Do moths really eat sweaters? You may have pulled out a sweater from the back of your closet and found holes in it. Did you blame it on moths? You could. While adult moths are not the culprits behind sweater eating, the caterpillars of some moth species nibble through clothes made of wool, silk, fur, and felt. These textiles contain protein and keratin, which the caterpillars absorb from the fibers. However, since sweaters are not found in nature, let’s take a look at what else moths eat.
How Do Moths Eat?
Adult moths live on a liquid diet. A moth has a proboscis, a long mouthpart that looks like an elongated nose. It functions like a straw, allowing the moth to suck liquid from plants or other sources. For example, moths insert their proboscis into flowers to suck out the nectar.
Moths in the caterpillar stage use their labrum and strong mandibles to nibble on plants, leaves, and fabrics. The labrum is a mouthpart that serves as an upper lip. This flap-like structure sits above the other mouthparts and helps the caterpillar grip its food.
What Do Moths Eat?
Moths such as the hummingbird hawk-moth eat liquid from flower nectar.
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Adult moths live on a liquid diet and require very little food. Moths will eat the liquid from flower nectar, liquids from rotting fruits, sap, and honeydew, which is a sugary liquid waste product excreted by aphids and other insects. Moths will even suck the nutrients from bird droppings or animal dung.
Moth caterpillars need a lot more energy and consume nearly anything they can find. They generally eat leaves and plants in the wild. If moths get into a home, the female moth will lay eggs in moist areas that allow fungus to grow. Sweaters stashed for the winter are also a prime nesting site and an excellent source of nutrition for clothes moths. The caterpillars prefer natural fibers, but they generally avoid cotton unless it is blended with another fiber like wool. They will even eat pet fur.
Pantry moths — also known as grain moths, weevil moths, and flour moths — eat grain products that are raw or processed. These moths eat items like cereal, flour, oatmeal, baking mixes, pasta, beans, nuts, dried fruit, spices, tea, chocolate, and candy. Pet food and birdseed are also targets.
There is some variation by species, but here are some of the foods moths and moth caterpillars eat:
- Liquids from flower nectar
- Rotting fruit
- Bird droppings
- Sap
- Honeydew
- Animal dung
- Pet fur
- Natural fibers
- Grain-based food items
Household Moths
Clothes moths often reside in dark areas such as closets.
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There are two main moth species that consume fabrics. These are Tinea pellionella, the casemaking clothes moth, and Tineola bisselliella, the webbing clothes moth. These moths prefer dark places such as inside trunks or wardrobes.
There are several types of pantry moths, including the Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella), Mediterranean flour moth (Ephestia kuehniella), almond moth (Cadra cautella), and Angoumois grain moth (Sitotroga cerealella). Pantry moths infest food items stored in your kitchen or pantry.
While pantry moths are similar in size and shape to clothes moths, these types of moths differ in appearance. Clothes moths are generally around 1/4 inch long. Clothes moths have similar coloration, but the webbing moth is a solid light yellow, while the casemaking moth has grey or brown spots on its wings. The most common pantry moth, the Indian meal moth, has reddish-brown and black colored patterns on the bottom of their wings and light grayish brown at the top. They are generally slightly bigger than clothes moths, at around 1/2 inch long.
