colored. These moths are general feeders upon grain and grain products, dried fruits, seeds, graham crackers, nuts, powdered milk chocolate, and candies. Home infestations can be traced back to nearly any food source but commonly originate in dried pet food or birdseed.

Indian Meal Moth Habitat

The Indian meal moth is the most common food-infesting moth found in homes, grocery stores, and any place where dried pet foods are produced or stored. Adults do not eat, and larvae feed constantly on grain products, spinning large amounts of silken webbing over the food sources. Since it prefers the coarser grades of flour, it is the most common insect found in packages of whole wheat, graham flour, and cornmeal. Nuts are also a common breeding source, especially the nut caches of squirrels in attics and chimneys.

Indian Meal Moth Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Though Indian meal moths do not bite or pose any serious health risks, they are a nuisance in the home as they infest grain and stored pantry products. The larvae do considerable damage as they contaminate food and deposit silken webbing on food products. The waste from contamination is greater than the amount of food consumed. Flying adults are a common sign of an infestation. Adults are attracted to light and may move to distant rooms in the house away from the infestation. As a result, they are also commonly mistaken for clothing pests.

If an infestation is present in your Jacksonville FL home, locate and discard all infested material. Contact your local pantry pest control experts for help or advice with Indian meal moths!

House Fly

House Flies in Jacksonville FL

Found on every continent except Antarctica, the house fly is one of the most familiar of all insects. House flies are generally found in the greatest numbers during the hotter summer months and generally live in close proximity to humans and animals. These pests breed in animal wastes and decaying organic material, including animal corpses and food waste from which they can pick up bacteria and viruses that may cause human disease. House flies defecate almost every time they land, contaminating food, with the potential to spread disease.

House Fly Habitat

In rural areas, manure piles are often the main source of house flies, and in urban areas, piles of fermenting lawn clippings commonly generate large numbers of flies. Animal manure is a favorite breeding medium for flies with the most important sites being horse manure, human excrement, cow manure, fermenting vegetable refuse, dumpsters and refuse containers, and household garbage. Some species of flies can live and breed in recycling containers, and fly problems are common in recycling centers.

House Fly Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Although house flies do not bite, they are capable of transferring more than 100 different pathogens, including salmonellosis, typhoid, and tuberculosis. Pathogenic organisms are picked up by flies from garbage, sewage, and other sources of filth, and then transferred on their mouthparts, through their vomitus, feces, and contaminated external body parts to human and animal food. They can carry a wide range of germs from filthy breeding sites to the dinner table or spread some diseases within herds or flocks.

If you are experiencing a house fly infestation on your property, contact your local fly exterminators for help.

Fruit Fly

Fruit Flies in Jacksonville FL

Over 177 species of fruit flies occur in North America, north of Mexico, and eight species are believed to be common in the United States. The scientific name, Drosophila, means “lover of dew” probably suggesting these flies require moist environments to reproduce. They are known as fruit, vinegar, or pomace flies and are often confused with other small flies found in structures. Fruit flies are vectors of disease, consuming bacteria and sugar from decaying foods and can often be seen near bowls of fruit, glasses of wine, garbage, and trash cans.

Fruit Fly Habitat

Fruit flies are small flies that can pass through ordinary insect screens and are often found in homes, restaurants, fruit markets, bars, salad bars, and any other place where fruits and vegetables are found. They will often enter structures from nearby dumpsters, trash receptacles, and damp compost piles where fruits and vegetables have been disposed of. Fruit flies lay large numbers of eggs on fruit, and the hatched larvae feed on the fruit. Fruit flies are active during periods of warm weather; single generations may develop in less than a week when temperatures are between 80° and 89°F.

Fruit Fly Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Unlike some insects, fruit flies do not sting or bite. They are primarily nuisance pests, however, results of a recent study showed that fruit flies are capable of transferring E.coli, Salmonella, and Listeria to surfaces and relocating E.coli from a contaminated source to fresh, ready-to-eat food. Although fruit flies spend the majority of their time fermenting foods, they also travel to dishes, flatware, drinking glasses, and even toothbrushes. While you may not consume the contaminated produce itself, when you eat or drink from these objects, you’re exposed to the same bacteria the fruit fly has transported from site to site.

If you are dealing with a fruit fly problem on your property, contact your local fly exterminators.

Drain Fly

Drain Flies in Jacksonville FL

Drain flies, also called moth flies, belong to the family Psychodidae and get their name because they often breed in drains. They are found throughout the United States and can become an annoyance in homes, sometimes appearing suddenly from sinks and bathtub drains. They can breed in tremendous numbers in sewage treatment plants and then be carried away by the wind to nearby buildings, where they can crawl through fly screens.

Drain Fly Habitat

Drain flies develop in muck or gelatinous material that accumulates in sewage disposal beds, septic tanks, moist compost, or dirty garbage containers. They may also emerge from drains of sinks or bathtubs, from tree holes, rain barrels, moist organic solids, or bird nests that have accumulations of fecal material. Drain flies gather, mate, and lay eggs in moisture or standing water. The slimy film that forms in sewers and drains is a favorite breeding spot. Inside structures, they are strongly attracted to light and will be found on glass windows, doors, lamps, and indoor lighting.

Drain Fly Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Drain flies do not bite people or animals or do damage to structures or plants. However, because these flies originate from filthy sources, they have the potential of being mechanical vectors of diseases. Populations of these insects can become a nuisance in homes, and their presence is almost always linked to a clogged drain. In residential homes, the most common breeding sites are bathroom drains. Drain flies are weak fliers and when encountered, they are often found crawling on walls and other surfaces.

If you are dealing with a drain fly problem in your property, contact your local fly exterminators.

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