11 Bugs That Will Lay Their Eggs Inside You (2024)

There are a couple of types of botfly and, unluckily for us, one of them specifically targets humans. The human botflyis a fly that sort of looks like a bumblebee, and while it doesn't feed on human flesh, or even eat at all, its larvae certainly do. In order to make sure that its offspring get fed, human botflies use our bodies as a perfect place to incubate their eggs and maggots. That being said, botflies don't put their eggs inside us themselves!

Botflies will first lay their eggs on mosquitos or ticks, and then when a person is bitten by one of these insects, the eggs and larvae make their way under our skin! The maggots burrow down and down, leaving a hole behind them to breathe through while they feed on our blood and tissue. Someone infected with the larvae may feel them wiggling around inside their skin. Luckily, they leave on their own after about eight weeks, but during that time, it's still a very creepy visitor.

We're not exactly this mite's favorite breeding ground or food source, but when the original host is gone, they'll make do with a human briefly. They're too small to see easily without some magnification help, but you will be able to see the impact they have on your body.

Most of the time, a bird mite will bite you and then drop off, because your body isn't really good for gestation. That being said, on occasion they're desperate enough, and may burrow under your skin, especially if you're older or have a compromised immune system! This is where the female mites lay their eggs. Here's the good news, though: your body isn't suitable for raising a family. The mites will most likely die, and any eggs laid on you won't survive. That doesn't make the concept any less icky, though.

You may know this little creature by another name: the "jigger." These little fleas drink blood and create lesions on human flesh, as well as the flesh of animals. The damage these little guys do can cause serious health problems, and they can even cause deadly infections. But it's possible that the life cycle of the flea is even more distressing than the damage the flea does.

The pregnant female flea will burrow down under your skinand begin to feed. Thenher abdomen becomes a giant egg sac, like a little pearl under your skin. The eggs form there and after they gestate, they drop out of the flesh to finish off their transformation outside of the host body. The upside is that the fleas are probably not going to hatch in your skin, because your scratching actually pushes them out. The bad news is that the female can do some serious damage to your skin as she's acting as an egg sacinside you.

There are two types of screwormfly, the Old World screwwormfly and the New World screwwormfly. Both are pretty damn terrifying in their own ways, and they have been known to show up in Florida. In general, these worms seek out open wounds, then lay their eggs in or around the wound before it seals over, then the maggots gestate inside. And they don't really care if you're an animal or a human, as long as your body is warm.

Once the eggs hatch, the maggots start to thrive inside you, and they seek out any small or secluded area to grow. In one horrifying case, the flesh-eating maggots gave one British woman a lifetime of nightmares in 2013. Upon getting home from a visit to Peru, the woman said she started experiencing headaches and shooting pains down the side of her face. Then there was a strange discharge from one ear. When doctors examined her, they found that her ear was full of flesh-eating maggots from the screwwormfly.

Another horrible little mite, scabies can infect a variety of animals, including humans. When they infect a person, they show up as red, puss*, bumpy skin, mostly on the palms and soles of the feet. While that's uncomfortable, what's going on beneath the surface is bound to make you squirm.

Once they infect you, scabies mites dig into the different layers of human skin, creating little burrows for them to move through. When the burrows are deep enough, the females lay eggsand then go about their business. As little as three days later, the eggs hatch inside you. Seeing that they're surrounded by food, the larvae will then continue to dig and feed, all underneath your skin. This lifecycle will continue unless you're treated with medication, and until then, the itching is excruciating.

When this fly decides to put its larvae into you, it goes full force. Although the fly itself doesn't lay eggs inside you, the eggsstill find their way there in a pretty distressing way. The female fly likes to lay its eggs on damp clothingor other places that the eggs will stick. However, when the eggs come in contact with warm human flesh, they penetrate the skin, burrowing down to find a nourishing and safe home. In as little as two days, the eggs hatch and the larvae begin to grow. It hurts, it itches, and it can cause serious infections.

In 2013, a British woman by the name of Catherine Stewart was home after a trip to The Gambia, when she noticed a lesion that was turning yellow on her body. Trying to vent out what she assumed was pus, she squeezed the lesion, and felt something move inside. She gottweezers, and her husband pulled out a living, squirming maggot. Needless to say, the two rushed to the hospital, where doctors found a whopping 14 maggots inside her.