HELP posting for traffic maggots falling from the ceiling

[purpleprincess24]

Sorry for posting hear but I'm freaking out and need some advice

Three weeks ago we discovered rats in our garage, the council came out, put some rat poison down and since then we have discovered five dead rats, which is really not something you want to encounter first thing in the morning!

Anyway for the last few days we've been aware of a new scent of eau d'rat in our ensuite bathroom. Council came down again but due to the location they can't get to the body so we just have to wait for it to decompose, which should be about three weeks.

Feeling sick yet??? It gets better ....

Our DS's bedroom is directly below the bathroom and last night maggots started raining down from the ceiling lights (recessed downlighters), falling everywhere, onto his bed, carpet, clothes. I didn't know about it until today as he just decamped to the spare room (he's 25)

I'm starting to loosing it, the rats I could barely cope with and now this ..... what can I do to kill the vile things? The problem is, even if you take the light fitting out you can't really get your hand in enough to do much .. we tried earlier with some fly killer but it doesn't seem to have had much if an effect and I was almost sick as loads fell out

I'm close to moving out, my 85 year old DP's might find me and two dogs on their doorstep

On the plus side this is helping my diet no end 🤢 although I'm spending a fortune on air freshness

I would be smashing a hole in the ceiling and getting rid of it, well getting dh to do so.

Or ripping the bathroom floor up which I guess may be easier. You're going to get swarms of bluebottles.

Clear it in the loft.

We had this. They were raining down from the light fitting in the bathroom. Unfortunately a rat had died in the loft exactly over the top of the bathroom light. We paid a pest control guy to remove the rat. He also put poison down for us. Unfortunately it was up to DH us to do the clean up. You WILL get flies. They will start slow then build up to hundreds. They are very slow moving and easy to hoover up but you will be doing it for days. Then all of a sudden it's all over.

Have you gone back to the council? That is unacceptable to just wait it out! I think you need to kick up merry hell. You need them to go in through the ceiling, clear the health hazard then repair the ceiling. No excuses. If not involve the local papers coz that is quite a story. Take pictures now for evidence.
Hope you get it sorted.

Can you phone rentokill, they are usually very effective.
Sympathies for the maggots, takes me back to when we had dead mice, couldn't work out where all the bluebottles were coming from

My auntie had dead rats under her bathroom floor. The smell took months to go. Her place was alive with flies. She ended up moving out for a while.

vom not envy.

Christ this sounds horrific.

Can you take up tiles and a floorboard in the bathroom and remove the dead rat? Or take out the down lights? Marigolds and oldest oldest clothes? I think I'd then spray the area with massive massive amounts of raid as I think that would kill the maggots.

Have you considered burning your house down?

Keep the door of that room shut, open the window. They will go fairly quickly. Try not to think about it.

Hoover them up.

pickle some boys hid a dead hedgehog in the ceiling when I was at school and it smelt for WEEKS until it was eventually found. Have you really found it stopped being bad quickly?

In seriousness I would investigate moving out temporarily. Would it be ok if the body decomposed, maggots turned into flies and then you could just fly bomb/spray the house?

Plus all hoovering would mean was that you then had maggots in your Hoover surely??

The maggots take three to five days to change. It just depends how long the flies hang around laying. She doesn't say the smell is a problem, just the rat- and it's quite small.

I'd turn up the heat too, speed up the decomp, hatching etc.

The only direct experience I've had was in a large communal building, and we just vacuumed a few times every day.

Ah, bagless hoover, emptied out every time.

I agree with picklemepopcorn - "Keep the door of that room shut, open the window. They will go fairly quickly" - at least they will if they are live maggots...its around 5 days of feeding and then about 5/6 days as pupa befor they fly off

oh my god NO NO NO NO NO NO

get lots of flypaper and hang it up in the room... when they all hatch they'll all be caught and killed, - you could replace every day or so.

Do you rent or own?

If you rent then I think the landlord needs to sort this.

If you own, then I'd be taking off any plasterboard covers, going through all light fittings with a torch, checking everywhere I could check etc. There's clearly an infestation somewhere. Be properly gloved etc when you do it.

A rat died in our downstairs bathroom ceiling. The smell was horrendous for about 2 weeks. There was no way to get to the body. Luckily the flies exited mainly into the garden as it was the only way out, and we didn't have the maggot issue. It happened in the Easter holidays and we had to go out every day and we ate out a lot too as the bathroom is near the kitchen. I felt sick constantly and we all went to the loft bedroom to watch tv in th evening as it was the room furthest away from the smell! I really feel for you. It will go eventually!

We came back to a rented property after a holiday to find the kitchen full of bluebottles with a vile smell. Turned out the owner had treated the place for mice while we were away and they had died in various places including behind a floor standing boiler. It turned cold and the heating came on and voila the place was fly city and the smell was awful. Hope you sort it out soon.

OP - just get your family to put their big person's pants on and get to the body. Or call the council again and ask what you should do given you now have maggots in the bedroom and now flies. Why couldn't they remove the decomposing rat? That sounds bizarre.