Certain insects are the only animals able to digest keratin, a protein substance found in feathers, hair, felt, wool, fur and horns. They are therefore necessary to help recycle remains of dead animals. Many moths and beetles fit into this category.

Clothing riddled with holes is said to be “moth-eaten”, but the moth’s mouthparts are incapable of chewing wood or other fibers. All damage is done by the moth’s larvae or caterpillars.

The caterpillars cannot be expected to be able to tell the difference between a dead fox and a fox store and they certainly can’t differentiate between badger bristles set in a brush, and those it finds on the floor of the badger’s den. When clothes moths invade a home, it is usually because we have inadvertently provided a food source for the larvae. Wool clothes and carpets, tapestries and wall hangings, articles made of or containing feather. Dolls with real hair and wigs with real hairs, taxidermy mounts, (especially freeze dried), old pipe insulation and the stuffing in old furniture may be used as food. The larvae seem especially attracted to woolen clothing stained with blood, sweat, urine, as well as many common food stains, like coffee, milk, and beef gravy.

The larvae appear to prefer dark, undisturbed places in which to feed. Of the many species known, two are quite common. These are the webbing clothes moth and the case making clothes moth.

The larvae of webbing clothes moths usually construct a silken tube and feed from within it with their mouthparts sticking out the front as they lengthen the tubes as the need arises. Some of these tubes may be several inches in length. Occasionally they abandon a tube and construct another.

Case making moths spin a sort of open ended cocoon, similar to a sleeping bag, They drag this “case” around with them as they feed. Both larvae subsist on similar foot stuffs.