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Are maggots full of germs?


The Flying Tench

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I've recently been reading up on dead maggots, and the best way to kill them seems to be to put them in the freezer for 24 hours; BUT my wife isn't too keen, even in closed containers, cos she reckons they'll have been fed on grotty, rotten meat and there'll be lots of germs around.

 

Is this true?

 

Alternatively, does anyone know another way to kill maggots? (ie a way that leaves them viable as a bait afterwards!)

john clarke

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I'm with your wife on that one! The sorts of things those maggots have been growing in don't bear thinking about, and there's no way they should be stored alongside food that's for human consumption. I know we hear the old tales about warming maggots under the tongue when fishing on cold days.... but imagine how you'd feel if you found out that somebody who works at your local deli had been storing fishing baits alongside food that was to be sold. Why the obsession with killing the beggars, anyway? The justification I've heard is that they can't break up balls of groundbait if they're dead (but why put them in the groundbait if you're so bothered?)Another reason might be that they last longer, but are you unaware of the rubber ones, or alternative baits, like small worms(which don't change into flies)?

You meet all kinds of animal on the riverbank.

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maggots are extremly clean otherwise they wouldnt be allowed to be sold ,the only time they get "dirty" is when they are left in old sawdust etc and the ammonia builds up ,i think over millions of years they are impervious to "harmfull" germs otherwise eating corpses of animals that died of disease would kill them ,i wouldnt hesitate to put them in my mouth ,and being in a container in a freezer their hardly going to escape ,long gone are the charnell houses where they ate complete bodies i think now their raised on fish bits etc, i wisited a "farm" in the sixties and it was a visual hell hole ,pits full of fluffy calves moving strangly and the odd horse being reduced to skin ,nowadays legislation has cleaned them up and taken away the hazards to the workers AND anglers

 

[ 29. March 2004, 10:19 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

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If you get the maggot in a strangle hold and apply pressure to the cartoid artery they will die in about 2 minutes.

 

Connect up a set of jump lead to your car battery and place a 3" nail in each of the the jaws.Use this to send a charge across the maggots heart.

 

Very effective methods of killing them but very time consuming if you plan genocide on several pints.

 

If maggots were that disease ridden then they wouldnt be used in medical procedures.

 

Suffocating them is an alternative.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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quote:


If maggots were that disease ridden then they wouldnt be used in medical procedures
those maggots are VERY expensive and not the run off the mill fishing maggots ,i think their raised on cavier rather than entrailes and have a heath check to make sure their fit for the job ,on monday mornings they have a work out at a select health club ,15 feet on a treadmill and several push ups followed by a sauna and massage ,you can see why their bought in numbers rather than measures

there was an amusing post months back regarding killing maggots but i prefer hanging ,i am awaiting small black hoods for my next batch at this very time

 

[ 29. March 2004, 10:47 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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Killing maggots is cruel, can't you just chloroform them instead?

 

Mr Angry of Yorkshire

John S

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chesters1 - 3 dozen small black hoods and 3 dozen tiny ropes are on the way. Platform will only allow for 6 maggots at a time though. I did include a tiny pole for dropping the trap since really not sure the maggots would be heavy enough.

 

johnclarke - I think it's a non-problem but if it would make wifey feel better, why not seal them in plastic bags before freezing? That way none of the nasty germs could escape.

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I'm not sure which bacteria maggots carry but any they do will only be transferable by contact. If you clean your hands, turn a polythene bag inside out over your hand, grab the tub and then seal the bag with the tub inside, you can put the tub in the fridge without worrying about cross contaminating any foodstuffs.

I might add that I've never contracted food poisoning after eating my pieces. Maggoty hands or not.

 

[ 30. March 2004, 08:34 AM: Message edited by: Andy Macfarlane ]

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arent Maggots used in some countries to clean up infected wounds?? cant be that dirty can they !

 

best bet matey stick them in a polythene bag, tie it up and stick it in a bowql of freezing cold water :)

 

alternatively you can do what i do, stick them in a bucket in the freezer then cover the bucket with food works every time

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