This is the time of year when carpet moths show up in your home looking to snack on Oriental rugs.
The moths you would do well to worry about are tiny things, hardly noticable as they flutter about. Tineola Bisselliella, they’re called.
Carpet moths rarely cause trouble to rugs that are regularly walked on and vacuumed. So don’t worry needlessly.
On the other hand, they gravitate to dark, undisturbed places where they can eat in peace and often they cause really serious damage. They prefer rugs stored in places like basements and closets, but they will settle for Oriental rugs under sofas or beds or where rugs abut walls and are neither vacuumed or walked on and rarely disturbed. Often they chew away at the backs of rugs rather than their fronts.
Strangely, the carpet moth seems to prefer dirty rugs, often avoiding clean rugs.
If you’re interested in proactively protecting your rugs from moths, you might consider using pheromone carpet moth traps in your home.
