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When most of our belongings went into storage for 12 months, I used peppercorns and cloves (wrapped together in muslin) in all clothing containers, and bay leaves in all my book boxes. Never had a problem and everything smelt nice when I unpacked.
A few bay leaves in the back of each shelf in the book cases keeps any pest away.
Can't abide the smell of mothballs and would never use them. They smell evil.
Try this instead of mothballs.
I pack many of my woolens in a cedar-lined hope chest. The rest of my stored clothing goes into the attic in plastic trash barrels with tight lids. I place 1 or 2 bars or scented soap, unwrapped, in each barrel and have never had a problem with moths or other insects.
We get so many requests about how to get rid of pests and invariably people say to use mothballs or were given this advice from exterminators. Mothballs are very toxic. They contain Napthalene which is highly poisonous. It does keep moths away and many other pests but is also bad for us, our pets (dogs, cats, and birds) and wildlife.
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/naphthal.html
We also get many, many requests asking how to get rid of the mothball smells after using them to keep mice out of their attics and crawl spaces. The best way is not to use them in the first place. If you must use them, make sure you contain them in something. As soon as you want to remove them, all you need to do is remove a mesh bag rather than trying to find them all over the attic.
Personally, I don't use them for anything and wouldn't recommend their use. Cedar shavings do repel moths and work well repelling some other pests also.
A better idea than using mothballs is to take your leftover soap slivers and put them in a vented plastic bag. You place the bag with seasonal clothes before packing them away.
Cloves work as well as mothballs on your stored garments. The smell is nice and fresh. Put them in cloth bags and put them in the pockets of garments and into bags holding garments while they are in storage.
This is a page about, "Do mothballs work as a snake repellent?". Homeowners often try to use a variety of products to deter snakes from coming into their yard or garden.
