How to Get Rid of Bugs that Eat Clothes in the Closet

Ever been in a situation where your favorite sweatshirt was full of holes? Most of us would have gone through this situation at least once in our life. Bugs in the closet are very common, and they need to be taken very seriously before it gets out of hand, and you have bugs crawling and damaging your entire wardrobe. This article will provide you with a few tips that can help you outsmart these havoc-creating bugs.

How to Eliminate bugs that eat clothes in the closet

By the time you see any damaged clothes in your closet, the chances are that the bug infestation is already serious. But let’s see how we can come out of this nightmare you are going through. First, let’s get introduced to the common bugs that can infest your clothes:

Some of the most common bugs found in a closet

The most common bugs you can find in your closet are clothes moths, carpet beetles, etc.; the adult moths actually don’t feed on clothes, but they lay eggs, and the larvae that come out are the culprit. Silk, wool, leather are their favorites because they come from animals.

Carpet beetles don’t have a long life span, and they live only up to 20-60 days, but they too deposit eggs that soon turn into larvae and start damaging your clothes. Now that you know the common bugs, let’s get into the remedy path:

A few tips to get rid of this infestation

• The first thing you need to do is to vacuum your closet thoroughly and make sure that you get into the dark corners, too, as these bugs like dark and shady places in your closet.
• If the infestation has just started and you have only one or two items infested, you can put these clothes in a zipper and freeze them as extreme cold will kill the larvae.
• Wash the infested clothes in the washing machine with a hot water cycle and use the maximum heating temperature while using the dryer. This will kill the bugs, eggs as well as larvae.
• Use insecticides on clothes that are too big for the washing machine
• The most important step is always to keep your closet clean.
• Keep food-stained clothes away from the closet.

How do you protect you clothes from bugs?

Nobody likes to wear clothes with holes, and if you have some in your closet, then it is time you check your wardrobe for cloth-eating bugs. If you want to protect your expensive clothing from these crawly insects, here are a few things you need to do:

Steps to keep bugs away from your clothing

• Keeping moth balls inside your closet can keep the bugs away from your clothes because the smell of the mothball acts as a repellent. Don’t keep mothballs directly on the clothes; instead, hang them in the closet so that smell will linger inside.
• The smell of cedar acts as a repellent. You can add cedar chips inside your closet or use a cedar closet to keep your clothes.
• Wipe your closets every month so that no larvae settle inside
• Always keep dry clothes inside your closet because dampness attracts these bugs.
• Keep your winter clothes neatly packed away so that bugs don’t reach them.

What is eating your clothes in the closet?

Your clothes are vulnerable to bug attacks, and it is quite common too. Several types of bugs can damage your clothes, and if you don’t take immediate action, then most probably, things will get out of hand. Below are given the names of the types of bugs that can infest your closet:

Different types of bugs that can damage your clothes

• Cloth Moths

If you have any wet or food-stained clothes in your closet, then you will find these bugs interested in your clothes. So to keep them away, make sure that you don’t put any clothes that are wet or stained with food inside your closet. 

• Carpet beetles

They like to feed on clothes that are made of natural fibers, so to keep your woolen, silk, and other natural fibers safe, you need to keep them in a place that is clean and dry. Hang mothballs in your closet, and vacuuming your closet is also a good idea. 

• Cockroach

We know cockroaches are attracted to food, and if you have clothes with food stains or body odor, you will surely find cockroaches there. So keep used clothes away from your closet. And if you find cockroaches inside, you can use an insecticide to get rid of them.

• Cricket

Dirty clothes are the culprit here, and if you want to keep crickets away from your closet, you need to keep dirty clothes away from your wardrobe. To keep crickets away, you can close any entrance that gives them the path to your closet. 

• Silverfish

Here again, the bug is attracted to the food stains in your clothes. Vacuuming and a well-cleaned closet can keep these at bay. Spraying insecticides can also help. 

• Termite

Termites are attracted to wood; the best solution here is pest control because if you have any wood pests, you need to kill its nest only then you can get rid of it completely.

Why do you have bugs in your closet?

As mentioned earlier, bug infestation is a common occurrence, and there are many reasons why they infest your wardrobe. Most of the insects are attracted towards dark and damp places, and if your closet is an area where you have sweaty and dirty clothes hanging, you will surely find these bugs in your clothes. Food remnants on your clothes too attract the bugs, so the only solution to keep these bugs away is to keep your closet clean and do a monthly check-up of your clothes and closet.

What is causing holes in my clothes?

When you check your trunk for winter clothes, you will find tiny holes in them. This is due to a certain type of bug that eats into the natural fibers of the garment. Bugs like clothes moths, carpet beetles, etc., can cause holes in your clothes. So always check your closet or trunk so that you will know about it at the earlier stages, and getting rid of these bugs will not be a problem.

Bugs that eat your clothes

The cloth-eating bug infestation needs to be dealt with as immediately as possible. So why do you have bugs eating your clothes? This article has provided you with the answers to most of your questions, but we always doubt how to get rid of these pests. Take the following steps so that you can keep them at bay:

How to get rid of the cloth-eating pests?

• Keep your closet clean and dry
• Spraying insecticides is a good remedy
• Mothballs can prevent them from coming
• For termites, the only option is pest control.

Break free from bugs in your closet

Cloth-eating bugs can cause embarrassment because you may not know that there are holes in them until someone points it out to you. So keep away from the embarrassment by following the guidelines provided in this article and keep your precious clothes free of holes.