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There have been numerous people who have asked about the appearance of maggots, with questions such as “What do maggots look like?” and “Do you have any pictures of maggots?” To provide a comprehensive answer, I have collected several images from the internet. These pictures serve as a visual representation of what maggots look like, and I hope they will aid in answering any questions you may have about these creatures.
It is important to note that maggots are an essential component of many ecosystems. They are one of the primary decomposers of dead animals and plants, and thus play a vital role in the natural cycle of life. In addition, maggots have been used in medical settings for centuries to help clean wounds and remove dead tissue.
While maggots may not be the most pleasant creatures to look at, they are a fascinating and integral part of our world. By understanding their role in the environment and their potential uses in medicine, we can gain a greater appreciation for these often-misunderstood organisms.
So, without further ado, please view the photos of maggots below…
The first picture here is just to give you an idea of the typical size of a maggot.
The next photo is a close up photo of a few maggots just so you can see what they tend to look like.
Here’s another close-up picture of a maggot. This one is REALLY close… 🙂
And the last photo is what they look like when you’ve left your steak out and the maggots are feasting on your meat 😛
So, if you have any questions about these maggot pictures, just let me know.
I still hope you never encounter them, but if you’re here, you are probably already having a maggot problem… GOOD LUCK!!!
THANK YOU!!! I was hoping to find safe alternatives to harsh chemicals as I have 2 young children, a pup and a parrot at home. Thank you for your list of maggot killers.
Thanks for showing me pictures of what maggots looked like James the maggots looked like ugly worms and not that pretty.
Thanks for showing me pictures of what maggots looked like James the maggots looked like ugly worms and not that pretty.
interesting website you have here.
i suddenly developed curiosity in this subject today.
i forgot that i had left a piece of boiled egg yolk for a stray cat. and i noticed a stench around th eplace. when i checked, it was a disgusting sight(the smell even more). maggots.
i simply poured water into the container and they drowned and later in the evening, their bodies floated on the surface.
I was cleaning my livingroom and my son opened my vertical blinds and he yelled because maggots were all over the trash cans on my patio and climbing up my patio doors. Its gross! I fear maggots I refuse to go near them. My husband would but my question is how do we get rid of that problem? 1st time for this.
I was cleaning my livingroom and my son opened my vertical blinds and he yelled because maggots were all over the trash cans on my patio and climbing up my patio doors.
Its gross!
I fear maggots I refuse to go near them.
My husband would but my question is how do we get rid of that problem?
1st time for this.
I noticed maggots on the carpet in my house. I killed about 20 of them all together but they were just walking around. I cant figure out were they are coming from. I have looked everywhere. I find like 1 or 2 at a time but they are never beside each other
Maggots are nothing to fear. Their job in the ecosystem is to eliminate waste. They turn into flies which have potential to spread pathogens, but the amount of refuse devoured by maggots spares us from a far filthier world. Common scavenging species are harmless to humans, and you shouldn’t even need any tricks to get rid of them – just don’t leave anything rotten lying around!
Exactly 🙂
We moved into a home a few months ago. About a week later found some maggots in the piano room (tile floor). We got them up & fllushed them. No problems until this morning. My husband found them randomly through the living room, kitchen, den… How can we get rid of them, & would there be a place where they congregate, then start roaming the house??? Help……
We moved into a home a few months ago. About a week later found some maggots in the piano room (tile floor). We got them up & fllushed them. No problems until this morning. My husband found them randomly through the living room, kitchen, den… How can we get rid of them, & would there be a place where they congregate, then start roaming the house???
Help……
Help……
Help……
Help……
Candace, as I already tried to explain to everyone, there’s nothing you can or really need to do if those are actually maggots.
Maggots are the larvae of flies who lay their eggs on dead animals. There is probably a dead mouse or bird somewhere under your house or just outside. After maggots eat up such a corpse (which, by the way, saves you from the danger of some corpse-borne diseases) they will wander from it and turn into small, brown “cocoons” as they turn into flies. You might see a sudden outbreak of flies in your house but they will be “born” clean and won’t harm anything, just swat them or shoo them outside. Maggots will not appear again unless another source of food dies in the same place.
This is all only true if these really are maggots, however. Several other insects have larvae resembling small, fat white worms. These include some moths, butterflies and beetles. Most would only be in your home because they’re lost, and wouldn’t have any way of hurting you or your belongings.
