If you come across maggots in your own apartment, panic is often the order of the day. Oh god - bugs in my apartment?? The worms romp about on the ceiling particularly often. With us you will understand what is behind the infestation and how you can get rid of the unwanted guests. Because once you understand the background, you can always take action against it at an early stage.
White maggots on the ceiling
Who is visiting here?
When it comes to maggots in the apartment, the first glance usually sticks to a light, elongated spot, which only turns out to be a living being and even a "pest" on closer inspection. From white to grayish to yellowish, very different color variants can occur in detail. Usually they are combined with a clearly defined, mostly dark gray or dark brown area, the head.
But what is it?
Generally speaking, maggots found in the house are usually early stages of development of various insects that use the house as a habitat and source of food:
- Food moths
- Clothes moths
- Flour beetle
- Bacon beetle
- Meat flies
Why on the ceiling of all places?
The next question, rightly, is why we find the unwanted visitors mostly on the ceiling. It can be said quite simply that the worms do not prefer to be on the ceiling of the room or kitchen, but especially there because of the bottom the small hiding places or "optical distractions" caused by furniture, carpets and other floor coverings are particularly easy to see sting.
Because, strictly speaking, they are on the ceiling
recognizable maggots usually on the way from their place of birth, i.e. the egg clutch, to their preferred food source. While you as the resident determine the source of food, the animals instinctively seek sheltered and secluded places to lay their eggs. So it regularly happens that, above all, slightly disturbed cracks and crevices on the ceiling, behind skirting boards, behind door frames or even behind the wallpaper serve as a breeding ground. After hatching, the maggots initially migrate towards the brightness and thus often towards the ceiling. Only then does the orientation towards the preferred food follow:Food moths and flour beetles
- generally starchy foods such as flour, muesli, bread, cereals, legumes, pastries, dry pet food ...
Clothes moths
- Natural textiles such as cotton, silk, animal wool in any form of processing as clothing, floor coverings, furniture covers, curtains, etc.
Bacon beetle
- mainly animal foods, such as sausage and meat, but also other foods of all kinds - preferably in an aged to decomposed state
Meat flies
- almost without exception rotting meat
NOTE: In very rare cases, the caterpillars can also migrate from the outside. However, some special framework conditions must be met for this. Usually the breeding site is then directly in front of a window or a door and the desired one The source of food inside exerts a particularly strong force of attraction - such as a large, rarely emptied one Organic waste bin.
Prevention and remedial measures
Now the annoying roommates are concerned with knowing who and why
Collar:Prevent immigration
In the rarest of cases, the pests are already permanently established within an apartment. If their immigration is prevented, the hated offspring in the form of white maggots will also be avoided from the outset. Possible approaches are:
- Fly screens
- Tightly closing curtains
- Door seals
- Adapted user behavior (regular closing of the doors)
No hike without food
Reduce possible food sources in the kitchen or pantry for the animals to an indispensable minimum. A room or even just a corner of the room loses its attractiveness and the animals do not migrate from the nest to the food. By the way, it is already sufficient to store the respective food tightly closed in order to dispose of it from the point of view of the animals:
- Store food in tightly closed cans or bags
- Consume open foods quickly and keep stocks as low as possible
- Fruit, vegetables etc. consume before spoilage
- Dispose of bio-waste regularly and store it tightly closed until disposal
Making textiles uninteresting
Of course, textiles are also considered food - here in relation to the clothes moth. However, it may be difficult to pack existing textiles or to remove them completely. Where clothes can still be stored locked to a certain extent, this procedure should at the latest with a curtain in the Bedroom, a carpet in the study or - in extreme cases - a textile wallpaper on the living room ceiling completely retire. Instead, the textile fabrics can be made so "inedible" with very simple household remedies that they are spared the pests. Two common home remedies have established themselves for this:
- Sandalwood: either as laid out pieces of wood, or as oil
- Lavender: mostly as a scented sachet to display or hang up
Choose alternatives
Due to the low specialization of the pests that eat food, the choice of alternatives outside the food spectrum is difficult. With natural textiles, on the other hand, there are quite simple ways to completely eliminate the food source by switching to another fabric. Instead of natural textiles, almost identical synthetic materials can be used today in terms of their function, feel and appearance.
ATTENTION: Although natural materials as wall and floor surfaces are increasingly being replaced by modern synthetic products,
it can happen again and again that traditional coverings are still undetected in existing buildings. It is possible that a textile wallpaper on the living room ceiling was covered with a wooden ceiling or even wallpaper at some point and is therefore invisible. For the moth, on the other hand, the fibers are still noticeable, so that a crack or a hole in the new surface can become access to the longed-for source of food.Recognize infestation and take action at an early stage
The well-known sticky traps are not aimed at the larvae, but much more at the adult animals of butterflies or beetles. It does not fight the infestation, but rather serves to indicate the presence of these animals at all. Because, of course, caterpillars do not stay permanently on the kitchen ceiling, but are only found there during their wandering. On the other hand, they spend most of their time either at their feeding place or in their own web during the metamorphosis.
If you find animals in a sticky trap, you should use the typical common areas as a second step of the respective species to other animals, caterpillars or empty webs or even damage to food check:
- Open food packaging
- Joints and holes in food cabinets
- Folded clothing made from natural fibers
- Hems of curtains and ceilings as popular nesting areas
TIP: The animals do not even stop at closed food storage containers. Again and again, even in the smallest of joints for rubber seals, you can find an attempt at a clutch, or mother animals that have died during the attempted migration. You should therefore also open apparently tight containers and take a critical look at the can and its contents.
The disgusting friend
The spider on the ceiling or wall is not for everyone. Nevertheless, you should consider carefully whether you actually step in immediately and remove or even kill the visitor. This is because roommates, which are completely harmless to humans, can make a significant contribution to decimating vermin.
The chemical club
If all other paths fail, there is always the last resort to the chemical club. People rightly shy away from the use of chemical substances as much as possible today. Because what kills animals usually also has an at least negative effect on humans. However, if an infestation gets out of hand, short-term, intensive use of insecticides can often be the last resort. It is then important that any residues are completely removed by ventilating or cleaning the affected areas.