Help - away from home and maggots on our kitchen ceiling! What do we do?

[loveyouradvice]

DD at home and freaked out - she unfortunately left the compost bin under the sink unemptied for 3 weeks. And then found maggots on the kitchen walls and ceilings... just 5 or 6 at this stage, but after our weekly cleaner gave the area a very good clean (and disinfected the bin area) , there are now some in the cupboard near the sink where we keep bottles of oil and containers of rice, etc.

Sadly DD not in a fit state to sort.

We're not back for another two weeks. And are concerned they might roam further - we have a large larder at the back of the kitchen.

What do we need to do?? Never had this problem before or known anyone who has... but then not left a bin unemptied that long either.

Well she needs to clean so the flies they hatch in to dont lay more eggs. You'll have an infestation out if control if left anither 2 weeks. It must stink!

You need to get pest control. They are larvae (basically fly eggs/ developing flies). We got this yeaaaars ago when we were forced to keep our bins inside temporarily until bin day. They can be anywhere/everywhere. Call pest control before they hatch and you have a fly infestation.

If your daughter is old enough to live in your house independently then she can clean up enough to deal with a few maggots, surely.

Call your cleaner and ask if she will go in and sort it out for a load of extra money .

If your daughter can't do it, can you ask the cleaner to come back and deep clean the kitchen.

Maggots / fly larvae are horrible but they can be killed with boiling water or squishing them. She should kill the ones she sees and clean out the cupboards. Do you have a steam cleaner.. that could work without needing to be in direct contact with them.

If your daughter or the cleaner can't do this, maybe you can find someone else who can help..

I agree with this.

I agree, you need to call pest control. I had pantry moths once and they laid eggs in the X of the screws that held the cupboards together. And you can’t miss a single egg.

Exactly, It's really not a big deal. We had this over the summer with our food waste caddy and you have to just get on with it.

I wouldn't have cleaned maggots up as a teenage girl (edit - or as a young woman, which i am assuming she is.)

As above contact the cleaner and offer her loads of extra money to go and sort it

This happens now because of composting and the extreme heat and less frequent bin collections

Bleach, hot water and a thorough clean and emptying all open food and bins, and they'll go

Sadly DD not in a fit state to sort.

but she’s been living at the property alone for 5 weeks?

@hotmumshit how do you know she is a teenager? I didn't see an age mentioned in the OP.

Nor would I

but why was she living alone for 5 weeks then?

She could be 50.

Have edited, I did assume

But shes presumably an adult as she’s been living there alone for weeks with 2 more weeks to go? And she didn’t empty the food caddy and so it’s her fault really.

if she point blank refuses then maybe ask a cleaner to do it but pay them well because it sounds gross.

Huge thanks for so many swift replies.

Bleach, hot water and a thorough clean and emptying all open food and bins, and they'll go.

Agree re cleaner and a chunk of time/money....

So does this mean we throw away for example all the packets of tea etc that are open?? guessing so... anything not sealed is I imagine the principle. and anything sealed to wipe it down.

And washing out all the cutlery and pans in the drawers ... one was found in a pan!!

How do we work out how far they've gone? ie just clean drawers/cupboards one end of kitchen, being eagle eyed for pupae (which I gather look like brown grains of rice) and if/when stop finding them, stop.....

Our kitchen is big and open plan but I imagine they'd not be interested in the cleaning cupboards, plates/bowls etc!

I think if old enough and mature enough to alone for 5 weeks then your old enough to clean maggots. No one is happy to do it but it was her that left the compost unemptied for 3 weeks

If shes living at home, shes likely not to be the tough grown ups that you have to be to deal with that though

I remember my first maggot experience - utterly traumatising and I still get grossed out if I look at rice grains for too long

🤢🤢 happens to the best of us though

Re DD... hasn't been living there solo all the time, and didn't expect her to be, wasn't meant to be...she's been ill so unfortunately not up to it.

This

I mean in 7-14 days they should be flies and just fly away? Lol

Just clean up any potential source op, the maggots will turn to flies which you then have the window open and use fly killer and clean

Truly a gross job, but for most people it could happen in these hot summers

Youll never leave the food caddy so long again eh 😄

So who else is she living with?? Who has also not sorted this compost bin for 3 weeks!

So who's been looking after your DD? Who didnt empty the caddy for 3 weeks? Who's looking after her for the next 2 weeks?

If she was being cared for by an adult then surely its their mess? Id be furious if another adult allowed maggots to hatch in my home

You absolutely need to throw away opened food. I did an inadequate job when I had the moths, although I did throw all the food away. But it wasn’t enough. I found eggs in the hinges of Tupperware containers, in the imprint of a brand name on a baking tray, in the layers of cupcake papers when I did it the second time.

Your dd needs to do it asap or you need to pay someone, you can’t wait two weeks.