The Art of War: Strategies from the War against the Worms with Wings

It has taken me almost a decade to learn how to fight the ultimate enemy and sadly, the war has been taken to a new battlefield, forcing me to continue the struggle even after the first battlefield was abandoned to osme extent.  Fighting against Moths has taught me how to fight ANY war and the secrets of how to defeat any enemy.  Unfortunately, it is not an easy business and there are few shortcuts.

Many have declared the maxim and it holds true whether or not your enemy walks on two legs, crawls on a hundred or travels on wings through the air:  KNOW THINE ENEMY.

One of the greatest flaws in my strategy agianst the Moths was the fact that I lacked knowledge of all the different forms they could take and the various stages, all dangerous, in their putrid existences.  Foolishly I believed initially that they were most dangerous when winged.  This is not the case at all.  They are most dangerous when they come to rest and create the little sleeping bag in which they will mutate.  It is THEN that they begin to eat their way through whatever spot has taken their fancy.

Furthermore, although wool in its various forms may be their meal of choice, they will choose almost any fabric and even wood as a place to weave their bags.  It is not only sheep's wool that is at risk either.  Alpaca and Camel hair are other favourites and they will destroy these utterly in a very short space of time.  The WORM is the creature who feeds, not the winged moth. 

Here we are in the 21st century and because of synthetic fabrics, many people would not even recognise the sort of moth that destroys household treasures.  It is one of the smallest moths, actually, and quite pretty.  It has a silver sheen to it and a cloud of these winged worms rising into the air is quite a beautiful sight... until one realises what it portends.

An important weakness and one that kept the worms alive for years in my own home is the unwillingness to destroy the treasures one loves.  When a Moth made depredations upon one of my cherished mohair bears or wool scarves or antique rugs, I was as conservative as possible in cleaning the area.  I tried to SAVE even the spots where they had fed.  This was a terrible mistake.  It is only by being ruthless and being willing to LOSE areas of the item that one can destroy the threat.  Moths can hide very easily and successfully.  One has to scrub the item throroughly.  Water does work, as long as one is thorough.  Better to have a mohair bear with a little patch of baldness and NO feasting worm children than to try to keep the mohair where there is evidence of worm infestation and end by fighting a new generation the following season.

One cannot be soft-hearted therefore towards the items one loves.  One must be willing to participate to some extent in the worm's path of destruction to make certain that all the eggs of the creatures and all the little sleeping bags are GONE.  That is the real secret of success.

It is only in the new house that I have learned the utter ruthless approach that is needed.  At first, I left the items that had been infected by moths behind in the old house.  I then realised they were too valuable to me to abandon and began to bring them, a few at a time, to the new home.  What I have learned is that an incredible investment in terms of time is required to make certain that every item is cleansed of the infection.  It can take an hour to clean one mohair bear or one small tapestry.  Furthermore, as I mentioned previously, one must understand that they will find hiding places even in items they do not eat.  I have found them concealed beneath the hair of a hard plastic doll... hair, by the way, that is inedible.  Mohair wigs, however, are another favourite feast and any cloth doll is doomed if one does not move quickly to eradicate any evidence of the presence of these horrid creatures.

I wonder sometimes why Nature is filled with these obnoxious killers and destroyers but then remember that Nature is both Creator and Destroyer.  I suppose in some period or epoch, it is possible that Moths rid the world of items that were destructive to the Earth, although I cannot imagine them doing anything positive whatsoever.  It is quite different from the beetles that cleanse bones of flesh.