I woke up early this morning, couldn’t sleep, and started cleaning up the kitchen a bit. You know, reorganizing some cupboards, girl stuff. Well I opened a tin I found way back in the cupboard. In it were some ferro rochere candy (I don’t know the spelling)…and some larvae.
Well, I am a bit unusual about bugs. They creep me out just as much as any girl, but I also can handle them myself, while being creeped out. So I screamed a little, slammed the lid back on the tin, dropped it in the garbage, and dashed off looking for the spray. The Lysol is under the kitchen sink but I didn’t think of that; my mind was too busy saying “Bugs! Bugs! Kill! Must kill!” Ran off into the bedroom, thinking the Fantastic might be there from when I cleaned the dresser the other day. I looked down at my hand…and there was a little larvae on it. Well that just totally pushed me over. Started doing the icky dance right in the bedroom, while still searching, while from the bed comes a sleepy voice.
Him: “What’s wrong?”
Me: “Bug! A bug!”
Him: “Where?”
Me: “In a dish!”
Him: “What dish?”
Me: (running off exiting the room) “Why are you asking me so many questions and not helping me!!!”
Finally I found the spray and sprayed everything down, and cleaned myself off. Went back in there to scold him. “Why do you think it’s time to play 20 Questions when someone’s trying to do something?”
Him: “Are you OK?”
Me: “Yeah.
Him:” Was it a big bug?"
Me: “…No.”
Him: rolling eyes.
And that was my early morning adventure. After all that, I think it was just a moth larvae.
Gah. I lived in a roach-infested apartment once, and the kid left a wet washcloth wadded up on the corner of the sink. After about a week of nagging him about it, I went to pick it up, and JILLIONS of little itty bitty white pre-pubescent roach babies went skittering everywhere. Seriously, hundreds of them, all over my hand, the sink, the counter… I did the icky dance to the tune of my own shrieks and grabbed the only thing I could find (I think it was rubbing alcohol) and just poured it on the little suckers’ heads.
Gah. I’m twitching just thinking about it, seven years later.
Even worse, a friend of mine the next building over had wallpaper in the dining room which had been poorly hung and subjected to too much humidity, so it developed those sags and bubbles bad wallpaper will do. One day, we’re sitting in the room and the biggest wallpaper bubble starts moving. It’s about a foot by a foot, and it’s wriggling! Suddenly, the seam split open, and hundreds of roaches - full sized, adult roaches, start pouring out of the wallpaper. It was like something out of a horror movie.
If it was moth larvae, you might as well just nuke your house. Never mind, they’d probably survive it. I learned the hard way that moths do nothing but screw and have babies.
Years ago I got a bread maker and bought a few sacks of various flours. Stupidly I didn’t put them in the freezer. Months went by. One day I got a bug up my ass (in retrospect, it was probably a moth) and decided to clean out my pantry. Well, I made the mistake of opening up one of the flour bags to see if it still smelled all right.
:eek:
No fewer than a dozen itty bitty moths flew out and scared the bejeezus out of me. Bravely, I peered inside the bag and it was squirming with meal worms. Needless to say I tossed the bag of flour as well as any opened boxes, such as cereal boxes. Unfortunately the escapees managed to hide from me and proceeded to make more babies. Let me tell you, those larvae are little Houdinis and could squirm their way in the most ridiculous places in order to hide: between the wood shelf and the wall, in the lips of soup can lids, inside brownie mix boxes. After the hundredth time of opening up the pantry and interrupting the moths en coitus, I finally tossed the entire contents of my cupboard, took the shelves out and wiped the entire surface area down with bleach. What a fool I was.
I practically wept when I opened the cupboard a few weeks later to see another damn moth dancing around my cupboard, mocking me. Impertinent buggers.
Long story longer, I tried everything to no avail. The only thing that worked was gutting the kitchen. Luckily I had planned to remodel the kitchen and in the process I ripped out everything, including the floors, the cupboard, and a lot of the drywall. When I tore down the wallpaper border, I was not surprised to find larvae hiding behind the border. I guess the wallpaper paste was all the sustenance they needed.
::Deep, cleansing breath::
It’s been three years now since I’ve been moth free. I believe the dastardly demons have finally been exorcised but I’ll never buy another sack of flour as long as I live.
**
Gosh, hope this isn’t too depressing. Look at the upside: a remodeled kitchen really increases the home’s value!
Part of the reason they were so icky is we just finished getting rid of an infestation of moth larvae. This must be a container that survived the Great Purge.
WhyNot: If there is ever a thread you start that says TMI I will not open it. I’ve had all I can stand with your ICKY ICKY cockroach stories. Nothing is worse than a cockroach except cockroach babies.
We had a moth infestation in one of my previous residences. It took about three purges to get rid of the little suckers. Friendly little things even made it into the parakeet food, which was nowhere near the kitchen. It’s been more than 10 years and the thought still makes me go “EEEEWWWWWWW!!!”
Don’t worry, you’re safe now. Those are the only two good roach stories I have. Anything else would be along the lines of pitting the ferret I got because I was told they were good roachers, only to have her look at me like “What the hell do you want me to do with this?” every time a roach crossed her path. The cat I catsat for the same reason batted at them every once in a while, but never killed a single one either. Maybe I fed them too much. Hungry beasties would have made better hunters…
Serves you right!