Maggots found around the house and around bins are generally the larvae of bluebottles and common houseflies . If you have maggots in your house or in your wheelie bin then it is likely that something has attracted the adult flies that have laid their eggs.
Below is an image of the lifecycle from eggs, larva to adult fly.
Depending on the life cycle stage will determine the course of action.
If you have seen maggots then you can check to see if you have any eggs near to the area to eradicate before they hatch into the larva. The fly eggs at the early stage can look like sawdust and can be cleaned up with disinfectant on kitchen roll or a cloth.
Depending on the temperature will determine the gestation period before you have more eggs, maggots and flies.
Maggot is another name for larva, the larva then goes through several stages before the pupal stage and becoming an adult fly.
Flies have an heightened sense of smell and are attracted to open waste around the house, foods that have a strong smell when going off are more than likely the cause of any issues.
Flies are attracted to rotten rubbish where they can lay their eggs in a fertile environment. It could also be pet excrement in the garden, or even something as severe as a dead animal or rodent.
Nappies can be another reason for the attraction of flies to lay their eggs, if you have a young baby and use nappies, putting the nappies in scented nappy liners before putting them in the bin will certainly help.
It is obviously better to treat the cause than the effect and anything you can do to be proactive rather than reactive will help.
If you want a DIY solution then you could use boiling water with either cinnamon, a strong disinfectant, This can take about 6 hours to kill the maggots, if the infestation is in a full or partially full bin, this can be more difficult.
Again, depending on the weather and temperature, you may find it to be an ongoing problem in hot weathers or climates as the gestation period is accelerated.
We can offer an on going solution with our service if you can not stomach the process yourself.
Finding Maggots in the kitchen
If you are finding maggots in the kitchen then it could be that you are leaving unwashed, food containers out for a prolonged period and this is attracting the flies into your home to lay eggs.
Any polystyrene packaging that raw foods like chicken or fish come in should be rinsed clean before putting in the inside bin and even double bagged before putting them in your wheelie bin if they are to remain there for several days before your collection day.
Keeping bin lids closed will help, however if your wheelie bin is located in a place that has direct sunlight, this could accelerate the decomposing of any food in your bin as the outside of your bin heats up during any hot weather.
I hope this article has helped and we are always here to help if you need us. You can check the areas we cover here if you’re looking for a professional solution.
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