People using bleach to kill insects and bugs

[Myrugrats1]

I've noticed recently not just on here but on fb with people now casually using bleach to kill insects. I've seen numerous maggots in bins threads on mn of people bleaching maggots and tonight on a gardening fb group people suggesting to pour bleach on an ants nest on the patio. Bleach is such a horrible way for any animal to die. I'm just sad people have such disregard for other forms of life to now just casually squirt bleach over a creature.

I’d never even thought about using bleach until i saw this thread

We don't have grass. I'm not going to transport them to the park for a nice day out.

I could tell fire. They began squirming more ferociously. Sort of doubling up on themselves. It's true.

Yanbu Op

No need

I have a weird bug scale, I will kill maggots and flies in any way I can because they make me want to vomit, however any other bug I cop the arse if people go around squishing them... I can't explain it.

People have always done this. Bit of a waste of bleach, I'd use boiling water although that costs electricity too.

I wouldn't be overly cruel to anything, but worrying about whether maggots are having a nice enough death experience seems a bit silly to me.

I'm off to the dragons den thread as I've just had the great idea of inventing bin bombs to gas maggots humanely.

On the rare occasion when we've had maggots in the food waste bin, it gets thoroughly washed out first, then the bleach goes in to disinfect the bin - not to kill the maggots.

I have an irrational fear of kittens. Can I pour bleach on them?

From pupae to fly takes between two and three weeks. So if there are maggots you have at least a fortnight in hand before getting hit in the face by a swarm of 2000 bluebottles. Plenty of time for the bin to be collected.

So, no, I’m not taking the piss when I asked what the problem was. Yes, I would just leave them. If we killed every creepy thing that made us squick we’d be up to our eyes in our own waste.

tick on a switched on ceramic hob on her cooker
That's horrible and totally unnecessary.
I'm with you,OP, why not just flush them out with water?

A kitten is not the same as a maggot though is it? The central nervous system of a cat (and therefore a kitten) is far more developed to that of a lowly maggot. Yes insects have a level of consciousness - but only at the rudimentary level. So pouring bleach on a kitten (or any other defenceless mammal) would be an entirely different (and completely unacceptable) scenario compared to pouring bleach on maggots.

I've never heard of using bleach but would pour boiling water into my dustbin to kill maggots. It kills them instantly, then you can swirl water around the bin and tip it up.

Bleach is probably used to kill off germs afterwards though boiling water is just as good. I wouldn't use bleach to actually kill the insects/maggots.

Sar51

It depends whether you're prepared to make a value judgment as to what life-forms are allowed to exist.

Yes insects have a level of consciousness

I’m really don’t think insects are “self-aware”.

Barnaby

I doubt that kittens are "self-aware".

I am now worrying about spiders’ personalities.

Any creature that lives to lurk in dark places and build webs that entangle other creatures into a sticky doom for consumption isn’t going to have the sort of personality that I would find very pleasant!

Can’t people just rinse water in the bin then dump them outside for the birds to eat then clean it! God why are people so bloody clean obsessed and scared of a few creepy crawlies. It’s no wonder the natural world is being bleached into submission by humanity.

Bleach doesn’t work. Maggots must be boiled.

Boiling water is more humane than bleach, imo. I'd bleach after using boiling water.

But I am killing every last one and I'm not risking them still being alive on my lawn for the birds.

Had a wasp nest of a few thousand wasps killed in my garden a few weeks ago. Felt bad about killing that many wasps in one go but we didn't really have any alternative as the nest apparently just gets bigger and bigger.

Starting to feel sorry for the poor defenceless maggots that DH uses for fishing. Not only stabbed by a giant hook but then almost drowned in a lake before finally eaten!

Studies have proven that insects have the capacity for subjective experience I.e they are aware that something is happening on a very basic level. Does that mean I won’t swat a fly? No. Veni i recently moved into a new house. A couple of days after moving we discovered the carpet in one of the rooms was infested with carpet moths. We had to get the whole house fumigated. Are you honestly telling me that in my position you would not have paid a pest removal company to get rid of them? Oh well live and live I suppose!

I’m all for the bleach. And have been using bleach recently on maggots in my bin over summer when it’s over 30degrees and rubbish as collected fortnightly 🤮 also on a massive massive spider the other day I couldn’t get rid of. Wouldn’t have been my first line of defence

Cali in hot weather (like we have just had) the whole process can take just ten days

Tbh I thought it was a lot quicker

animals.mom.me/fast-maggots-hatch-10348.html

And consciousness is very different to ‘self-awareness’.