Are you finding new holes in your clothes when you go to get dressed each morning?
Yes, your clothes could become damaged due to improper washer and dryer settings. However, you would more than likely notice these smaller holes as you put them away into closets and drawers.
If you’re finding new holes in your clothing, you more than likely have an infestation of pests that are using your clothes as a food source. Unfortunately, there are a few different species you could possibly be dealing with:
Clothes Moths
Out of all of the species of moths in the world, there’s one you should be worrying about — the webbing clothes moth.
Why?
Well, unfortunately, the webbing clothes moth is making a comeback. Populations are rising at a rapid rate in some of the most populated cities in the United States — with New York being number one!
While adult webbing clothes moths don’t feast on your clothing, it is their larvae you should be worried about. They will feed for roughly five weeks. Once they’re done, they’ll spin into a case, and then emerge as adults in two weeks time. This is when they’ll produce larvae of their own.
The webbing clothes moth is able to produce multiple generations in a single year. So your clothes are never truly safe!
Carpet Beetles
The most common carpet beetle that you might see infesting your home is the black carpet beetle. Let’s start off with the fact that a female carpet beetle will lay roughly 100 eggs at a time.
100 eggs! And where do they lay these eggs? You guessed it! On clothing, as well as furniture, carpeting, and cracks in flooring.
Like webbing clothes moths, adult carpet beetles do not feed on clothing. It is their larvae that will devour your precious sweaters, shirts, and pants. Their favorite type of materials are natural fibers like wool, fur, and feathers.
While they might be discovered on your clothing, they are fantastic at playing hide and seek! They will travel from clothing to go hide in dark crevices such as furniture, air ducts, inside of closets, and behind baseboards. These pests will make you worry, because they can also breed multiple generations within the same year.
Crickets
If you’re from New York (especially Long Island), you know a thing or two about crickets.
While you might be complaining about the noise that the average cricket makes or are running in fear from a leaping camel cricket — did you know crickets consume some of your clothing?
While they don’t run toward your closet with the intention of ruining your clothing, they will leap toward your clothes hamper or pile of dirty clothes on the floor (or that computer chair filled with clothes we all know of…).
Crickets will consume body soil, laundry starch, and any food/beverage stains that are present on clothing. In the process of consuming these stains, the fabric that is stained will usually be consumed — resulting in holes.
No matter the species of pest, if you have one that is devouring your wardrobe, contact a pest management company ASAP!