Customer called with skunks about 3 weeks ago. After she didn't call to make the inspection appointment I followed up only to find out the contrator that was working on her house told her she didn't need me....just dump mothballs down the hole, sprinkle them all around the house and the problem would be solved. After I told her what was in mothballs and that her cats, dogs, her and the neighborhood kids not to mention her groundwater might not be best served by such actions I guess she got to thinking. I got a call last night saying the mothballs were gone, the skunk was still there and she wanted it trapped and gone. In addition she thinks she's having respitory issues because she found a bunch of mothballs in her basement too! OH MAN!

They do not work for woodchuck either, brother-in-law called and said he had a WC under his out building. But he took care of it. He poured two boxes of mothballs down the hole. I went over the next day, it look like it had snowed that night.
So then he poured drain oil down the hole, the WC dug out in a different location. I trapped the WC out of the second hole.

Around here people like to use lye...and they wonder why you can't get it anymore.

Well....that is why they register pesticides such as moth balls.

Does anyone know if they work on moths?

Or bats
Or snakes
Or fox
Or squirrels

Yet, I keep smelling the nasty things.

So far, I don't think anyone has tried them for moths yet!

Who even buys them?

Think the snake repellent that is sold at the local hardware stores the main component is napthalene, maybe that's where they go.

Seems logical in stored clothes or foot lockers like back in the day they would effect moths due to toxic fumes.

That said related to snipers comment, everyone knows they work on everything under the sun right?

Bat away, snake away, deer away, squatch away.....

Now selling toxic fumes and respiratory and kidney failure in aisle 1.

Anyone can find someone claiming this works quicker than they find a pro and it costs less so they try the authoritative blog post which claims moths balls will make any wildlife or pest issue disappear..

Folks are always looking for cheap workarounds I can't blame them for that, unfortunate they don't read the package.

...DIY folks looking for a cheap solution. ("The internet said to try this...")
Ditto what Justin said.

For moths?

Knowing what I know about how often people use mothballs as a silver bullet, I should buy every stock I can in mothball companies...I'd be rich!

I have a crazy woman next door that goes to the dollar stores and buy's dozens of box's, and sits there with a hammer breaking them up, to spread all over her back yard. the stench is overwhelming, and the birds will carry them off and drop them all over the hood. I've called DNR a few times and all they do is send her a letter. The Wankers.

I know this is going to kill you guys, especially you Daves, but we have used mothballs successfully, on many occasions. They're

one of the best skunk smell/ dead animal smell deodorants that you can find. You can put it in a can and the amount can easily be

regulated by adding or subtracting mothballs. We have found out how easy it is for mothballs to neutralize really ugly smells and

how easy it is to have those ugly smells neutralize the naphthalene. I will admit that we have never tried it on moths, bats, or

any other wildlife. So next time you have a really smelly job, stick a mothball in each nostril. ( Or maybe not )

Moth balls will cause cirrhosis of the liver like alcohol over time. Not good stuff. Mother-in-law put moth balls over the yard, very proud of herself as the entire area became vacuous, no sign of life. Her liver function deteriorated, her blood work was terrible and she felt awful. Worse yet, it made the cat sick. I told her about the possible link to the poison, she picked up the balls and all lived happily ever after.

Jim, maybe I wasn't clear with what we do. ( And not very often } I have personally had a couple of instances where I have had an

attack from too much naphthalene spread throughout an attic by competitors. And it wasn't balls, it was blocks of the stuff. I have

never given, suggested they use, or in any way mentioned mothballs. Although I have to admit that I might have purloined enough so

that I don't have to actually buy them! ( Maybe your mother-in-law gave me a few )

We all run into mothballs frequently when dealing with skunks, chucks because some armchair wildlife expert dispenses unsolicited "helpful" information to a home owner with critters living under the house or shed. I can't remember any of those instances with mothballs in place in which I did not make a catch or two as the mothballs did not deter the skunk or chuck from using the holes. The animal merely passes through a small area of odor and then goes down a hole away from the odor. I really can't stand the smell myself, not big on chemicals and very glad to have the homeowner remove them if possible if I have a heads up. Had only one location where i did not make the catch this year, skunk was dead.