….In fsct, the fact that you’re finding them “all throughout the house” probably means they aren’t maggots, as maggots will only move a couple of feet from their birthplace before turning into the cocoons (pupae). It’s unlikely that you have several dead animals around at once.
You would have to show a picture of them or explain them further for anyone to determine what animals you’re calling maggots.
We have a rental home we are trying to sell. Went to check up on property after about two months and there were maggots all over the kitchen ceiling. Freaked me out. I set off a fogger and came back two days later. Several were still alive. I swept them off the ceiling there is no open food or dead animals. What do you think caused this. Home is very clean.
Linda, the maggots did have to come from a dead animal. It could even be as tiny as one dead mouse or baby bird, perhaps on the roof or trapped inside the ceiling.
Like I explain several times they are always an isolated incident.
“Cleanliness” has NOTHING to do with the presence of insects. Insects do not care if a building is clean or dirty, only if there is food, and food can be many different things to many different species. For maggots, it is the meat of dead animals.
It’s nothing to worry about, just nature.
Found what I think is maggots in a bag of oatmeal. They look like maggots but do they turn into moths? I even have found these ugly things crawling on my kitchen ceiling.
Nope, maggots don’t turn into moths, they turn into flies.
You might just have found a type of moth larvae though. Different thing, but still annoying I guess, considering your found it in your OATMEAL!! 🙁
Good luck…
Fly maggots can only feed on soft, moist food sources like rotting meat or feces. White larvae in dry foods are moth or beetle larvae, probably moths.
Just discard the oatmeal and keep other foods tightly sealed, they will go away. I don’t think they’re ugly, they’re cute little things!
We have them coming out of out walls they are disgusting. We are ripping our wall of our bathroom out all because we have a little leak.
And when the maggots get older do they turn almost black?
Hi
Yes, they get quite dark just before they become flies. It almost looks like they’re starting to dry out 🙂
bought indoor/outdoor carpet last week. laid it down on top of concret floor using glue that was recomened, it rained 2 days later and 3 days later there are maggots crawling everywhere. i cleaned them all up and then it rained last night and they are back. what do i need to do to get rid of these gross things?
What? Maggots have absolutely NOTHING to do with rain, where would you even hear a thing like that?
Maggots come from rotten meat or other decaying food, and nothing else. They could be hatching in a dead mouse or bird.
If they’re brown or black however, and scurry fast, they are carpet beetle larvae, which eat carpet fibers and glue.
Do maggots get in your skin if it get on you
No, not at all…
Normal maggots cannot bite at all, they can only break down soft, rotten material like old meat or spoiled fruit.
I need help!! I came home yesterday and there were these maggot looking things in my kitchen and some on the living room floor, by the front door and by the back door, they were just in random spots. Ive looked everywhere for the source and cannot find anything!! I thought maybe my cat had tapeworms but i confined her to see and havent seen any where she is at. Im so confused and really weirded out, I havent seen any since we’ve swept and picked them up. Is it just dead animals that they are on?
hey we just sucked them up and then spray bombed our house and also washed the floors. there not bad bugs just yucky and now i feel like there all over me LOL!!! EEEEeeeEEEEEWWWWWWWW
I’m a wildlife rehabilitator who raises raccoons. I got in a mostly wild raccoon who decided to “hide” his poop from me. When I finally found it, it was covered in small white worm of some type, which I took to be maggots, although I was quite surprised by how small they were. Sounds crazy, I guess, but do they start out tiny? Like 1-2 mm wide and 6-8 mm long?
They actually start out as a clump of white looking stuff where, on closer inspection, you’ll see about 100-200 (from what I’ve seen, I didn’t actually count them) TINY TINY (about 0.1×0.1mm) white “grains”/
So, yours are actually quite large.
I’ve seen some even smaller — like you describe. Thanks for the confirmation. But also thanks for making me feel better about maggots. You made me see that they’re not some disgusting creature from a bad horror movie. However, they become flies, and the flies this year are killin’ me, so …
I’m glad I could help. I know how you feel about the flies. It’s just one of the reasons I’m glad it’s winter time here right now… NO FLIES!!! 🙂
I’m glad I found this page. I get all the “they are not bad, they are part of ecosystem” comments but either way they are GROSS!!! Today is garbage day and the THIRD time I have opened the lid to find maggots falling out all over the place. I will never sleep again! YUCK!
