Animal field guide
Household Casebearer Moth
Phereoeca uterella
The caterpillar of this small grey moth never leaves home. It spins a silk case, coats the outside with sand grains, dust and lint, and drags it along walls as it feeds. The case is open at both ends, and the larva can turn round inside to put its head out of either one.
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Invertebrate · Domesticated worldwide · Buildings in warm · Relatively common
Known for: Case is flat, Larva is white with a dark brown head, Only the head and front legs show when the larva, Adult forewings are grey with up to four dark spots
Animal field guide
Household Casebearer Moth
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The caterpillar of this small grey moth never leaves home. The case is open at both ends, and the larva can turn round inside to put its head out of either one.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Buildings in warm, humid climates: walls, ceilings, cupboards, garages and sheds, especially undisturbed corners. Outdoors it occupies shaded walls, the undersides of garden furniture and tree trunks.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
1
Speed
9
Size
1
Intelligence
4
Rarity
14%
Total
29
Size scale
STEP 2 · PROVE IT
STEP 3 · BATTLE & FUSE
Understand the animal
Understand the Household Casebearer Moth
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to Household Casebearer Moth
The caterpillar of this small grey moth never leaves home. It spins a silk case, coats the outside with sand grains, dust and lint, and drags it along walls as it feeds. The case is open at both ends, and the larva can turn round inside to put its head out of either one.
How to identify a Household Casebearer Moth
- Case is flat, spindle-shaped and about a centimetre long
- Larva is white with a dark brown head
- Only the head and front legs show when the larva walks
- Adult forewings are grey with up to four dark spots
- Hind wings carry a fringe of long hair-like scales
Why Household Casebearer Moth are interesting
- Although widely called the plaster bagworm, it is not a true bagworm but a member of the clothes moth family, Tineidae.
- The larva begins its case soon after hatching and enlarges that same case as it grows instead of building a new one.
- Before pupating, the larva fastens its case to a wall with silk and changes into a moth inside it.
- Because the case is coated with whatever dust and grit lie nearby, its colour can vary from pale sand to dark grey between houses.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does Household Casebearer Moth behave this way?
- Case is flat, spindle-shaped and about a centimetre long
- Larva is white with a dark brown head
- Only the head and front legs show when the larva walks
- Adult forewings are grey with up to four dark spots
- Hind wings carry a fringe of long hair-like scales
The larva's daily rhythm is poorly documented; it feeds and rests inside its case wherever it happens to be on a wall. Adult moths sit on walls and along floor edges with the wings folded.
04
Why Buildings in warm?
Habitat: Buildings in warm, humid climates: walls, ceilings, cupboards, garages and sheds, especially undisturbed corners. Outdoors it occupies shaded walls, the undersides of garden furniture and tree trunks.
Native range: Domesticated worldwide
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Some regional overlays are unavailable in this web build.
Buildings in warm, humid climates: walls, ceilings, cupboards, garages and sheds, especially undisturbed corners. Outdoors it occupies shaded walls, the undersides of garden furniture and tree trunks.
05
Why this diet?
Old spider webs are the larva's main food, along with wool, other animal fibres and the remains of dead insects. In one rearing study larvae ate wool but refused cotton.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
The larva's daily rhythm is poorly documented; it feeds and rests inside its case wherever it happens to be on a wall. Adult moths sit on walls and along floor edges with the wings folded.
Development from egg to adult takes roughly two to three months in laboratory rearing. How long the adult moth lives is not well documented.
07
Household Casebearer Moth reproduction
A female glues her eggs singly to debris in crevices and along the join of wall and floor; rearing studies report up to about 200. The larva passes through several stages over roughly seven weeks before pupating.
Females are larger than males, but both are small, with a wingspan of roughly a centimetre, and the sexes are hard to tell apart in the field.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
Small parasitic wasps have been reared from the larvae. House spiders, geckos and ants probably take others. A threatened larva withdraws and pulls the underside of the case up to shut the opening.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 14/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 14/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
Speak to the animal
Speak to the Household Casebearer Moth
It answers as itself: ask about how it lives, or bring it something of yours and hear what it would do, from its own Power.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 100/day.
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Where to find them
Where to find Household Casebearer Moth
To find Household Casebearer Moth in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside domesticated worldwide than by covering too much ground.
- Buildings in warm, humid climates: walls, ceilings
- Protected habitat blocks within domesticated worldwide
Scientific name
Phereoeca uterella
Category
Invertebrate
Habitat
Buildings in warm, humid climates: walls, ceilings, cupboards, garages and sheds, especially undisturbed corners. Outdoors it occupies shaded walls, the undersides of garden furniture and tree trunks.
Rarity
Relatively common · 14/100
Native range
Domesticated worldwide
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