Moths.

[Lorns]

Anyone else seem to be having an invasion of Moths? I moved the furniture for a quarterly spring clean and there are tons of little moth larvae thingys. When i opened the airing cupboard and winter wardrobe their was a swarm of them in my face.
I've had more of a moth problem than fly this year. Mouse is loving it. It's keeping him entertained.

Was going to get some moth balls but i hear ( put hands of your dogs eyes at the next bit) they're poisonous to cats.

I'm dreading september when the dreaded flying spiders hatch.

[Stuart*]

Because it's not been so hot (yet) this summer I don't seem to have the usual fly problem. I can't say I've ever been inundated by a plague of moths. I tend to see them around September/October time if it's still warm and I have the windows open and lights on after it goes dark.

[Adders]

We had a huge invasion of moths back in April. We've not had any since.. touch wood! I'm scared shitless of moths and daddy longlegs, so I hope that we don't get ANY this year.

[lewsnews]

Moths are bad (although our cat seems to have an appetite for them)... what I do hate is gnats. Can't leave the window open otherwise I'd have to vacuum the ceiling again.

What is strange is that moths and gnats always are attracted to the light. They like the light so a reasonable time to be out and about is in the day isn't it... but no. As soon as it gets the slightest bit dark and you put the light on you got hundreds of the buggers all banging on the window trying to get in!! bloody things.

[cwathen]

I'm dreading september when the dreaded flying spiders hatch.

Can someone in the know enlighten me as to what the hell those things are actually for in the great scheme of things?

It appears that they can't actually use their legs to walk, with them always flying, so why have they evolved to have spider-like legs (yes I know they're insects and not arachnids and I know the legs are in a different configuration but spider-like is the best term I can think of) which are of no use for maneuvering, and looking at them in flight, appear to just get in the way and prevent them from being as efficient as their fellow insects with shorter thicker legs which are actually of some use. They don't even appear to have any coherent motor control over their legs - either they don't move at all, or they all simultaneously flap about. Other insects at least are able to control their legs in sequence so that they can walk.

What is strange is that moths and gnats always are attracted to the light. They like the light so a reasonable time to be out and about is in the day isn't it... but no. As soon as it gets the slightest bit dark and you put the light on you got hundreds of the buggers all banging on the window trying to get in!! bloody things.

I've thought that too - why would a creature be attracted to light also be nocturnal? Surely they should be out and about during the day when there's light aplenty, not laying in wait at night for someone to open their front door in the dark and madly fly in to get their light fix like a junkie who hasn't had any smack for a day.

[Nick Harvey]

I moved the furniture for a quarterly spring clean.

Never mind your moths, dear.

Please stop boasting that you spring clean four times as often as the average.

Harvey Towers is spring cleaned monthly, but we go on holiday and leave the staff get to on with it.

[Neil Jones]

I'm dreading september when the dreaded flying spiders hatch.

Can someone in the know enlighten me as to what the hell those things are actually for in the great scheme of things?

Crane flies, to give them their proper name, actually serve no purpose in the real world beyond mating.

They have an average life span of about three days (a week at most), they feed on nectar or (more often than not) go hungry. They exist only to mate and die when they turn adult. Their legs come off easily, an advantage if they should be attacked by other creatures or humans.

What is strange is that moths and gnats always are attracted to the light. They like the light so a reasonable time to be out and about is in the day isn't it... but no. As soon as it gets the slightest bit dark and you put the light on you got hundreds of the buggers all banging on the window trying to get in!! bloody things.

I've thought that too - why would a creature be attracted to light also be nocturnal? Surely they should be out and about during the day when there's light aplenty, not laying in wait at night for someone to open their front door in the dark and madly fly in to get their light fix like a junkie who hasn't had any smack for a day.

From the Wiki:

Moths will circle bright objects, and thus appear to be attracted to light. The favoured hypothesis advanced to explain this behaviour is that moths navigate by maintaining a constant angular relationship to a bright celestial light, such as the Moon. The Moon is so far away, that even after travelling great distances, the change in angle between the moth and the light source is negligible; further, the moon will always be in the upper part of the visual field or on the horizon. However, when a moth encounters an artificial light and uses it for navigation, the angle changes noticeably after only a short distance, in addition to often being below the horizon. The moth instinctively attempts to correct by turning toward the light, causing airborne moths to come plummeting downwards, and - at close range - which results in a spiral flight path that gets closer and closer to the light source.

In other words, moths mistake artificial light from your bedroom for light from the moon. Therefore as they know no better, your artificial light is in the moth's range of vision therefore it'll go straight after it, just like it would if it was outside. I dare say most moths die in the home by being burned to death because they insist after dark on hanging around a light bulb somewhere which is of course generating heat.

[Ronnie Rowlands]

I leave a bowl of soapy water under my lamp at night, the creatures fall into the water and the soap eradicates their wings. It's not nice mistaking it for cereal though.