topic Re: Maggots in Kitchen

Maggots

drizzellla — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:10:57 GMT

Today was trash day and it couldn't come soon enough for me.

Never before has our trash can been filled with thousands of maggots. We had generously sprayed Zevo in and on the trash can and lid several times, wiped the trash can and lid and partially washed the trash can and lid.

And still this morning there were thousands of maggots still squiring around.

We had never seen that volume before. But it was also the first time my husband and son had oysters at home. The oysters were fresh and when we bought them they were packed in lots of crushed ice and in aluminum trays.

I am guessing it was the oyster shells that attracted to flies and therefore produced the maggots? I can not think of any other food that would cause such a mess.

It was such a success with my husband and son are talking about doing it again. But I never want to see that mess again.

Re: Maggots

Mz iMac — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:37:54 GMT

@drizzellla It's possible a female fly flew inside while the lid was open or through another opening. Zevo does not prevent eggs from hatching. Might not affect the maggots. Does Zevo kill larvae?

Re: Maggots

Carmie — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:46:12 GMT

When I was a kid, it was my job to wash the dishes and take out trash after dinner.

Our trash cans were lined with newspaper and most food scraps were disposed of in empty plastic bread bags or wrapped up in newspaper before placing in the cans.

I remember the flies and maggots...yuck.

Since married, I have never seen maggots in our trash cans. All trash is in plastic garbage bags, sealed tight, then placed into trash cans with tight fitting lids.

I admit to placing garbage in the freezer in a closed plastic bag if it is hot out and days before trash pick-up if it is stinky items...like seafood shells or crab legs or raw chicken parts.. I always remember to put the frozen bag out the night before pick up. That way there is no stinking up the trash can or attracting flies.

I hate flies and I hate maggots. I don't envy you having to disinfect the trash cans.

Re: Maggots

Starpolisher — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:49:35 GMT

@Carmie

My mom freezes her trash too! She does it year round. I'd never heard of anyone else doing this! 😅

Re: Maggots

millieshops — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:54:29 GMT

I freeze trash that contains fats and proteins, but not vegetable trimmings or skins from fresh fruits.

Re: Maggots

PA Mom-mom — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:59:10 GMT

Our garbage goes into a Hefty trash bag with a drawstring and pulled tight. Then it goes into a trashcan with a tight fitting lid. We have our fair share of chicken parts and seafood shells. Sometimes, if I want to get rid of something particularly heinous, I put it into a plastic supermarket bag before I put it into the trash bag. I haven't seen any maggots in years.

If I were your family, I would hate to give up fresh oysters, so I hope you can find a solution.

Re: Maggots

TheMemphisVette — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:59:53 GMT

i am in the hot south and bear country

meat/fish trash gets wrapped tight and goes into freezer

pulled for trash day

veggy or wet trash gets sprayed and double bagged before going into trash

left overs / fridge cleanout is done trash day

if the above was not done, the bugs and such would be unbearable.

Re: Maggots

Citrine1 — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:14:27 GMT

@drizzellla I was under the impression you lived in Philly. I guess you're outside the city if your trash got picked up!

(For those of you who don't know, our sanitation workers are on strike.)

My husband was going to take our 6 bags to the dump today, but my son-in-law said he drove by there earlier and the cars are lined up for miles. There's a large police presence so, I believe, everything is orderly, but who wants to wait in those lines?

I'm hoping the strike ends quickly and things get back to normal. These men and women work hard and deserve a raise!

Re: Maggots

retiredatlast — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:15:12 GMT

I also put food scraps and smelly items in a sealed bag in my freezer and take them out and put them in the trash can on garbage day. I live in the desert and keep my garbage cans in the garage, closed of course. (The outside temperature can get to over 120 in the summer, most days around 115, and I don't want any garbage to cook outside.) The temperature in my garage can get to 110, so I don't put the frozen garbage in the can until I take it out to the curb. Had to learn this all after some bad experiences after moving to the desert. Lived in the SF Bay area before and this was never an issue until moving to the desert.

My friends all laughed and thought I was nuts doing this and now they all do it too.

Re: Maggots

drizzellla — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:31:30 GMT

@Citrine1 wrote:
@drizzellla I was under the impression you lived in Philly. I guess you're outside the city if your trash got picked up!

(For those of you who don't know, our sanitation workers are on strike.)

My husband was going to take our 6 bags to the dump today, but my son-in-law said he drove by there earlier and the cars are lined up for miles. There's a large police presence so, I believe, everything is orderly, but who wants to wait in those lines?

I'm hoping the strike ends quickly and things get back to normal. These men and women work hard and deserve a raise!

I forgot about the strike. Yes, I live just outside Philadelphia. And out trash was picked up by 8 AM. I did see pictures on local sites, of dumpsters in various areas of Philadelphia for people to dump their trash. Wonder if you live near any of those areas. I will try and find the site.

