Maggots

[Clyde]

How do you kill maggots that are in the trash can?

[natalie_1982]

I don't think maggots can swim, fill the bottom of the bin with a mixture of boiling water and bleach, that should kill 'em. Christ, that'd kill me if I was sat in a bin!

[New Forester]

If you mean maggots mixed up in the rubbish itself there's little point in trying to kill them. Put it in a bag, seal well and put outside somewhere where it's safe from cats, foxes etc till the bin men come. If you mean maggots left at the bottom of the bin, then just wash out with soapy water -- do it in the garden and let the birds get them. No real need for heat or bleach (nor indeed to actually kill them) -- and boiling water might melt a plastic bin. Let dry afterwards. If the bin is clean and dry there's nothing for them to eat, nor anything to make a stink. Keep a good tight lid on the bin to keep the flies out -- but ideally don't chuck food in the bin at all but have a compost heap instead. I think bins should really only be for dry stuff which cannot be recycled.

[andy hughes]

Far be it from me to contest anything advised by the knowlegable and erudite New Forester, but isn't it a good idea to leave out the soapy water to wash the maggots out - it may harm the birds that eat them afterwards. Once the bin is clear, you can wash it out with soapy water or disinfectant and go from there.

[bobtheduck]

new forester v andy hughes now thers a celebrity death match if ever there was one :) evens money on both "the maggot wars" :)

[Lindy Loo]

And now I'm going to put a spanner in the works!!! I agree totally with everything EXCEPT surely putting meat products on the compost will attract rats and mice, plus it'll stink before it decomposes!!! Rotten meat stuff on a hot day? UGH!!

[New Forester]

Well, I wasn't thinking of all that much soap, but you're quite right, Andy, I ought to have thought of that. Perhaps you could rinse the maggots off for the birds. You're right too, lindy, but it does depend on the compost heap. If meat is well-buried in fairly dense stuff it's OK. In fact we can't put bones on our own heap, as it's also a (10-ton) manure heap and it goes on the field -- the dogs would get them. So we bury them under the runner beans, or burn them in the fire then feed them back to the chooks. Other meat goes on the midden though.

[niknak]

Personally,I take them fishing. btw,if you put them in your mouth to warm them up,they wriggle a lot more.

[niknak]

apologies for the tautology

[New Forester]

Nicnac - I'd be careful about putting them in your mouth. Apart from the unsavoury places they've been, ones sold for fishing can be coloured with chemicals which are not good for you. However I have a feeling that they now use food-grade colouring to overcome this very problem. Just make sure you check the E numbers on your maggots...