Small white worms in the home are slimy and filthy tiny creatures that should not be allowed inside your home. What are these worms, and how do you get rid of them?
If you happen to see small white worms around your home, they will likely be the larvae of blow files or house flies. First, the flies lay eggs that hatch within 7 to 20 hours. These eggs turn into larvae. Upon larvae hatching, maggots will emerge. Then these maggots will start feeding off anything available in their surroundings, incredibly filthy and rotting things.
When there are little white worms in the house, in the trash, or your food, you can kill them in several ways. One way is to boil them along with their eggs. You can also spray insecticide or sprinkle salt over them. If they have infested your baseboards or carpets, spray insecticide over them.
Read on to learn more about these small white worms in the house, where they come from, the different ways you can kill them, and how you can prevent them from getting inside your home.
Small White Worms in House
Larvae of Blowflies or House FLies
When you find small white worms inside your home, they most likely come from the larvae of blowflies or house flies. These flies lay eggs that usually hatch within 7 to 20 hours. They then turn into larvae. Then the maggots will emerge when the larvae hatch.
Pour Boiling Water on the Maggots and the Eggs
These maggots will start eating anything that comes their way, especially dirty and rotting things. At this stage, there are several ways you can destroy them. You can pour boiling water on the maggots and the eggs.
Spray Insecticide or Sprinkle Them with Salt
Spraying insecticide or sprinkling salt over them will also kill them. If they have infested your carpet or the baseboard, you can spray insecticide over them.
Prepare a Vinegar and Water Solution
You can also use a mixture of water and vinegar. Boil water and mix three parts of it with one part of vinegar. Pour this mixture over the maggots and eggs to kill them.
This mixture of vinegar and water will kill the tiny white worms in the house and the eggs. Plus, this mixture can remove the odor that attracts the flies to the rotting substances. In turn, flies will stop laying their eggs on that spot.
Why Are There White Crumbs on My Bed?
What Are the Small White Worms?
Appearance of Maggots
Maggots are flies at their larval stage. In other words, they are baby flies. Their bodies have a conical shape, and they often have creamy white or greyish bodies. It is not easy to distinguish different fly species by looking at the maggots. But the typical maggots that you can find in your house belong to the bluebottle or common housefly species.
Maggots have pointed heads. They are that way because they use their heads for digging in and burrowing. Maggots feed on rotting or live materials. They burrow their heads through their food source when they eat. As they feed, they leave circular, chewed holes.
How to Identify Maggots
Before killing these slimy creatures, you first need to be sure that they are maggots and not just any worm, or you just will be wasting time and effort in using an incorrect method of removing and killing them.
Here are some tips for properly identifying maggots:
- Grow in unsanitary and dirty conditions.
- Maggots have round creamy white or greyish bodies with pointed heads.
- Small and can only grow as long as 3/4 inch long.
- They don’t have any legs.
- They can live as small worms for about five to six days before they turn into pupae. After 14 to 36 days, the pupae will transform into adult flies.
- The problem of maggots and flies usually occur during spring and summer. These are the seasons when flies are very active.
Small Tiny Worms in the House – Identify and Get Rid of Them
How to Get Rid of the Small White Worms
Since maggots can appear in any area of your home, you may need different approaches to solving this problem. What can work in one area may not work in another area.
So, here are my suggestions on how you can fix this problem depending on where you found maggots:
1. Inside the Home
Find the Exact Location
The first step in eradicating small white worms in the home is to find where they are. Usually, they will be concentrating in places where there are crumbs of decaying food or rotting organic materials.
The trash can and rotting sections of the foundation of your house will attract maggots. If this is the condition of your foundation, you have to search the different rooms on your ground floor. You need to find all the affected areas to remove the maggots from your home.
Kill Maggots and Destroy Eggs
The second step is to kill the maggots and destroy the eggs. You can kill the maggots and destroy the eggs if you pour boiling water on them. Another way is to sprinkle salt all over them. You can also use insecticide to destroy both maggots and eggs. Just spray the insecticide over them.
Spot Spray with Insecticide
If the infestation is just small, you can apply spot spraying. But if large areas are infested, you need to spray all the areas with insecticide to eliminate maggots and eggs.
Clean the Infested Areas
The third step is to clean the infested areas thoroughly. Once you have removed all the maggots and eggs, you need to rinse and wash these areas thoroughly. This is the only way you can prevent a re-infestation of these areas. To discourage flies from coming in again, spray a good amount of fly-repellant to these areas.
