Pictures and Words

The insectspert I sent my 10 maggot-related questions to yesterday has come back to me with answers!

I didn't have a picture of Mark, but this is what a Google Image Search returns for "Entomologist". We can safely assume that this is what Mark looks like. The internet has never lied to me before.

1. How fast do maggots grow?
   There is no definitive answer to this question, and depends on the following variables: 
   • temperature during development
   • species of fly (there are many species belonging to different families)
   • availability of food
   • other environmental conditions

   Forensic entomology, for instance, relies on variation of development rates between species and effect of environmental conditions to assist in determining the time or circumstances of death (such as whether the body has been moved from one location to another).

   As an example, the common housefly, Musca domestica, can complete development from egg to adult fly in as little time as one week under good conditions.

   I recommend you conduct your experiment in such as way as to determine these rates of development for yourself.

2. How quickly do they turn into flies?
   Same answer as above. As I said, under good conditions some species can complete development inside a week, whereas others will take longer.
3. Do maggots explore, looking for new meat, or are they more likely to stay where they’re born?
   It depends if they run out of food. If their food supply is exhausted they will look for more. Maggots will also leave their food source to pupate, usually in the soil.
4. What do maggot eggs look like?
   Very small and whiteish – I’m afraid I can’t tell what the ‘pulsating orbs’ are in your video. They are probably younger maggots.
5. Are the maggots more likely to have died, or have turned into flies? Do they transform when they reach a certain size, or when they reach a certain age, or just when there’s no more meat/moisture? Does a lack of moisture kill them?
   Maggots will die in the absence of sufficient food or moisture. They will pupate once they reach a certain age and have progressed through all instars (developmental stages).
6. Do they eat the dead bodies of other maggots?
   Possibly
7. Do they eat all of the meat or are they selective?
   Different fly species are particular about the age of the food/state of decomposition. You will probably notice that as the meat decays it will attract a different suite of fly species to it over time. In this respect, yes, maggots of different species require food of different types/states of decomposition and can be described as selective.
8. Are ants/maggots territorial – are the two unlikely to exist around the same piece of meat?
   Maggots are not considered territorial, however ants may prey on maggots given the opportunity.
9. Could a fly have burrowed the hole seen in this picture:
   Impossible to tell; your picture is too out of focus to discern anything.
10. Are maggots clean? How unhealthy is it to eat them? Do they spread disease – am I likely to catch a cold from just being near them?
    As maggots tend to exist in decaying animal or plant matter, it is not recommended you consume them. The maggot itself may not be inherently unsafe, however the environment it exists in will likely contain a host of bacteria and other microbes that would be unadvisable to eat.The common cold is not something that is typically transferred from maggots.

A good way to source reputable information is by doing a search on Google Scholar – this is a search engine that trawls the scientific literature (peer reviewed journals) for information. Other sites that we recommend are any that are produced by government (eg CSIRO, DPI, etc) or universities.

Kind Regards,
Mark from the Queensland Museum

So, what’ve we learned?

1. Assuming the maggots were baby houseflies, and assuming that the maggot eggs were laid on the first day, it’s entirely possible that by day 7, the maggots had all turned into flies and flown away.
2. A real live scientist referred to the StinkyPete project as “an experiment”. That makes it legitimate science, right?
3. The pulsating orbs in the maggot video are probably baby maggots.
4. Blurry photos are not the best way to get answers from a scientist.
5. It’s quite likely that some of the maggots moved from Maggot Town to Meatropolis – it’s also quite likely that they moved into the ground to turn into flies.I have been kneeling on the ground next to the StinkyCage every night to take photos. Fortunately…
6. It’s unlikely that I will get sick from being around the maggots.

Lastly, and most importantly:

• Don’t eat the maggots.

I think that last lesson is one that we can all take away with us.

Thanks to Mark from the Queensland Museum for taking time to answer my questions!

Up next: Pot of rot!

Hello! My name is Peter C. Hayward, and for a week and a day and a couple of hours, two plates of meat have been sitting in a cage in my back yard, slowly decomposing. Here is a video of the meat being examined:

As you can see in the video, the only meat in the cage with traces of life is the SPAM, which has a bit of a maggot population, but even that’s not much when compared to the Pork Steak of a few days ago.

From the comments:

Dan Beeston has a theory about the night-time liquid:

The liquid that solidifies when it’s cooler has all the hallmarks of oil. It could be that there’s a dressing on the salad and that when it drops to a certain temperature it solidifies. You know, like butter.