I don’t know where all you people are but I am in Ottawa. I think because we had a mild winter and we had scorching hot summer weather way too early in the spring the life cycles of some insects have been affected. We are in for a buggy summer 🙁 Sounds stupid but until I saw your page I didn’t connect the maggots in my garbage with the unsually high number of flies this year. So off to the store I go to buy some bleach and fly traps for the garage!!!!
I’m glad this page helped.
Maybe consider using some of these pest repellent products which are a little more “earth safe”:
I hope you come right, and sleep well at night 🙂 Let me know how it goes…
About 30 – 50 maggots appear overnight in a corner of our family room about two or three times a year. Most of the maggots stay in the immediate area, but a few move out into the room. We clean them up & there is no action between occurrences. This has been happening for several years.
The walls are a glass sliding door & drywall. The floor is oak hardwood. There are no obvious holes in the drywall, floor or wood baseboard. The house is post & pier & when I inspect outside & around under the area during the activity time I see no maggots. There is an outside laundry tub on the other side of the drywall (actually in a carport). The joists & underside of the floor under the area is clean & dry & free of any termite (drywood or ground) activity.
Our “maggots” were put into a jar & they transformed into little flies. Using a magnifying glass, they look just your pictures to me.
Thank you. Ron
Why do you not show now the update of our happening that you did show earlier?
Ron Darby 7-4-12
What update would you like? Did you send pictures?
About 30 – 50 maggots appear overnight in a corner of our family room about two or three times a year. Most of the maggots stay in the immediate area, but a few move out into the room. We clean them up & there is no maggot action between occurrences. This has been happening for several years. The corner is clean & solid.There are no obvious holes in the drywall, floor or wood baseboard. How could the maggot source be here?
Breakthru!!! We got up at 3am & saw about 20 maggots spread all around the middle of the room. No maggots in the corner! !! But, in the morning there were about 40 maggots in the corner & about 10 spread around. Here’s what’s happening: the maggot source was in the trash which is in the middle of the room. These maggots are very light sensitive. These do not leave the trash unless it is the darkest time – night time & no house lights on except for one small night light. The trash is 15 feet from the corner & it is the darkest place in the room at late night so most of the maggots squirm to there.
Im happy i found this site because we found maggots last night and it really freaked me out i mean their cute and all but it still is a bit creepy and we also tried to get rid of them but som wont go done with out a fight
but can they hurt pets because i have several fish ,two hamsters ,a dog , turtle,and two fire bellied toads and im a animal lover of all so i worry for them
So I just went potty in the bathroom and saw a maggot crawling on the floor. I flushed it down the toilet and I immediately looked it up and got kinda freaked out! I’m glad I found this information it makes me feel a bit better but now I’m worried that there’s a dead mouse in my house somewhere because acouple monthes i caught a mouse.. I hope theres not i hate mice more than anything.. and I hope theres not more maggots either!!
We are using a Porta potty while waiting to have our house built. We live in our RV on our property of mainly woods. The Porta potty got maggots, super small ones but very numerous. I had it cleaned out but still found them all over the walls and everywhere. I guess from him spraying it with hot water. I cleaned that mess up by squishing them with tissue. 15 days later they are back but they aren’t coming from inside the toilet. They are crawling up the outside of the front of the camode from the ground. I sprayed them with Dawn soap and water. That didn’t work. I then sprayed them with dog flea spray and wiped them up squishing them. I thought I got them all I checked everywhere. I would find one crawling here and there. Finally I checked later and didn’t see any and sat down to go to the bathroom. I felt something crawling on the back of my thigh. It was a maggot!!!! Grossed out.
I am living in a rented apartment that is located in the basement of a home. It has several windows and is really located closer to ground level. However, since having moved in about 2 months ago I have suffered infestations of several types of bugs (and several exterminations). Now, I am noticing small, maggot-like creatures in several rooms of the house. I found some when I moved in but they had turned into flies and I let it go. I reported this recent development to my landlord who is insistent that they are not maggots, but flea larva. I do not have any pets and I have never encountered fleas before. Does this sound like she is telling the truth? Help!