2. In Your Yard
Determine the Extent of Infestation
Knowing that there are maggots in your yard is not enough. You also need to know the extent of their infestations in your yard. The way you can do this is to dig around the plants and areas being infested. Look for large holes that the maggots have dug into the roots of the plants.
Use Fruit and Vegetable Spray
After identifying the places of infestations, you need to clear out these areas. To do this, you can use a fruit and vegetable spray over the entire affected area. If you don’t want this spray because of its toxic effects on humans, you can use a suitable insecticide in powder form. Dust it all over the infested areas.
3. In Your Pets
Inspect the Wounds
Again, before treating your pets, be sure that they have maggots. You can do this by inspecting the wounds of your pets. If there are maggots in them, they would be between your pet’s body joints or in hard lumps under their skin.
Take Your Pet to the Vet
It’s hard to treat this kind of problem yourself, so it would be better to take your pet to the vet. They will be able to remove the maggots safely without causing infection to your pet. The vet will also recommend what to do to prevent this from happening again.
Keep Your Pet Clean All the Time
What you can do is to keep your pet clean all the time. Washing them with the appropriate pet shampoo will make a great difference, especially during seasons where flies are active in laying their eggs wherever they can find food.
Again, what are those small white worms in your house? Maggots are small white worms you can usually find around food or trash in your house. To get rid of them, you should find and eliminate adult flies, which you can find hovering around garbage or feces inside or around your home.
How to Naturally Kill Small White Worms in the House?
If you are averse to using commercial insecticides because of their harsh effects on humans, you can use natural methods and organic substances instead. The bodies of maggots are not protected by hard shells, unlike other insects. So, killing them is easier.
1. Empty the Trash Can and Fill with Boiling Water
If you found the maggots in your trash can, empty your trash can and get rid of everything inside it. Now, fill the trash can with boiling water. Another way is to expose the trash can to the outside elements. Pretty soon, you will see birds flocking in for a feast of tasty maggots.
2. Pour Lemon or Lime Juice over the Maggots
If they are in places other than the trash can, you can also eliminate the maggots and eggs. Pouring lemon or lime juice over them will quickly kill them all. Be sure that you have covered all the areas with juices thoroughly wherever you see them.
3. Use Diatomaceous Earth
You can also use diatomaceous earth if you happen to have them in your home. They are also available in your local supply store. Spread it all over the places where you saw maggots and eggs. This will stop the eggs from hatching and kill the maggots by dehydrating them.
Commercial Products for Killing Maggots
Products designed to kill maggots and discourage flies from laying eggs are available in the market. Some of these products that you can consider are the following:
1. Ortho Insect Kill
This insecticide kills on contact and stays active for up to eight months after putting it into the soil.
2. Fly Beater Fly and Odor Reducer
This product will discourage flies and other flying insects aside from reducing odors that attract them.
3. Medicated Shampoo for Dogs
The formulation of this shampoo cures insect infestations in dogs’ skin and coats.
4. Harris Home Insect Killer
This is a spray that is made to eradicate insect infestations.
Preventing Maggot Infestation
Eliminate Things That Attract Flies Around Your Home
If your home doesn’t have anything that attracts flies, you won’t have to deal with maggot problems. So, if you will eliminate the things around your home that encourage flies to lay eggs, you have nipped the problem in the bud.
Flies get inside your home if there are openings such as holes in your windows and screens. If they smell anything that rots, they will invade. Open trash cans are their favorite diving spots. Pet foods left undisturbed can also attract them. Anything that they can eat is a target.
Cover the Holes on the Screens and Windows
So, don’t let these things lie around to discourage little white worms in the home. Cover the holes on your screens and windows, the trash can, and the pet food receptacle. Throw away old pet food promptly. Remove all organic things that rot inside your home and in your yard.
Remember, maggots only eat and live from three to five days, and then they transform into adult flies. You need to stop this cycle right from the start. You will always have maggot problems to contend with if you don’t.
Cleanliness Is the Key
It is better to prevent the problem right before it starts. The way to do that is always to stay clean. Cleanliness is the key. Keep everything inside your house and in your yard clean at all times, and you won’t have to deal with this maggot problem.
Conclusion: Small White Worms in House
When you see small white worms infesting your home, they most likely come from the larvae of blowflies or house flies. The process begins when the flies lay their eggs which then hatch within 7 to 20 hours. These eggs hatch into larvae. The maggots from the larvae will start eating everything that comes their way, especially rotting and filthy things.
There are several ways you can kill these dirty maggots. One way is to pour boiling water on them along with the eggs. Spraying insecticide or sprinkling salt over them will also eradicate these slimy creatures.
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