A reader asks: I found maggots in the house. Do maggots bite?
Dear Reader: Finding maggots in the house is certainly disconcerting. Maggots are associated with filth and no one wants to feel like they are living in an unclean environment. That said, to answer your question, maggots do not bite.
Maggots do not have teeth, but they do have mouth hooks which are modified mandibles they use to rake in decaying flesh. They also have some rough bumps around their body which scratch and poke dead tissue they are feeding upon.
Maggots wriggle through a corpse secreting digestive enzymes and spreading putrefying bacteria
Maggot Mouth Hooks
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which helps create a soupy environment. In warm weather that is conducive to their growth, maggots can consume 60 per cent of a human body in less than a week.
If you found maggots in the house you certainly need to correct the problem that is creating the environment in which they are living. That process will kill maggots. Then, you won't have to worry about biting maggots.
Comments
terri
30 Jul 2009, 20:58
hi we have had adders around my area lately that have managed to get hold
of bird eggs but he snake has been disturbed in the process of eating the
egg and chick since then there have been loads of maggots on my drive and
by my front door and coming into my house somehow even though my house is
clean and i never leave rotting meat or food around i have tried everything
from expensive bug sprays to boiling water to get rid of them but still
find loads of them please tell me how i can get rid of them im now tearing
my hair out........ help me please i have a 3 year old son and really dont
want him to start picking them up or playing with them
Teri C.
31 Aug 2009, 12:37
I live on the second floor of an apartment building with another apartment
just below mine. Recently there was a foul odor coming from my downstair
neighbors apartment. Around the same time iI found a handful of maggots in
my house but could not find the source. Could they have crawled up from
downstairs?
Linda B.
09 Sep 2009, 09:09
Recently I found white maggots crawling around on the floor in my kitchen
near the trash can. I believe someone had thrown food into the trash can
and we also have some potted plants which bring small flying insects in the
picture as well. Please provide information on how to solve this problem.
jane D
02 Oct 2009, 18:43
we have maggots on the ceiling of our house. Where do they come from and
why do we have them?
Chris B
06 Nov 2009, 14:30
I recently removed the thresholds on my second floor between rooms to get
ready to install carpet. i found thousands of dead maggots in the space
under the thresholds but no evidence of flies in the house. this is a very
old house. is this something i should be concerned with or is it an old
problem that has been resolved before i bought the house?
R J Christensen
11 Nov 2009, 20:55
Kool