So I found a load of maggots in my kitchen, and I live in a block of flats so I’m not sure if the source of them is in this flat or somewhere else. Anyway I keep finding them, no matter how many I kill. I’m thinking if I lay a trap of some meat in a tupawear or something would that work to attract them all??
I bought a one month meal delivery service to try out and since I couldn’t eat all of them, I froze approx 6-7 in my freezer. Months went by and I decided to clean out the refrigerator and throw everything out that was over 6 months old. Out came 4 of the (sealed) meal boxes. I couldn’t fit them into the current trash bag, then forgot about them laying out before I left town for a week. When I came back, I was shocked to find hundreds of maggots crawling all over the inside of the boxes (plastic; black on bottom, clear on top) AND squeezing through the seal, falling to the counter below. My question is: if the meals were sealed in boxes, does that mean the meat had come in contact with flies before they were delivered to me? And would any piece of raw meat left to spoil have maggots hatch from it. I am very curious about this since I had no house flies in my home during this time. So I wondered if it was possible that many meats get exposed inadvertently to flies? Since this happened, I have not been able to eat meat beacause of the sight of all those maggots! To make matters worse, I was in such a rush to get them out of the house, I threw them all in the trash container. You can probably guess what happened-the whole trash bin and lid were covered with them! UGH!
i have been finding these brownish red white for lack of a better term maggots, with a black head.i wondered if these are maggots or not and how to get rid of them. only find them in the down stairs bathroom.
hi i was wondering what do magots look like and do?
take a look at the photos on this page, and, read this page:
http://www.maggots.co.za/what-are-maggots/
I have had these lovely creatures many times and spry out a double garage every time. 2 hours
how do you know its dead. POP!
just a joke my kids make, very tough a resilent buggers moving upwards to the water spray
good luck use spray 9 or gasoline! kidding no gas
hi, thank u for all the good infomation, we had a party for our little girl and yes i did thow alot of wasted food away so now our bins are coverd in maggots, but after reading what ppl have wrote its made me feel better that there not a big problem like i 1st thougt lol there just doing a job lol u have help me overcome a fear of them little buggers…our bin men come tomos so it will be all nice a clean agan…till the next time lol my fear started when i lived in my parents house and we had a bad mouse problem due to new houses being put up in the old farm fileds, we try all sorts to get rid of them and i started to notices a funny smell in our living room…. when we moved things around there was a half eating mouse under our sofa being eating buy maggots….gave me nitemares for along time…. since then ive gone O.C.D when it comes to cleaning our house…. thanks for reading x
For the past 3 yrs,around this time of year out of the blue I’ll go to bed wake up the next morning and find maggots slinking across the floor. They seem to be coming from a very small seam in the floor. The floor is tile covered concrete that meets the wood and drywall that hold a very large floor to ceiling window. So where are they coming from? I’ve searched ALL OVER outside and have found no reason for them. Yet every year now, every summer now,every day now, for at least a month or two,their they are..slinking,squirming, rolling their way around my kitchen. It’s not only disgusting to have them pop under your shoe (or foot if someone forgets…YUCK!!!) but also very embarrassing should I have company!! ” Oh,Haha..just never mind the maggots..enjoy the meal I made.” RIGHT!!! Maggots and dinner dates DON’T go together AT ALL!!!! Does ANYONE have an idea or solution???
Saw some maggot or maggot-like critters eating record albums and album covers. Any idea what that might be?
I am very disturbed by maggots and found some in my kitchen . Now I’m having nightmares. This is upsetting me greatly :/
Not sure off hand. Perhaps a type of worm that eats paper (not sure about the album itself).
A small bird was blown down my chimney during a storm, between the firebox and brick of the fireplace. When I came home one day, a huge fly jetted across my path. I went into the bathroom, turned on the light & left it on; few days later inspected dead fly; it had a definite stripe pattern on its exterior, as did the subsequent flies. Question: were they colored this way because of the bird they ate? I mean, that was the only DNA for them. My friend said I was crazy – couldn’t happen – what say you?
I’m afraid I with your friend on this 🙂 I would say that it’s just the type of fly that had bred (they were striped before)
Uh, DNA is passed down from parent to offspring, not from food. A human baby doesn’t come out different colors because of what kind of animals you ate – _ –
I found your site to be very informative. My question is can you kill the cocooned larva once they have turned brown. Found a dead animal close to a barn too late and don’t want to let flies hatch and pester my livestock. is there I can pour on the decomposed corpse to kill the larva?
