At various points in life, I have been entertained by people performing the worm on the dance floor. I have never been inspired to practice it, but I find it amusing. More importantly, I think it should be renamed. I have never seen a worm move as the dance implies, but as an associate certified entomologist, I have seen similar movements occur naturally. So you can do the worm, can you dance like a maggot?
The Maggot Dance
Unlike beetle larvae which have prolegs that allow them to crawl along surfaces, fly larvae are legless. Fly larvae typically don’t have travel in their life plan until they grow wings and can fly. The flying nature of flies allows them to deposit their eggs right in the planned food source such as:
- garbage
- carcass
- dung
- fermenting material
- fungus fun land
Different flies prefer different food sources. In this instance, we are looking at blowfly or flesh fly larvae that were enjoying the remains of rotting turkey parts.
Stage 2
After maggots finish dancing their way through their food source, they pupate. The pupal stage of the fly will appear in this instance as a ribbed, elongated cylinder with tapered ends. In this stage, the maggot will transform from its maggot state into a flying hunter of rotting flesh. This stage is reminiscent of the robot dance during an extended freeze frame.
Stopping the Music
These maggots are not dancing to the same kind of music that we humans do. They are dancing to the scents and flavors of the food of their desire. In order to stop the proverbial music and ensure they do not continue, the goal is to eliminate the food source. By eliminating the food source:
- eliminate adult attraction to the spot
- larvae won’t have anything to eat to survive
- larvae won’t be around to pupate
Sometimes these steps can be over-simplistic. Luckily, the masters of maggot mortality at Rove Pest Control can help you out whether you are in the stage of:
- identification
- source hunting
- adult evicting
- prevention
Wherever you are in the no-more-maggots-or-flies dance, reach out for a well-trained partner at RovePestControl.com