“I woke up this morning, granted the second day of a new home and all over the living room floor there were little whitish, worm-looking things”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the organisms pictured below. “What are they? Where did they come from? And how do I get rid of them?” Our reader asks all the right questions, and to answer her first one, we think these are blow fly larvae. ‘Blow fly’ as a term refers generally to a large group of flies (known as an order) called Diptera. The adult flies are characterized by their glossy, metallic bodies, which are typically green, blue, or black in color.

Like most flies and their larvae, they end up in one’s home because the fly has flown in. Larvae will appear because a pregnant fly has laid its eggs inside the home and they have hatched. Why would they do this? The two most likely answers to this question are that 1) The mother fly chose the home to lay her eggs in because it provided a stable, safe environment for the eggs to hatch, or 2) The mother fly got trapped inside the home and it was simply time for her to lay her eggs. While this is somewhat typical of a lot of insect species, it is somewhat strange for blow flies to lay their eggs inside a home, because they typically lay their eggs on dead animals, as the larvae feed mostly on animal waste (poop) or dead animal flesh. They have even been known to crawl into open wounds of live animals (even humans) to feed. So it is odd that these were found wandering around our reader’s home.

In response to our reader’s final question, we recommend not only scooping these larvae onto a dustpan and moving them outside, but also doing a thorough search of her home for any other critters that may have attracted the blow flies to her home in the first place. It is also good just to check for more of the blow fly larvae. She should not be too worried about these flies infesting her home for any longer, unless there are animal caracasses or animal dung scattered throughout her home! If she has any pets that are kept indoors and that would poop indoors (like any caged animals: rodents or reptiles, for example), those could definitely be attracting the blow flies, and the flies may be harder to get rid of if this is the case. In that case, it would be best to consistently throw out the animal dung in a trash can outside the home, so that any eggs hatch outside rather than in her home.

To conclude, we think our reader found blow fly larvae. They are not harmful, generally speaking, though if our reader has any open wounds we do urge her to be careful and make sure the wound is not exposed. If she is worried, she should contact a medical professional. Otherwise, moving the blow fly larvae outside should suffice in dealing with them, as their source of food is outside anyway (assuming our reader does not keep any caged pets in her home). We hope this helps, and we wish our reader the very best.

Summary

Article Name

White Worm-looking Creatures in New Home are Blow Fly Larvae

Description

"I woke up this morning, granted the second day of a new home and all over the living room floor there were little whitish, worm-looking things", writes this reader in her submission regarding the organisms pictured below. "What are they? Where did they come from? And how do I get rid of them?" Our reader asks all the right questions, and to answer her first one, we think these are blow fly larvae. 'Blow fly' as a term refers generally to a large group of flies (known as an order) called Diptera. The adult flies are characterized by their glossy, metallic bodies, which are typically green, blue, or black in color.

Author

Worm Researcher Anton