Hi Melanie. Your best bet would be to remove the corpse. Otherwise, perhaps bury it? I think it’s too late probably, considering the maggots have most likely become flies already, but even if not, I don’t think you’d be able to get all of the maggots that have burrowed their ways deep into the corpse. So bagging it and tossing it would be the next best thing.
I don’t know if I have maggots or larvae crawling on my kitchen floor. This happened last summer and now I got up to them this morning. Last summer I did have a lot of flies when I found these things. I hired Orkin but now I have them again this morning. First time this summer. I keep my house very clean and can’t tell where they come from. If I get them out I can come in immediately and there are more. Any suggestions.?
Sometimes I go fishing and I eather have to use maggotes or worms. One fact is they both aer slimmy. But I don’t mind. So I put both of them on the hook. I learned that if you put both of them on the hook,you will get more fish. I love them and then hate both of them at the same time.Really!!!!!!!!!!! I do.
I found 2 creatures about 3 feet apart on my living room rug. There was a small brown pellet shaped thing next to one which I didn’t take time to inspect! It could have been anything. The creatures I had were very small and a little more grey than the rice colored ones in your photo. My creatures, when I encountered them were rolled up in a ball (picture a snail). Are these maggots? Besides making my skin itchy I’m just worried about my cat and if they could fine their way to him. He doesn’t go outside but obviously I could have brought who knows what in on my shoes or something else. Do these sound like maggots? Any idea what they could be?
Looks weird
I have an in ground compost pit that I made by drilling many holes in a 60 gallon barrel. I buried the barrel so that only 10″ are sticking out of the ground. I put a cement ring and firepit bricks around the top and have an old disc blade for a lid. I got the disc blade 1/2 way through last summer. Before that I was using a solid lid that didn’t allow air flow. Last year after I got the disc blade the stink disappeared and maggots showed up. I throw all kitchen waste into the pit including meat and since last fall it is about 1/2 full. I am hoping that the maggots come sooner this year and help with the reduction/break down of the kitchen waste. I am hoping there is room in the bin because of maggot action at least until fall when I can shovel it out on the garden.
I don’t known what to do , last night me and my fiance slept in our bed , no problems, the next night he goes to bed by himself five minutes later I hear oh my god ! And behold there are what looks to be maggots in our he’d, on the floor, who knows where else , they are just in our bedroom that I know of but what’s driving me crazy besides I am totally freaked out by any big, is that I have no idea where they came from! No food, no garbage, I am stunned . were moving soon and were not even taking the bed with us because of this . I’m totally grossed out and feel like their crawling all over me. Please help , I sprinkled salt on some but they did not die right away, idk I seen it on a website , but I can’t even go in my bedroom for fear of stepping on one , theirbhas to be at least twenty but their in different parts of the room so i have no clue where they came from ! I’m freaking out over here.
Hi Cory. Perhaps consider taking a photo of what you see as maggots and send it to photos@maggots.co.za – the reason being, they might not be maggots but rather more likely moth larvae.
Woke up this morning to find about a hundred of them crawling on the dining room floor. Nice way to start your day! Picked them all up with the vacuum and disposed of them in a sealed container.
Looks like they came out of a crevice by a radiator. The tenants on the lower floor left on a trip three weeks ago… Can’t wait ’til they come back to find out what they left rotting behind!
My cat had a small wound on his eye lid I had been putting Triple Antibiotic Ointment on it for a few days now,, And this morning there was a little white thing sticking out of it so I got my tweezers and pulled on it and a big ol Maggot came out I’m still a little shocked how did it get in there?? I’m hoping it will clear up now.. Or should I take him to the vet??
Hi Annie. That’s a tricky one because generally maggots are going to be attracted to rotting meat. That’s one of the reasons they get used to clean wounds because they eat the dead flesh, leaving the healthy flesh. Keep a close eye on that wound, and maybe try sniffing it, because you’ll smell if it’s going “rotten”. Safest bet would be to go to the vet and ask them to check it out, but if that’s not an option, make sure you think the wound is clean and healing nicely