Richard Battaglia, age 15, of Rochester,, N.Y., for his question:
Why do moths eat clothing?
Those little moths did not make holes in your favorite sweater out of spite. They are not vandals and they had no idea they were doing anything destructive. From their point of view they were doing the proper thing. They have rather odd ideas of diet and some of our clothing fabrics are among their favorite foods.
They will eat feathers, furo leather and fabrics made of hair4 But, to any clothes moth, the greatest delicacy of all is wool. They will not or cannot eat cotton, rayon or any of the new synthetic fabrics. But many fabrics are made from synthetics or cotton combined with wool. These mixtures the little fellows attack‑with gusto, eating all the good parts and leaving those they do not like.
The clothes moth parent is a drab little insect, less than half an inch long. Any insect larger than this is not guilty of raiding your clothes closet. Even the grown insect is not guilty. For ono it riches the adult, winged stage, the little insect is not interested in dining on clothes. Even so, an adult clothes moth should be treated as a enemy.
It may be a mother moth on her way to find a place to lay her eggs. She may have trouble finding the right spot, but she will seek and seek until she does. She prefers a clothes closet where clothes are in storage ‑ dark, undisturbed and perhaps a little damp. She will climb through tiny pinholes and overcome all kinds of barriers to find just the right spot. She may settle for a dark drawerful of clothes or even crawl into the furniture.
The right spot will be a fabric of food which she knows her babies will eat. There she lays her tiny eggs and flies away to die. Her duty is done. Nestled in their warm dark cradle, the moth eggs hatch into tiny little grubs. These little grubs. These fellows are very, very hungry. They sniff around and discover that they are living in the middle of what, to them, is a great big supermarket. They have no idea that this grocery store happens to be your favorite sweater.
The grubs, or larvae, of the clothes moth eat and eat until their skins are ready to burst. When ready, they go into a sleeping, or pupa, state, While they sleep, the ugly little grubs turn into adult winged insects. When you open a trunk or closet and find a squadron of winged moths flying around, the damage to your clothes is already done.
You can, however, prevent them from spoiling your clothes in the future, Wash or dry clean any garment to be stored. Buy pounds of moth balls or the proper amount of another killer to every box of stored clothing. Most important, be sure the box or trunk is tightly sealed. Remember, a mother moth is so determined to find a suitable home for her babies that she will crawl through a crack no wider than a pinhole.