Thanks to CaliValleyGirl, I learned that when my English-challenged exterminator said "flying insect," he meant kitchen or pantry moth and that I can find pheromone traps at the local drug store to help me rid myself of them.
Since our unfortunate bedbug infestation (always, always check your husband's battle rattle after field training!), I don't do bugs. Not even non-bloodsucking moths. As far as I'm concerned, even though they aren't eating on me, they are still mooching and therefore subject to punishment. So I am on a mission. I will eradicate these fuckers if it's the last thing I do.
I cleaned out the pantry, tossing any food that could have possibly been contaminated and then cleaned it out with Lysol disinfectant. I found larvae in my stack of dish towels and washed them in super-hot water. I found a few more in the tiny crevices that are in a wheeled plastic storage container that sits next to the pantry and killed and cleaned some more.
And then I set up the traps.
Holy crap! These things work. I mean, I set out two to start and by the next morning both of them had several moths on it. I figure where two are good, six will be even better. So I bought more.
It wasn't until evening that I got a chance to set them up. But I turned on the light, went into the kitchen, and ripped off the backing of the trap to release the pheromones. All of a sudden, 8 months appeared just in my general vicinity. More appeared as I put them up in moth-frequented areas.
I thought they might eat me. Pantry moths don't fly particularly well and, as they looped and lurched towards me and the trap, I couldn't help but think of kamikaze pilots. I'm pretty sure these guys are totally out to get me in hopes of living happily on my foodstuffs forever.
Over the past few days, I've killed 37 moths by hand and at least 15 have been stuck to the traps. I've seen no more evidence of larvae but the moths keep coming. Unfortunately, I don't know if this means that (a) I am killing them faster than they can reproduce and I'll be moth-free in a few weeks time or (b) they are coming in from outside somehow and I am only enticing more into the kitchen by putting out those irresistible pheromones.
Only time will tell. But man, am I getting adept at moth killing. I'm considering a second career.
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Bugs are icky. That's why I got married so I would have someone to take care of the bugs. Now, I just let the dogs handle it for me. Although, they are not very good a actually catching the flies (fortunately, nothing's been broken yet).
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