What to Do About Maggots in the Home

Discover How to Handle a Maggot Situation in the Home and How to Prevent It from Happening in the Future

Maggots happen, unfortunately. These pests aren’t the most common invaders in homes and businesses, but they happen more often than you may think. No pest infestation is pleasant, but finding maggots in a house, garden, or workplace can leave you with a serious case of the creepy crawlies. It’s gross — plain and simple.

Learn more about what these pests are, how to identify them, and what causes maggot infestations. Ultimately, controlling flies helps control maggots, and Catseye Pest Control has more than three decades of experience performing fly control services.

What Are Maggots?

Maggots are fly larvae. Although more than 100,000 species of flies live around the world, most maggots found in homes and businesses come from the common house fly or the blowfly.

These pests are usually approximately the size of a thumbnail, with a cream or light brown color. Because they like to burrow into the materials to feed on or live in, their heads are more pointed than their rears. As they eat their way through materials, circular holes are left behind.

Facts About Maggots

Flies lay their eggs in warm spots near or on food sources.
Female flies can lay as many as 2,400 eggs in their lifetime.
After a fly lays eggs, they hatch within seven to 20 hours and emerge as maggots.
These critters can be problematic year-round but are more active in spring and summer.
Maggots live in their larval state for approximately six days before transitioning into pupae and then adult flies.
The number of maggots present on a dead body and the specific species helps determine the time of a person’s death.
Maggots have hook-like mouthparts called mandibles that allow them to grab food.
Maggots are attracted to rotting, decomposing items, including garbage and flesh.

Where Maggots Live

Maggots are often found outdoors in vegetable gardens, garbage, and the bodies of dead animals. Indoors, you might find them in or near garbage, in pantries and refrigerators on spoiled food, or around other rotting materials.

Kitchens and garbage cans are frequent spots where homeowners and business owners find maggots. In extreme cases, some people may see them crawling on the walls. Maggots in walls typically come from garbage, fecal matter, or decomposing animals or other pests.

Where to Look for Signs of a Maggot Infestation

Any location with flies and a food source can breed maggots. Leftover food and decomposing perishables commonly attract flies. Look in garbage cans and around food sources for signs of infestation. Pets and people may even have maggots in wounds or under their skin.

How to Get Rid of Maggots

The most efficient, lasting way to control maggots in homes, businesses, and other areas is through professional pest control.

Catseye Pest Control can help you remove pesky flies while preserving their ecological role. Our skilled technicians identify breeding sites and eliminate eggs, larvae, and adults. Our fly control program also includes sanitizing breeding sites and removing infestations.

There are also steps you can take on your own to prevent maggots from ever taking up residence. Eliminating food sources can help get rid of these pests and prevent future problems. A few tips to get you started include:

Removing rotting plant materials and practicing crop rotation to avoid maggots in the garden.
Promptly getting rid of any dead animals from in or around the home or other structures or calling animal control for help.
Bagging up pet feces for proper disposal.
Cleaning affected areas thoroughly and maintaining a regular sanitation schedule.

It’s essential to break the fly life cycle to prevent problems. Find whatever is attracting flies and eliminate it. Without flies, you won’t have maggots.

Call Catseye for Professional Maggot Control

For thorough, total control of maggots and other pests, learn about our Platinum Home Protection, a service that provides year-round protection and ongoing monitoring. Keep your home, business, and the people you care about healthy and safe with professional fly control and removal from Catseye.

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