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Original poster

HELP posting for traffic maggots falling from the ceiling

74 replies

purpleprincess24 · 13/09/2017 19:44

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

OP posts:
JKR123 · 13/09/2017 20:27

Perhaps clear and seal the room for a few weeks. Use thick decorators tape around the gap between the door and the door frame and between the bottom of the door and floor. Tape around the loft hatch if there is one located on the upper landing. And as someone above has said you could put loads of fly traps and sticky fly tape in the affected room before you seal it. If you are desperate you could see if pest control can fumigate your loft to kill the flies and the maggots. The smog might reach the area above the light fitting in the loft. It sounds horrible I hope you get it sorted very soon

eddielizzard · 13/09/2017 20:29

i would ride it out. as others have said open window, shut door. after a couple of weeks smell and flies will be gone. is gross but i wouldn't destroy the ceiling for it.

SirVixofVixHall · 13/09/2017 20:29

My mother had a rat die in an impossible-to-access section of floor. Honestly i could still faintly smell it two years later . A dead mouse in our wall took about a month to stop smelling. If there are maggots then the smell does go much more quickly as they eat all the decomposing parts leaving only a skeleton. Grim though- I agree to getting someone in to access the corpse.

Slimthistime · 13/09/2017 20:31

I'm afraid I'm strongly against advice to seal up rooms and leave it. You don't know how many rats there, or squirrels, or whatever maybe trapped and resulting in flies and maggots. Imagine the state of a sealed room if there's dead animals you don't know about yet.

ConciseandNice · 13/09/2017 20:32

I'm regretting the glass of wine...Blush

Nuttynoo · 13/09/2017 20:33

If you don't mind spiders you could cultivate a few house spiders in the area. They will eat the maggots ane the flies.

Miserylovescompany2 · 13/09/2017 20:34

I had maggots dropping onto my head - there had been an awful smell for weeks prior to this in the office I worked - I'm assuming it was a dead bird? might have been a rat

The noise I made once the realisation of what I'd swept of my head wasn't quiet - nor was the leaping around like a demented flippertigibbet! My poor boss at the time couldn't make sense of what I was saying...Blush

This was 20 years ago might I add Grin

HumphreyCobblers · 13/09/2017 20:34

This happened in our house too, except the maggots fell onto my bed. Fortunately I noticed in the day time. I sent DH up to the attic and he said the dead mouse was under the floorboards so he couldn't get to it, but he did gaffer tape the crack in the beam so that no more fell through. Hmm

ConciseandNice · 13/09/2017 20:34

We thought we had a gas leak once but when the gas man came out he took one sniff and exclaimed 'dead rodents, see ya'. So grim. It took weeks. Get a cat for the future. We did and have never looked back.

Original poster
purpleprincess24 · 13/09/2017 20:37

Thanks guys I cannot believe how horrid this is

Council can't come until Saturday!, I think I'll call Rentokill in the morning.

We own our own home so down to us I'm afraid! it would be a huge job to take the tiles up in our bathroom, as it would mean moving a built in bath which is set in solid marble.

My son's bedroom which is immediately below the bathroom was totally replastered and decorated six months ago 😂

I'm tempted to totally clear out his room, then seal it off. He has quite large windows which I could leave wide open during the day, as well as getting fly paper etc ... It seems the least invasive course of action

Still feel sick 🤢

OP posts:
1DAD2KIDS · 13/09/2017 20:37

All I can say is that I am now very pleased my cat leaves his little 'presents' in the middle of the room for the whole family to admire. I would hate him to start hiding them. Although I did find a mouse's head the other day under the sofa. I found the body a week before and did wonder about it.

microchrista · 13/09/2017 20:40

I'd have the pest people back.
We had traps put down by rentokil in one of our business premises, (they were coming from the cellars), and they came back to check regularly and lay more. They also tried to identify how they might be getting in and blocked any areas (I think it was wire wool type material).
That seemed to avoid the problem of decomposing bodies laying around.

PhoenixDown · 13/09/2017 20:42

I think I'd have to burn my house to the ground.

