The common clothes moth was, up until recently, a lot less common than it’s name suggests and often inhabits the wardrobes and other dark spaces within a house. Those that live outside will often feed on dead animals and insects as well as pollen and hair. They prefer fibers such as wool as well as damper surroundings and it is the increase in man-made clothing and the use of central heating that has led to both of these becoming a lot less accessible for the clothes moths and in turn has led to the decrease in the number of common clothes moths inhabiting UK homes. One reason for their original decrease was the development of more advanced and safe clothes moth repellents and other forms of moth protections.

By the time a clothes moth reaches adulthood, it is expected to have a wingspread of around half an inch although unusually, the male clothes moths usually have slightly smaller wingspreads. The body is around a quarter of an inch in length with it’s wings folded along its body. They are usually golden-yellow although from the surface look more of a brown color, especially when looked at in the dim light in which they dwell. They have a small patch of red hair on the top of their head and the eggs they lay that eventually spawn their maggot-like offspring, are usually small round eggs measuring about one twenty-fifth of an inch.

Unlike other moths, clothes moths are rarely attracted to lights on an evening but prefer to remain in darkness, often choosing the option of a wardrobe or under a bed - making it hard to use moths repellents against them without causing damage, although there are plenty of forms of moth protection that are safe both to textiles and humans.

When they reach adulthood, the moths are much more active and are able to fly significant distances although due to their nature, rarely make use of this ability. However, the female common clothes moths are much weaker fliers so those that you usually see flying around your room are likely to be males whereas those you see jumping around on the carpet are likely to be females. These females generally die after producing around forty or fifty eggs although this isn’t done at once, it’s usually done in small groups of four or five which are attached to clothing or material threads but whilst their lifetime is short, the amount of larvae they lay in this time can cause a lot of damage without proper moth protection.

Many of the larvae have a different way of feeding to most animals, using silken feeding tubes so as not to directly feed upon the threads directly but through these tubes. The tubes they use are made partially of fibres, excrement and/or cast skins. Some simply spin silken mats which they use as a cover under which they crawl about and it is these silky tubes and mats that are left as the evidence of a clothes moth infestation.