Some kind of larvae

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I have had dozens and dozens and dozens of larvae appearing on my (white) kitchen ceiling for weeks. I crush them with a "Swiffer" once or twice a day and have taken to dipping the Swiffer in bleach water, hoping to kill off any yet-to-be seen larvae. I could trap one and take it somewhere to be identified, but I'm not even sure where to take it. There is a university nearby and an extension.

These things seem to favor the white ceiling and they also seem to prefer to locate themselves in the kitchen area and adjacent room's ceiling. Water? Light?

Lucky I don't believe in spontaneous generation because I would swear they were appearing all by themselves. They must go from specks to one-inch in minutes. Logically, they probably hatch from teeny eggs. But the only critters I've had around lately were a spate of miller moths that finally stopped appearing in air about a month ago, and lately the appearance of a few centipedes.

These larvae are very consistently about 2 centimeters long and otherwise maggot looking, although they appear singly and don't seem to wiggle or move around.

I have searched google images, but can't see pictures of centipede larvae, which is my best guess.

My question: What are they likely to be and (more importantly) how to I get rid of them? I do NOT want to spray the ceiling with Raid because I would gas myself in the process. I thought I would switch to sudsy ammonia if the bleach didn't seem to slow them down. Maybe I should just paint the ceiling?

Any comments, great resource people?

-Sal

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Got a picture? And, has your home been checked for termites lately?

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Oh, interesting! Termites?

I just checked google images and the termite larvae I see have a bulge on one end, sort of darker. No. These look like wiry maggots. I think they are more like 1 cm-1.25 than 2.

The pictures I saw on google images most like them are millipedes or maybe the corn borer or maybe the grain beetle. Grain beetle is very possible, since I'm a whole grain person, but I just haven't seen anything around my place in the beetle family. Centepede, yes. grain moths, yes. Fruit flies, yes.

I killed off 20 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. today. And a bunch before 8 a.m.

Thanks for your reply. I'm getting desperate. Don't have a digital camera or cell phone that takes photos, but will get one of the critters down and look at it.

-Sal

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Do you live in a hot climate zone?

Since it is in your kitchen, it makes me think that the maggots might
originate from your food pantry. I live in southern California and cannot
leave flour/rice/grains out too long, as maggots will form. I store
all grains in the refrigerator/freezer.

Clean out your kitchen and get rid of all non-can goods, disinfect
your cupboards and the problem should be eliminated.

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Maggots are fly larvae. Weevils would be more likely in cereal, flour and other ground grain.

On the other hand, weevils would stay in the cereal or flour or whatnot and pig out. They wouldn't crawl on kitchen walls.

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I thought perhaps it would be best to post a picture of SallyMander's ceiling as to give the reader a better idea as to what she is dealing with...

http://www.jangala.co.uk/assets/Curly%20winged%20fly%20larvae%20jpg.jpg

I say just leave the damn things alone, they make a rather interesting pattern and a wonderul conversation piece.

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Your house is possesed! larvae exuding from the walls and ceiling is a sure sign of something real bad. You should call Buffy in case a bridge to the demon realms has been established. Leave immediatly! Arrange for an excorcism. I have experience in this area and can perform an excoricm for a small fee to cover wear and tear on my existential self.

I regard this infestation as a pestilential entity, it is not something to trifle with.

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You rascals! I love the picture of "my ceiling." Each one of these things appears feet apart from the next. They're not quite as pudgy as gustavratzenhofer's pic, and definiely not squirming in a pile.

I'm hoping the she-ggot laid them all at once and they will eventually quit hatching. But the eerie thing is they go from zero to 1+ cm in no time.

I don't understand where they get their liquid content, considering that a little egg speck wouldn't have enough liquid to inflate an entire larva. These aren't as juicy as gustavratzenhofer's look, either, but they are juicy.

I'm inclined to call it a possession myself. Wink

But I do think the cleaning-out and putting of flour in the fridge is a sound piece of advice. I live in the frigid Midwest.

I've been trying to decide whether to start painting the ceiling, considering the kitchen, dining room and living room are all in the same expanse and I'm not in the mood to paint them all. I would have to call a pintero. And then once s/he's here, s/he would logically have to paint all the walls, which could become a real nuisance.

-Sal

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SallyMander wrote:

You rascals!
-Sal

Did you hear that gus?

We are rascals!

With an exclamation mark no less.

ahhhh celebrity.

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Thanks, friends. I'm still thinking centipede here. Reading on the web, some species lay sticky eggs singly. However, the sources say they bury them in dirt, which would be about opposite of seeking out a white ceiling for the drop.

But there is also this, from
http://www.life.umd.edu/entm/shultzlab/vtab/chilopoda.htm
I would vote Door #2

Quote:

Post Embryonic Development

Two distinct patterns of postembryonic development occur in centipedes. In the epimorphic Geophilomorpha and Scolopendromorpha the young hatch with a complete, or nearly complete, completement of legs. This young are brooded by the female as described above. In the anamorphic Scutigeromorpha and Lithobiomorpha the young hatch with fewer legs than the adults and add legs over successive moults until they have the full complement. The postembryonic development of Craterostigmomorpha is poorly known (Lewis 1981).
Quote:

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i HAVE THE SAME THING!!
Here is a picture I just took...
[IMG]C:\Documents and Settings\Joanne Erazo\My Documents\My Pictures\Bugs 004.jpg[/IMG]

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How do I post the picture?

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info here...

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Well, I'd love to see the picture. The invaders seem to be appearing in fewer numbers.

-Sal

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Moths
You said you had a moth problem right?

We're just having the same problem as you. It's not huge yet, but we have maggots in the corner of our ceilings in the kitchen. Our's grow to be meal moths. Maybe yours is too?

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Larvae
I just discovered that I have the same type of problem in my house & it's exactly the way you described it..............I was also checking the internet for a possible cause when I came across your post.

They are only on the ceiling..............No place else.................

Please let me know if you are able to come up with an an answer to this problem......Thanks

owb520="Bob" Very Happy

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It is moths

Ah, we killed the maggoty things whenever we saw them. We killed the moths whenever we saw them too. Kill. Kill. Kill.

And go through the dry stuff and clean out that pantry!

I can't remember what else.

But I'd be reading about pantry moths, meal moths online if I were you.

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http://www.ehow.com/how_18818_rid-home-pantry.html

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/ipm/insects/hpm8005.pdf

http://ask.metafilter.com/62469/Maggots-on-my-ceiling

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We have the same thing as the pic that Gustav... posted.
What was the verdict? Moth larvae?

I found mine first in the kitchen but upon searching the whole house found them also in the dining room, living room and in the hallway (about 8 altogether). A few I found appeared to be in a very thin (almost couldn't see it) type of web that went the length of their body.
I live in the Seattle area if that helps to narrow it down.
Thanks!!!
Suz

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@icu2qtpi,

Hey, Suz!

I finally decided mine were "miller" larvae, from natural flours that I buy. Once in a while I have an explosion of millers (little web-spinners in the grains) and throw out the flour. Maybe some got loose and took over the ceiling.

One of the responders suggested cleaning out the cabinets, and I think that was a good place to start. I started saving coffee cans and jars and putting a better seal on my natural grains, oatmeal, etc., and I never saw any more.

-Sal

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Some kind of larvae

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