The mystery of the musical moths

[ladyofastolat]

Some 15 years ago, we bought a piano. Very soon after we bought it, an blanket of caterpillars appeared on its surface, followed by battalions of moths. We reported this to the piano vendor, who denied ever having seen a caterpillar or moth in his entire life. There was no possibility that the infestation could have originated in his warehouse, and the piano was definitely caterpillar-free when we bought it. To be honest, we doubted this, but what can you do? I hate killing things just because they're inconvenient, but we really didn't want armies of moths in our house, possibly eating clothes, carpet, curtains and cat. We put moth balls inside the piano, and the armies slowly dwindled. No caterpillars or moths were seen for years, and the whole affair was almost forgotten.

But nothing is forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten. A few weeks ago, I noticed that there were a lot of small dead moths on the carpet underneath the piano. I hoovered them up, but by the next day, they were back again. They are all concentrated in a square foot of visible carpet, next to one end of the piano. A few small moths have been spotted flapping around the house, but most of them are evident only by their corpses.

Are they the same colony? 15 years ago, when we thought we'd beaten them, had we just driven them deep within the piano, where they have spent 15 years digging a vast underground metropolis and perfecting their revenge? Are there whole moth generations reared on tales of the cruelties of the two-legged masters of the plinky-plonk keys? Admittedly, it's not a particularly impressive revenge thus far, since it appears to consist of emerging from beneath the piano and keeling over within a few inches, but it's early days yet. Will their masterminds learn from the failures of the first wave, and tweak their tactics accordingly? What dread fate is being prepared for us?

I know we ought to move the piano and look beneath it, but I'm scared to.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

You need to get to the source, I'm afraid. We started getting the more than occasional housefly buzzing around, but after ineffectually chasing them down individually, I didn't solve the problem until I discovered that the ones I saw were just outliers from an appallingly large colony descended from someone who'd gotten in through the patio door and were now living along the baseboards there. I stomped those all out and that solved the problem.

I presume from the description that your piano is an upright. We once acquired an old school piano and fortunately had no problems; when we inherited B's mother's piano and passed along the old one to a FoaF, she didn't ask whether it was infected either, though from your story it sounds like a good thing to check for, even if the answer is, as it was in your case, an incorrect "no".

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

You're right, of course. I guess it's possible that they're getting in through some hole in the wall, that just happens to be located beside the piano. To be honest, it's unlikely that these new moths are the same infestation as the old moths that have been entirely absent for 15 years - that seems fairly unlikely, really - so maybe the source IS somewhere in in the walls. Maybe this weekend we'll have a stiff drink, and do some furniture moving...

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

malaheed and I would just like to know more about how you drove them underground for 15 years. We'd settle for that.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I honestly thought we'd eradicated them.* I guess it's most likely that we did, and these new moths are entirely unrelated... But the coincidence of their location is enough to make one go, "hmm..." and begin to wonder...

* My (dim) memory from the time is that we put a few halfhearted mothballs in the piano, and were faintly surprised to notice some weeks later that we'd not seen any caterpillars for a while, whereupon we decided that the problem had solved itself. I don't think huge drastic action was taken... unless Pellinor employed the nuclear option when I was out, and left me blissfully unaware of it.

In other words, the short answer is: we have no idea. Sorry!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

This definitely sounds like the sequel to a movie, in which the last scene in the first film was that lingering shot of one secret and hidden egg...

:-ooooo

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... and if there is one thing I know about those movies, it's *don't look under the piano on your own*.

The safest thing would be to get in a group of at least 6 people and *don't let any of them leave the room*. If they do, they will certainly discover that the loo is now occupied by a single giant moth.

... I may watch too many syfy movies...

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

RoboPiranha vs. MegaPianoMoth: coming soon to SyFy Channel! Hey, I'd watch it. :-)

Alternatively, I could make sure that the group of 6 people contained a cocky American football player, a drug-taking skateboarding slacker, and a bitchy blonde cheerleader, since they would be the MegaPianoMoth's favoured snacks, and would increase my odds of survival.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Agh, I hate that way of ending movies! They used to do it on lots of early X-Files episode, too. The Monsters of the Week are defeated, yay!... and then, just before the final credit, you get the sting in the tale, that glimpse of the Truth: they've not been defeated at all! I do not like that trope, and am NOT happy to realise that said trope has taken up residence in my piano. Grump!

[leesa_perrie]

What bunn says *nods head*

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

My cousin's small daughter believed for several years that all pianos arrived equipped with a mouse, to her great delight. We seem to have a plague of moths this year too though. They're all over the house, not particularly hanging about the piano, and seem in fine fettle mostly.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Gosh. Apparently pianos arriving with added wildlife is more common than I thought. It sounds like a children's book: the little mouse (let's call him Wensleydale) who lived happily in a piano, but one day the piano was moved and he found himself in a strange new place. After a few scary pages, though, he befriends the little girl who lives there, and they all live happily ever after.

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

Of course there is a mouse called Wensleydale! In fact, he also has a has whole family, all named after cheeses, and each has their own adventure in the series. Wensleydale is a rather earnest mouse, prone to worrying about what the right thing is to help other people. He has a socialist older brother, Red Leicester (somewhat based of Citizen Smith perhaps), identical twin sisters, Double and Gloucester, a rather dashing french cousin, Brie, and his more sophisticated cousin, Roquefort. He also has an adventurous younger sister called Caerphilly, a wise old grandmother called Sage Derby, parents Lancashire and Cheshire, a morose uncle called blue Stilton, a Cornish Aunt called Yarg, a Scottish cousin called Dunlop who is into Motor Racing (cue escapade with matchbox cars, or scalextrics, she's a bit of a speed addict, is Dunlop, and draws Brie and Wensleydale into her adventures). Wensleydale and the little girl often have a chat about coping with life and give each other good advice...

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Sounds like a guaranteed hit! In one book, a pair of Italian opera singers, Mozzarella and Parmesan, come visiting, and cause much consternation. The problem with living inside a piano is that your peace is periodically disturbed by an earth-shaking cacophony when the humans of the house do their piano practice, so the mice play out a polite charade of This Is Not Happening. They just drink a lot of tea, and talk very loudly and doggedly about what delightful weather they're having nowadays. The Italians, though, not only talk about the music, but insist on singing along to it, which is Not Done At All.

Even more troublesome, though, is the brash American visitor, Monterey Jack, who rides roughshod over all their customs, and briefly leads the younger mice into all sorts of dreadful scrapes - scrapes for which he then denies all responsibility.

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

Monterey Jack is an excellent character.

[songblaze.livejournal.com]

I think Brie ought to be a fetching and flirtacious female cousin, personally. With her older brother Roquefort, who is adept at the art of putting together a fine meal, a good wine, and that certain je ne sais quois that makes for a perfect evening, whether it is the brilliant jolly companionship of friends or something a bit more intimate.

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

I'm quite happy for her to be female, fun and flirtatious, so long ask she's dashing and prepared to get involved with adventures. I suspect Roquefort doesn't want to get his whiskers disarranged.

[songblaze.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me - a devious, excellent partner in crime! And she's smooth enough that she always gets them off scot free even when poor Wensleydale trips up and gets them caught.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

As a suggestion - throw in a few more mothballs and let them work for a week and THEN investigate.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

That sounds wise... unless it turns them even more furious in their vengefulness, with recently slain comrades to avenge...