Grubs/larvae/maggots in my house. ID?

[vole-woman]

I've had about ten or twelve of these appear on the ceiling of my downstairs toilet and it's very unnerving when they drop in the sink next to you. Are they moth, do you think? Or fly? Should I take action?

[vole-woman]

Oh, they do the dangling on silk thing, too.

[vole-woman]

Here, possibly, is the adult.

[2dogs2000]

Looks like a moth to me but which one? I have no idea.

[vole-woman]

Blimey! They are coming out of my hamster food! What's more, they must already have been in there (I now realise) when I opened the packet as the seeds etc were stuck together with webby stuff.

Normally people on this forum are brilliant at IDing micro-moths, but the fact no one's been able to come up with a name so far makes me wonder if they're not native to the UK?

I've written to the hamster food manufacturer and I'm hoping they'll be able to give me some more info.

[aeshna5]

It's a pyralid- the Indian Meal Moth. I've previously had an infestation of this moth + came via peanuts + other bird food. Took me several months to get rid of them.

[vole-woman]

Thanks! Do I need to get someone in?

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

Thanks! Do I need to get someone in?

I just kept evicting larvae/adults (confess I did resort to killing some, but preferred to put them outside).

Important thing is to keep foodstuffs like cereals, pasta, etc sealed so adults can't lay eggs in them or the larvae crawl into them. Alos inspect any bird/animal foodstuffs + throw out any infested.

With vigilance you should get on top of it. I found larvae would crawl to the ceiling to pupate so would remove these.

Good luck. I did evict an adult I found yesterday flying in the kitchen.

[vole-woman]

Cheers. I take it they don't eat fabric. Or do they?

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

Cheers. I take it they don't eat fabric. Or do they?

Not as far as I know- basically food stuffs.