Letter from Boston

Household Pests

By MASAKO YAMADA

Recently, our apartment has been infested with very small moths that hover around leftover cookies and other grain products. Perhaps "infested" is too strong a word, since we probably see only about five moths a day. However, they are impossible to ignore, since they lay their eggs inside our cabinets and the little maggots occasionally find their way into our flour bins and pasta packages.

I don't know whether these moths are actually harmful, but they are certainly upsetting, and I find myself chasing after them and swatting them full-force whenever I see one in the kitchen. I've cleared out all the cabinets and wiped all the corners with bleach, and I've killed almost every live moth I've seen. However, they haven't disappeared. They always seem to re-emerge from somewhere, even after such thorough cleanings.

One of my health-nut friends suggested that we try putting bay leaves around our cabinets, since moths apparently dislike the smell. This would only serve to drive the moths from one place to another without killing them, so I've been reluctant to try this method.

Recently, I've visited three stores to see whether any of them had a pesticide that could be used around food. Not too surprisingly, most chemical pesticides for moths are extremely toxic and they can be used only in clothing closets (and even then, not around children or the elderly).

My boyfriend suggested that we look for a bug zapper that attracts bugs with light and then kills them using electricity. It turns out that these are only used outdoors, but there's a similar device available for indoor use: The moth trap attracts moths using a moth pheromone and then traps them inside a device that has a sticky surface. No harsh chemicals are used, so it is completely safe.

A couple of years ago, we had a sudden infestation of large flies. We've also had fruit flies hover around the kitchen for a few days. These flies went away on their own. They disappeared rather quickly, in spite of our not having had a special plan to get rid of them.

We have never used insecticide, but perhaps it's not too surprising that they went away naturally, since we've been trying to cover any food in the kitchen more thoroughly.

At least we don't have a problem with roaches. Those seem truly impossible to get rid of. One of my friends in my lab recently moved into an apartment that has roaches so large that they cannot fit into roach traps, even though they are attracted to the traps and hover around the entrance. He and his wife are going crazy trying to get rid of them.

The only way to really get rid of roaches is to exterminate all the units in the apartment at the same time. Some landlords are willing to do this for their tenants, but others are understandably reluctant to spend so much money on a problem that probably won't go away.

It remains to be seen whether our new moth traps are successful in luring love-starved moths away from the comfort of the grain bins in our cabinet. The reasoning sounds good enough.

What living being wouldn't be attracted to the scent of an attractive mate? If these traps don't work, we'll probably have to continue on our quest to find the perfect moth insecticide. I can't imagine how else we could trick those moths, however.

Until we get rid of the moths, I suppose I should try to live with them as comfortably as I can. Two of my roommates have lived in countries in which one must sift flour and other grains before every use because of the bugs inside. To them, these moths are cute and harmless creatures that are slightly annoying, but nothing to get ruffled over.

It's true that we live in an otherwise comfortable apartment with many modern amenities. Perhaps I should count my blessings and enjoy my surroundings. But there's something about those moths that makes me want to chase after them and get rid of them. I don't really know what it is. Perhaps I'm releasing some kind of latent aggression by targeting these moths!?

Shukan ST: Sept. 8, 2000

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