Introduction (5 of 10)

What are the indicators of pest activity?

The four indicators of pest activity are:

Live pests

Once you know what the pests look like, you may see them flying around, crawling on the floor, or actually on objects within your collections. You may also see the cases that moth larvae make attached to textiles.

Dead pests and cases

You may also find dead pests on the floors or objects, or empty moth cases on textiles. If poisoned bait boxes have been used to catch mice, you may find that mice have eaten the poison, and then died in a collection area (usually very inaccessible!)

In the case of moths and beetles, it is important to be able to recognise the pests at all the stages of its life cycle (egg, pupa, larva and adult).