maggots

Jamiewalshe

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this is going to sound fairly disgusting, but i need a little advice as to what to do about a maggot problem.

last night, around 11pm i was sitting around watching a film when i heard a scream from the kitchen. it was my gf, who had seen there were about 15 maggots (very very small, maybe 6-12mm long and about 2mm wide) spead out the entire width of the kitchen ceiling. some appeared to be in the pupa stage (ie covered in stickyness). Now we are generally very clean, certainly when it comes to the kitchen and, as it happens, i had cleaned out the kitched on saturday (a full half day long type of clearing out fridge,freezer, cupboards etc and obviously a full clean of everything) we are qutie a clean couple, and never leave washing up undone, or mess on the worktops etc. its a lot less hassle that way.

anyway i couldnt find anywhere they could have come from. there are no visable holes and certainly nothing rotting in our kitchen. its near enough sparkly clean. i made sure i checked everywhere, which invloved lots of acrobatics!

i got rid of them all, and disinfected the entire kitchen again. but come this morning (so about 7 hours later) there were about 15-20 of the same type and size on our ceiling.

its scaring the crap out of my girlfriend, and its making us look filthy. we live in a flat, and there is someone upstairs, but we've never had this problem before and the ceiling is very thick. im fully expecting to come home from work today to either a kitchen full of flys, or a ceiling full of larvae. what can i do?
 
I would say there has got to be some meat or similar somewhere. I think that is the only way flies breed. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Is there a small hole in the ceiling? Could they be coming from upstairs. You will need to lift everything up as maggots will find somewhere to 'hide' so they go to chrysalis, then flies.
 
nope no visable holes in the ceiling. ive had really good looks as well. it doesnt appear they're coming from upstairs. and im not sure on the possibility of something dead inbetween. the people upstairs are old, and ive not seen one of them recently, so...:rotfl:

im half tempted to cut my losses, take everything out of the kitchen and make a flamethrower..:cool:

seriously, i cant really think of a way of telling if there is something in there, and not sure how to go about finding out.
 
knock the door on flat above and ask questions.... do you know them ?..... do they appear nice neighbours ?....... could be that something is trapped, small bird, rat as other person has mentioned...... if so then IMHO there should be nothing to worry about too much as they will eat all the meat and just leave bones.... they will turn into flies and then just go away..... but check with your neighbour...... never know, could be another Dennis Neilson!!!!!!!!!!
 
to be fair we dont have a great relationship with the elderly couple upstairs. my gf and the woman get one well, but the guy has quite severe attitude problems. about 70% of the time we leave or are leaving our flat hes always standing outside. he normally has a look in or turns away and pretends hes not there (i reckon he goes by the rule of 'if i cant see them, they cant see me'). on friday he was waiting outside our door, so we politely said hello, even though its a bit weird, and he ended up following us to the car, then standing there watching as we drove off.

hes given us so much hassle before including screaming at my gf (he doesnt confront me, only her, and if i try to talk to him he doesnt actually say anything and wanders off) and trying to get us kicked out by complaing to our landlord for 'all night party's with dance music thumping and drug use' (thats a great story, we know our landlord well, and he knows we're into our metal and not dance music, that we dont have 'parties' and also knew that the weekend this neighbour mentioned we had this party, we were away for a few days!)

apparently theres this massive problem with him. OT but bascially im not gonig to talk to him. makes sense if it turns out to be a body mind:eek: :D
 
The fact that they are appearing on your ceiling suggests that the source will be very nearby. Flys tend to lay their eggs near rotting food and meat so it sounds as though these maggots have developed in your ceiling somewhere and found a way out.
I had a problem with maggots a few weeks ago - fortunately (?) they were in my outside bin. Flies had laid eggs on the rim of my wheely bin, as they were attracted to the rotten food inside. When the maggots hatched I expected them to stay in the bin and eat away at the food, but infact they crawled down the bin and made their way to my lawn.

Sorry - not an expert but I can imagine how you're feeling.
 
There's another solution, the landlord. Definately worth asking them. And seeing as its coming from the ceiling it's definately not your fault. Never know , it may be something to do with the neighbours above. Maybe they've got a filthy kitchen. That'll give the landlord something to moan to them. :D (revenge for complaining about your music. :devil:)
 
You should just report the problem to your landlord. Point out that you've checked your kitchen thoroughly and that the maggots keep reappearing on the ceiling - hence you suspect there may be a problem beween the ceiling and floorboards above.

Assuming he owns both apartments, it's his job to check out what's causing the problem (you can't very well do anything if the guy upstairs is uncooperative). If there is something dead trapped between the spaces then it's surely a health and safety issue and his responsibility to get sorted out.


Gav
 
Are you sure they were maggots? I could well be wrong but from my fishing days, I don't recall maggots having the same gravity defying abilities of their parents. Maybe some kind of moth larvae/caterpillar?

The "stickiness" that you mention is also more likely to be a caterpillar as they spin silk around themselves. Maggots' skin simply hardens when they pupate.

If they're back tonight, post a pic.
 
i didnt have time to fully get rid of them this morning. and my gf is avoiding the kitchen now. so theres likely going to be hundreds. i had a look on the internet for a pic this morning, incase they're not, but couldnt find anything.

they dont look like the typical maggots, but then ive not really seen many before. im not expert. thye're small, very thin and neary clear in colour, with a black 'head'

thing is, the fact that they are only on my ceiling suggests that whatever it is is above..?
 
Jamiewalshe said:
they dont look like the typical maggots, but then ive not really seen many before. im not expert. thye're small, very thin and neary clear in colour, with a black 'head'

It sounds like a maggot. The black 'head' is the feed spot. The bigger the spot the more they've fed on and fresher they are.
 
Jamiewalshe said:
i didnt have time to fully get rid of them this morning. and my gf is avoiding the kitchen now. so theres likely going to be hundreds. i had a look on the internet for a pic this morning, incase they're not, but couldnt find anything.

they dont look like the typical maggots, but then ive not really seen many before. im not expert. thye're small, very thin and neary clear in colour, with a black 'head'

thing is, the fact that they are only on my ceiling suggests that whatever it is is above..?

Take some in a jar to your local Council enviromental health office, they may be able to identify and take action.

By the way, suggest you're girlfriend does not stand in the kitchen screaming as the maggots may fall down into her mouth.:)
 
eww thats rank man!! haha your neighbour sounds like a complete freak! my gf wouldnt be having any of his behavior at all! are they possibly coming through the light fixture or something? if its not between the floors then its got to be thier problem, this old dude probably put some meat there on purpose by the sound of him!
 
Duncan G said:
By the way, suggest you're girlfriend does not stand in the kitchen screaming as the maggots may fall down into her mouth.:)

Horrible thought but strangly amusing as well.....:)
sorry:)
 
Either that or dropping into your stir fry when you're cooking... *spew*
 
rio1981 said:
Either that or dropping into your stir fry when you're cooking... *spew*


aaah a bit of soy sauce and you wouldnt even know anyway. I saw some stupid program with Steve Irwin in it and they fried meal worms and put them in spring rolls and some people ate 2-3 (spring rolls) and they didnt even notice!
 

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