The story below is how I first came to deal with maggots, and figured out how to kill them. I hope you “enjoy”…
Could you tell me of a Pesticide that will work? I have had the unfortunate experience of having a garbage bin containing quite a few maggots. This is due to the fact that there were left-overs in the bin, and we missed garbage collection day just once. BOY can these things breed. Unlike the rest of this site, for this post I am not able to give you a definitive guide/tip. I’m going to tell you what I have TRIED to do to kill maggots, and I can tell you what might have been the most successful thing I did to get rid of the maggots.
But first, as always, a little background.
What are Maggots?
- – “Maggots” is a very general term for larvae
- – Maggots tend to be the young of flies, but can also be the young of moths, beetles and other insects
- – Maggots tend to be white, though they can be other colors
- – Maggots tend to feed from a few days to a few weeks, and will then migrate to a different (dry, possibly indoor) environment to hatch into their adult versions. Flies, for example… This can be when an “invasion” starts
- – Once the maggots have turned into flies, they will mate, and then look for a place to lay their eggs. And then, the whole cycle starts again… LOVELY
Now, the question is, once you have been invaded by maggots, be it the bin, the garden, or your compost heap, what can you do to get rid of them?
How do you get rid of Maggots?
– First things first, when getting rid of maggots, you need to get rid of the source. This can be a dead and rotting animal (for example, a bird your cat got hold of), or a garbage bin that has rotting meat (left overs?) or other organic material like vegetables or even hair.
– Next, you need to dispose of the maggots. Here is what I’ve tried and other people have tried that DIDN’T work:
- Fly spray/insecticide – They do NOTHING!
- Hydrochloric Acid – They wiggle a little faster, probably laughing at me struggling with the smell
- Salt – They just crawl over it
And here are some things that worked in a way for me:
- Boiling Water – But I can’t boil enough water at one time to kill ALL of the maggots
- Plain old DROWNING – Ended up using enough water that I think I ended up drowning the maggots
- Maggots in the house can be swept up and fed to your fish or chickens… If you have any!
- Products containing PERMETHRIN have been known to work as well.
- I bought a product that I think was a pesticide. It came in a powdered form and was specific to maggots. This seemed to work…
- And then there are the FUN ways that I’ve seen around the net for killing maggots. But they’re not for the weak stomahc/hearted…
I would REALLY like it if you could tell me if you’ve ever dealt with an infestation of maggots. It’s always good to share the knowledge. I can’t tell you what product to use to get rid of them as there are different products everywhere, but shop around. There HAS to be something that works.
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