That makes a lot of sense, actually. It’s much more likely than the theory I was currently running with, “It’s some kind of magic insect meat goo.” I poked the mysterious liquid with the poking stick today, and it didn’t dissolve, or change colour or anything, so I think I can rule out the “magical goo” theory.

The maggots seem to like it:

A group of maggots, bathin', chillin', having a good time. I'm considering calling it "Maggot Stew".

I also got in contact with the Queensland Museum, and briefly spoke to an entomologist (fancy name for insectspert), who agreed to have a look at some of the StinkyPete pictures, and answer some questions. These are the questions I sent him; the answers should be most educational!

1. How fast do maggots grow?
2. How quickly do they turn into flies?
3. Do maggots explore, looking for new meat, or are they more likely to stay where they’re born?
4. What do maggot eggs look like? Are the “pulsating orbs” in this video likely to be maggot eggs, or baby maggots, or something else entirely?
5. Are the maggots more likely to have died, or have turned into flies? Do they transform when they reach a certain size, or when they reach a certain age, or just when there’s no more meat/moisture? Does a lack of moisture kill them?
6. Do they eat the dead bodies of other maggots?
7. Do they eat all of the meat or are they selective?
8. Are ants/maggots territorial – are the two unlikely to exist around the same piece of meat?
9. Could a fly have burrowed the hole seen in this picture?
   
10. Are maggots clean? How unhealthy is it to eat them? Do they spread disease – am I likely to catch a cold from just being near them?

I don’t know when I’ll hear back from him – hopefully in the next couple of days, but there are a lot of questions there, so it might take longer than that. I also sent him the link to this site, so it’s possible that he’s either reading this (hello!) or what I’m doing has just completely scared him off.

If you reckon you know the answers to any of those questions, feel free to leave your guesses in the comments. We’ll compare what you know to what a real entomologist knows.

General stats:

Weather – “It’s stinking hot,” Cannibal Kate said to me at one point, so I’m using that as the Official Weather-person Quote for the Day. (I keep forgetting to ask before she goes to bed.) It was, indeed, stinking hot today. Still no rain.

Stench – 1/10 – It’s dipped right back down to “am I imagining it?” levels. This is much more disappointing than it reasonably should be.
Stench radius – 40cm – it’s weak enough that I’m not sure if it’s real or not, but I can still smell it (or at lesast imagine that I smell it) outside of the cage.

Feeling of unease – 3/10 – I’m feeling pretty relaxed, pretty chill, pretty cool about the whole “meat” situation. Having said that, I accidentally touched the side of the cage tonight, assumed it was a maggot biting me, and almost dropped my camera into the jug of gravy.

Only one orange bar today.

Kangaroo Steak:

Toughness – 10/10
Popularity – 0/10 – as you can see in the video above, absolutely no signs of life on the Kangaroo Steak. Nothing at all, it’s completely derelict.
Appeal – 5/10 – I’m sort of ambivalent about the steaks at this point. If I was starving to death, they’re right at the “average” zone – I’d eat them if there was nothing better around, but they don’t seem very tempting.

Pork Steak:

Toughness – 10/10
Popularity – 0/10
Appeal – 5/10

Bolognaise Sauce:

Toughness – 4/10 – the same issue I had yesterday, it’s not really possible to measure the toughness of this meat.
Popularity – 0/10 – absolutely no sign of life anywhere in Maggot Town.
Appeal – 2/10 – it’s not really a meal, but I suppose it would be edible. It would feel like eating dirt.

Wall of Saveloy:

Toughness – 10/10
Popularity – 0/10
Appeal – 7/10

Can o’ SPAM:

Toughness – 1/10 – down from yesterday, because I opened up the SPAM (again, see video) and discovered that the inside was all mushy and covered in maggots.
Popularity – 7/10 – it has a small group of maggots, but it’s not the thriving Meatropolis its name was going to suggest it would be.
Appeal – 0/10 – I wouldn’t eat it. I’m pretty much at the point where I’d rather die.

Other, bonus meats:

Den Tartar hasn’t claimed any more victims, but (refer to video) the Jug of Gravy looks like it’s starting to grow some mould:

This was the least blurry photo I could get, even with my newfound "macro" feature.

I’d upload photos of the plates and the meats, but honestly, everything looks exactly the same. Just scroll down to yesterday’s update and read that. Everything has slowed to a halt, nothing is changing, so tomorrow, I have an exciting plan to “stir” things up a bit. You won’t want to miss this!

Also, hopefully, an email from an entomologist!

Tomorrow: Answers from an entomologist.