Moths–Part 2

In my last posting I mentioned the issue we were having with moths in our trailer since our stay in Tucumcari.  Yesterday I decided to do more investigating of the the problem as our truck also has them, fortunately not inside the cab.

It all started when I went to the bank in the morning and upon exiting the bank noticed moths swirling around our truck.  We are in Kansas farmland and moths are common to the area but really, in a city parking lot, moths flying around a vehicle.  I opened the hood and a few flew out.  As mentioned, none are inside the cab so it is more of an annoyance than anything.  As the truck needed washing, I decided to go to a spray wash and put the high pressure hose to the frame and engine of the truck and boy did the moths come flying out.  They would fall to the ground and then the birds would swoop in and eat them.  I made many bird friends!

With my experience with the truck I decided to try it on the trailer.  I came back to the rig and took a hose to it, concentrating on the undercarriage.  Again the moths came flying out!.  I crawled underneath and began pushing up on the undercarriage covering and more flew out, so now I could see the places where they had taken up residence. The problem here was that they were not dying and would just fly around the trailer and return to their spots later. 

In the evening the moths began appearing in the trailer, again one or two at a time.  I went outside with some bug spray and sprayed around areas on the trailer undercarriage where I saw them come out and, with the spray, they started coming out.  I did the same to the frame of the truck and they started fleeing.  I am hoping that this spray deters them from coming back to their spots.

I found a trap idea on the internet and tried it inside the trailer and it worked great.  You put a bowl of soapy water very close to a light source and the moths go the light, become disoriented and spiral into the soapy water.  I caught 20 of them overnight.

It is an interesting sight to see them fly them around the trailer and the pickup during the day and evening.  It reminds me of the old Pigpen character from Peanuts that had a cloud of dust following him around.  I am just surprised how these moths can hold on while the truck and trailer are going 60+ miles per hour.