Maggots are small worms that can make your stomach turn simply by looking at them. Therefore, how to get rid of fly maggots on the ground is a question that I will answer in this article in comprehensive detail. Keep reading! While none of us want fly maggots inside our houses, these pests might end up on the ground of your house.
Table of Contents
What do fly maggots on the ground look like?
Maggots are essentially the larvae stage of a fly’s lifecycle—the stage that follows the hatching of fly eggs and comes before the stage of metamorphosis. These larvae appear to be tiny worms that are white or cream and can also look like rice grains. Some fly maggots can have a darker colored head.
Now, the fact is that maggots can belong to any number of fly species that fall in the biological suborder of Brachycera. This suborder includes commonly found house flies, fruit flies, gnats, and bluebottle flies, among many other similar species.
A common characteristic between all these species of flies and these fly maggots is that they are all scavengers and feast on rotting food or waste organic matter. In fact, you’ll only find fly maggots on the ground when there is some waste food for them to feast on!
How do you find fly maggots on the ground?
Typically, you only get fly maggots on the ground or on the floor of your house if there is an existing fly infestation in your house. Alternatively, you can also get fly maggots inside your house if flies have easy access to the inside of your house.
Sometimes, when flies enter your house and find a source of food, they might lay their eggs close to it. It is also possible that maggots have entered your house on your pet animals and fallen off onto the ground.
If these eggs hatch inside your house, then the maggots that emerge from them can crawl or wiggle about your house looking for food.
If you’ve found maggots on the ground, you must take action toward getting rid of them or killing them for good. Else, it won’t be too much time before you have a full-fledged fly infestation to deal with!
How to check for fly maggots?
Well, it depends where you’ve spotted fly maggots. For example, maggots can be fairly easily visible on the floor, where they simply look like wriggling worms that are white in color and only about the size of your nails.
However, these pests can also hide inside your dustbin or garbage can, where they have access to rotting or waste food.
If your pet is infested with maggots, you’ll have to part their fur and watch for the presence of movement near any wounds or just under the skin. Maggots can also nest in the soil. Therefore, if you see that your plants are withering away without any reason, it might mean that there are maggots in the soil near the roots.
How to get rid of fly maggots on the ground?
If you have noticed fly maggots on the ground, you have to take immediate action or risk letting flies infest your entire house.
Bear in mind that flies and maggots both thrive off a lack of hygiene and the availability of rotting organic matter. Therefore, they carry plenty of diseases that can be extremely harmful to you and any pets you might have.
Find the source of a fly maggot infestation in your house.
The very first thing you need to do when you find fly maggots on the ground is to search for a fly infestation or nesting site in your house. This could be in the cracks of your wall, around your dustbin, or around your potted plants. The fact is that when there are maggots in your house, there are likely to be flies around too.
Sanitize the spot on the ground where you’ve found fly maggots and the rest of the house.
I cannot stress enough that fly maggots and flies themselves are only attracted to sources of food. Their food comes from rotting garbage consisting primarily of biodegradable or organic items. Therefore, you must ensure that your house stays sanitized and clean.
Additionally, whenever you find maggots on the ground, you should dispose of them or kill them before thoroughly sanitizing the area. The chances of getting maggots in your house reduce substantially if you simply keep your house clean!
Use boiling hot water to kill any maggots on the ground.
I don’t mean that you should simply pour hot water on the maggots on the ground itself. Rather, collect the maggots and place them in a container. After you’ve done that, you should pour boiling water into that container.
Since maggots are soft on the outside, boiling water kills them quite effectively. In fact, you can also use boiling water to neutralize any fly eggs along with maggots.
Use natural or chemical insecticides to kill maggots on the ground.
You could simply turn to spray these maggots with a homemade natural insecticide like concentrated lemon juice or diatomaceous earth (store-bought) on the maggots.
If you don’t have access to such natural items, you can also spray chemical pesticides directly on the maggots. Once they’ve died, make sure that you collect them and put them in a sealed garbage bag that you can safely dispose of.
How to prevent maggots on the ground in your house?
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. This is opposite even when answering how to get rid of fly maggots on the ground. The reason is that if you prevent the entry of flies and their maggots into your house, you won’t find maggots on the ground at all. I’ve highlighted the fundamental ways you can prevent fly maggots and flies from entering your house below!
Keep all the surfaces of your house clean.
The fact is that flies and fly maggots are only attracted to sources of nutrition. Therefore, cleanliness and good hygiene are paramount in preventing fly and maggot infestations in the house.
You could wipe down all the surfaces in your house using a floor cleaner or homemade cleaning solutions using lime juice! Make sure you don’t neglect the corners of your house since dirt can accumulate there and become spots of attraction for flies and, resultantly, fly maggots.
Use fly repellants.
You can place electronic fly traps and plants that act as natural repellants to flies around the entrances of your house. This will help ensure that flies can’t enter your house, to begin with. When they can’t enter your house, there’s no question of them laying eggs inside and giving rise to maggots!
Hygienically store your food and garbage.
Even on the off chance that a fly does wander into your house, it shouldn’t have access to a source of nutrition since that will encourage it to lay eggs near and around it.
Therefore, you must always store your food in containers that have secure lids and dispose of garbage in properly covered garbage cans. Further, make sure that you clear out all the garbage from your house in a periodic fashion.
Are fly maggots dangerous?
Yes, fly maggots are dangerous. Maggots can also behave like parasites. Therefore, they can certainly be dangerous. For example, maggots have been known to enter the human body through their opening cavities.
While this does not prove to be fatal, it still results in a condition known as myiasis, where the parasite infests the human body it resides in.
This can result in high-grade fever and poisoning unless treated in good time. Maggots can also pop into your food and end up being ingested by you.
This, too, while not fatal, can cause food poisoning and high-grade fever. If maggots have made contact with you after going through your garbage, they could also be carriers of harmful bacteria and diseases.