Original poster
purpleprincess24 · 13/09/2017 20:45

My lot have been brilliant getting rid of the other dead rats with no fuss, but the only way to get to this particularly rodent is to either take up our bathroom floor or take down my son's bedroom ceiling. Obviously if we can't get to the rat, neither can the council or anyone else

I'm just hoping they have something stronger that they can spray up into the ceiling if we remove the lights that might kill the little bastards

They started falling through the light fitting right on top of his pillows

We think/hope that they found where they were getting in, which has now been sorted.

We have underfloor heating in our bathroom so I'm thinking of turning it on, to encourage decomposition (thank you who suggested that)

Time for a very strong Gin

OP posts:
MusterMark · 13/09/2017 20:46

A plague of flies will follow. In my case the cat bought the rats into the house! Then let them go where they prospered, until I called the rat man in.

ShesNoNormanPace · 13/09/2017 20:50

Can you get one of those electric fly zappers and shut it in the bedroom with the windows open to speed up the process?

Lindy2 · 13/09/2017 20:52

We had a maggot problem caused by a split bin bag and some rotten food. Some maggots must have hidden themselves around the house as suddenly for about a week I would come home to 20+ flies in the house.
It was pretty horrible but I found the flies a bit less awful than when I found maggots crawling all over the floor. I'd suggest the following:
-keep the bathroom and bedroom doors closed so any flies that hatch can only go in those rooms.

  • open the windows to shoo the flies out. They are actually quite slow and dozey when they first hatch. I found them quite easy to heard out.
  • keep some fly spray to hand as a back up. I hate fly spray though. I can't help thinking it's very unhealthy.
  • leave no food out at all. Not even a fruit bowl. The last thing you want is for the cycle to repeat.
It will be grim but it will be over in about a week.
Briette · 13/09/2017 20:54

If you still have any rats I recommend electric traps, far easier to deal with the aftermath and they die in place. No advice on the more pressing problem though :(

LauderSyme · 13/09/2017 20:55

Findingdotty and milliemolliemou
Sadly your understanding of what councils can and cannot afford to provide is out of date. You are far from alone in your misconceptions, I'm afraid.

Austerity has cut very deep in local government. These days, most councils can only afford to provide those services which, by law, they are statutorily obliged to.

Councils do not have a legal pest control duty, except for treating live rats, which are a health and safety issue due to carrying disease. They are not obliged to remove corpses and definitely not obliged to dismantle resident's homes in order to reach them.

OP (and everyone else) will have to do themselves what councils were formerly able to do, or find and pay a private provider. There is no point in kicking up a huge fuss. You may as well throw a tantrum in Starbucks because they won't sell you a lawnmower.

OP I am so sorry this is happening in your home. So gross. Screaming heebie-jeebies doesn't even begin to cover it. You have my every sympathy. I vote for getting someone to go in through the floorboards above.

HaudYerWheeshtBawbag · 13/09/2017 20:57

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

Don't be doing this if you have a textured ceiling, it may contain asbestos!

Do you own or rent OP?

LauderSyme · 13/09/2017 20:58

Sorry cross post with your info re marble bath

HaudYerWheeshtBawbag · 13/09/2017 21:00

I was going advise if rented you could ask the council to carry out asbestos testing in the ceiling, if you have a textured ceiling, however as your rent you may need to get an independent company out.

Then personally I'd cut into the ceiling and then get it replanted after the clean up.

notangelinajolie · 13/09/2017 21:00

I really feel for you OP but seeing as you have a strapping 25 year old at your disposal can't you remedy the problem yourself? ie smashing down the ceiling and exterminating the bastards right now. I know I'd be tearing at the bit to get rid of them.

HaudYerWheeshtBawbag · 13/09/2017 21:01

As you own

ivykaty44 · 13/09/2017 21:03

I'm shocked at what people expect from their local council

Op it sounds awful and more so the flies for later. Have no suggestions, but feel your pain as dad had rats coming into the house and he had them climbing his conservatory - quite grim. They took stuff from house for their nest