Re: Maggots

drizzellla — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:37:14 GMT

@Carmie wrote:
When I was a kid, it was my job to wash the dishes and take out trash after dinner.

Our trash cans were lined with newspaper and most food scraps were disposed of in empty plastic bread bags or wrapped up in newspaper before placing in the cans.

I remember the flies and maggots...yuck.

Since married, I have never seen maggots in our trash cans. All trash is in plastic garbage bags, sealed tight, then placed into trash cans with tight fitting lids.

I admit to placing garbage in the freezer in a closed plastic bag if it is hot out and days before trash pick-up if it is stinky items...like seafood shells or crab legs or raw chicken parts.. I always remember to put the frozen bag out the night before pick up. That way there is no stinking up the trash can or attracting flies.

I hate flies and I hate maggots. I don't envy you having to disinfect the trash cans.

All our trash is generally tied in plastic bags. But I think my husband just put the lid back on the aluminum trays and put it in the trash can.

I still can't get over the amount of maggots. And never want to see them again.

Never thought to put the trash in the freezer. Lesson learned - Next time the trays are put in plastic bags and tightly sealed and frozen.

Re: Maggots

Somertime — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:52:57 GMT

I have a garbage disposal, so I use it for all food scraps. I,also, rinse everything before I place it in the garbage. Clorox is very effective in killing maggots.......pour in your garbage can and over your trash bags each time you put a new bag of trash in before pick up. I live in Florida and the heat can be brutal in the summer.

Re: Maggots

tiny 2 — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:56:03 GMT

@Starpolisher wrote:
@Carmie

My mom freezes her trash too! She does it year round. I'd never heard of anyone else doing this! 😅

@Starpolisher, I confess I do it year round. No stinky garbage happening here.

Re: Maggots

cindyNC — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:59:39 GMT

Well, we don't have a garbage disposal. I take the trash to our neighborhood landfill twice a week.........Tuesday and Saturday mornings.....normally just one bag and cardboard to recycle. Haven't seen a maggot and I hate flies in the house so they are dispatched as quickly as possible.

They used to charge $.75 a bag but now it's free. Lots of people around us still pay a company for trash removal.

And in all honesty, it's the one time I pop the Huskey in the back seat of the truck and let him ride along. He loves it/ I guess if I didn't have to take the trash, I'd still have to give the dog rides in the truck.

Re: Maggots

drizzellla — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:04:38 GMT

@Somertime wrote:
I have a garbage disposal, so I use it for all food scraps. I,also, rinse everything before I place it in the garbage. Clorox is very effective in killing maggots.......pour in your garbage can and over your trash bags each time you put a new bag of trash in before pick up. I live in Florida and the heat can be brutal in the summer.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will spray the trash can with Clorox. I still am shocked at how many maggots there were. And no matter what we seemed to do, they just came coming.

I had just bought a 1.65 gallon container of Clorox So I am ready. I never want to see those squirmy little guys again.

Re: Maggots

Tinkrbl44 — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:09:13 GMT

@Starpolisher wrote:
@Carmie

My mom freezes her trash too! She does it year round. I'd never heard of anyone else doing this! 😅

I freeze carefully-wrapped trash until the night before garbage collection.

Re: Maggots

drizzellla — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:14:11 GMT

@Mz iMac wrote:
@drizzellla It's possible a female fly flew inside while the lid was open or through another opening. Zevo does not prevent eggs from hatching. Might not affect the maggots. Does Zevo kill larvae?

I don't know if Zevo kill larvae. And we emptied the spray bottle trying to kill the maggots. And threw the bottle away and so the bottle went away with the trash this morning. We have to buy another bottle.

Looked on their website, did not mention larvae. It did say it was tested on -

Our Zevo Ant, Roach & Fly - Multi-Insect Killer is effective on ants, cockroaches, flies, fruit flies, drain flies, gnats, mosquitoes, moths, spiders, crickets, firebrats, and silverfish.

Re: Maggots

Somertime — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:30:53 GMT

@drizzellla Don't spray........pour!!

Re: Maggots

drizzellla — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:38:48 GMT

@Somertime wrote:
@drizzellla Don't spray........pour!!

You got that right! After they picked up the trash. You could see the bottom of the trash can. It looked like a little lake of the bug killer. And tons of the larvae in the "lake".

It seemed like we weren't killing any because there were so many still crawling on the sides and lid of the trash can. I was shocked how many, that we did kill. And yet there were so many still crawling around.

Re: Maggots

kismet — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 22:02:16 GMT

I have frozen my trash for years. I live where they won't come up the hill to get trash and it has to be taken to the main road. So I freeze meat scraps and anything I can't put down the disposal. I also have a compactor, and have for years. The best thing I ever bought. So I use that, no food items in it, I recycle everything I can and then when I have enough take it to the trash center. I've done this for over 40 years. I did have maggots in my trash once when I lived more in the city and it was gross. After the trash was gone I washed it out using bleach and never had another problem. Try bleach. I had a metal trash can then.