Your Move Gypsy Moth Free Brochure - Individuals

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Program Aid No. 2147

United States Department of Agriculture

day, if possible. If you cannot complete the inspection
on moving day, you must protect the items from the
possibility of infestation by sealing them under a tarp or
keeping them indoors or in a closed moving truck.
For self-inspection, follow these steps:
• Carefully inspect all surfaces and crevices of your
outdoor household articles such as patio furniture, lawn
equipment, toys, grills, trailers, and vehicles for gypsy
moth egg masses.
•

Remove and destroy any egg masses you find. Scrape
them off with a putty knife, stiff brush, or similar hand
tool. Dispose of egg masses and other life stages in a
container of hot, soapy water, or place them in a
plastic bag, seal it, and set it in the sun.

•

Check each item off on your checklist as you go, and
complete the requested information.

MAS
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It’s the Law: Before Moving,
Check for the Gypsy Moth
What Does the Law Require?
If you are moving from a gypsy moth quarantine area to a
non-quarantine area, you must inspect your outdoor household items for the gypsy moth and remove all life stages of
this destructive insect before you move. You and your moving
company may face penalties if you are required to inspect
but fail to do so. Fortunately, this inspection is easy to do,
and you will protect your new neighborhood from a voracious
leaf eater that can attack 300 kinds of trees and shrubs.
How Do I Know if I Live in a Gypsy Moth
Quarantine Area?
Visit www.YourMoveGypsyMothFree.com and click on
the U.S. map to find out if you live in a quarantine area.
If you do, you will need to inspect your outdoor household
items for gypsy moth if you’re moving to a non-quarantine
area. If you do not live in a quarantine area, this law does not
apply to you.
I Live in a Quarantine Area and Am Moving to a
Non-Quarantine Area. How Do I Meet This
Legal Requirement?
1) Use the self-inspection checklist on the back of this flyer
or hire a qualified certified applicator to inspect your outdoor
household articles. If you are moving between April and
August, you should complete the inspection on moving

If a qualified certified applicator performs the inspection,
be sure you get a copy of the completed, signed checklist.
2)

During your move, keep a copy of the completed checklist
in the vehicle moving the goods in case a U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) or State official requests it at any
point during your trip. If you are not driving, provide a
copy to the driver. This completed checklist is an official
certificate that will satisfy the requirements of all
non-infested States.

3)

Once your move is completed, you may want to keep
the checklist filed with your moving materials for at least
5 years in case you need it in the future.

Where Do I Go For Help?
• See the back of this flyer for photos of all gypsy moth
life stages.
•

Learn more at www.YourMoveGypsyMothFree.com.

•

Contact your State department of agriculture or nearest
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
office (www.aphis.usda.gov/StateOffices).
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
This publication supersedes Program Aid No. 2065,
“Your Next Move Gypsy Moth-Free,”
which was published in October 2010.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of
information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0579-0104. The time
required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching
existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

Issued October 2013

OMB APPROVED
0579-0104
EXP: XX/XXXX

CHECKLIST
Important: Make sure this checklist goes with your outdoor household items when you move!
Checklist and Record of Your Self-Inspection
Date: _______________
Originating property address: ______________________________________________________________________
Recreational or Camping Items
❏ Backpacks
❏ Basketball backboards
❏ Bicycles
❏ Boats
❏ Boat trailers
❏ Campers

❏ Ice chests
❏ Motorcycles
❏ Motor homes
❏ Recreational vehicles
❏ Snowmobiles
❏ Sports equipment

❏ Tarps
❏ Tents
❏ Waders or boots
❏ Other: _________________

Household Items
 Air conditioners
❏
❏ Barrels
❏ Cardboard and wooden boxes
❏ Clothesline poles
❏ Clothespin bags
❏ Empty plant containers
❏ Firewood*
❏ House plants (taken outside during the summer)

❏ Ladders
❏ Outdoor doormats
❏ Outdoor thermometers
❏ Refrigerators
❏ Sheets of plastic
❏ Shutters
❏ Storage sheds
❏ Storm/screen doors and windows

❏ Tanks for propane and oil
❏ Television antennas
❏ Trash cans
❏ Washing machines
❏ Water hoses
❏ Weather vanes
❏ Window awnings
❏ Other: _________________

Building Materials
❏ Bricks
❏ Cement mixing tubs
❏ Cinder blocks
❏ Lumber

❏ Roofing materials
❏ Sewer pipes
❏ Tools and toolboxes
❏ Water pipes

❏ Welding equipment
❏ Workbenches
❏ Other: _________________

Yard and Garden Items
❏ Animal houses (doghouses, rabbit hutches, etc.)
❏ Barbecue grills
❏ Birdbaths
❏ Bird feeders
❏ Bird houses
❏ Bug lights
❏ Carts
❏ Cold frames
❏ Driftwood
❏ Fencing

❏ Fertilizer spreaders
❏ Flagpoles
❏ Garden tillers
❏ Garden tools
❏ Lawnmowers
❏ Mailboxes
❏ Picnic tables
❏ Porch or patio furniture
❏ Signs and posts
❏ Snowblowers

❏ Storage sheds
❏ Swimming pools
❏ Tractors and trailers
❏ Trees, shrubs, and plants
❏ Trellises
❏ Wheelbarrows
❏ Yard decorations
❏ Other: _________________

Children’s Playthings
❏ Bicycles, tricycles
❏ Playhouses
❏ Sandboxes

❏ Sleds, toboggans
❏ Swing sets
❏ Tire swings

❏ Wagons
❏ Other outside toys (like trucks
or sand molds)

❏ Other: _________________
Other Items
❏ Cars or trucks
❏ Car parts

❏ Car ramps
❏ Farm implements

Gypsy moth egg masses on a
lawn mower
(USDA/APHIS, Susan Lane)

Gypsy moth egg mass on
a padlock
(USDA/APHIS, Susan Lane)

Gypsy moth caterpillar (larva)
(Daniel Herms, The Ohio State
University, Bugwood.org)

Gypsy moth pupae

(Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources,
Forestry Archive, Bugwood.org)

❏ Stored tires (snow tires)
❏ Other: _________________

Please inspect anything that was stored outside!
By signing this document you are affirming that you have inspected all outdoor household articles, whether included
on this checklist or not, for all life stages of gypsy moth in accordance with the procedures on this sheet, as required by
Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, part 301.45-4(a).
Signature: ___________________________ Phone number: ____________________________________________
Printed Name: ________________________ Company Name: ___________________________________________
(if applicable)

* To avoid spreading other tree pests, move only USDA- or State-certified, treated, and labeled firewood.

Female (top) and male adult
gypsy moths
(USDA APHIS PPQ Archive, USDA
APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org)