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Get The Knack Of House Fly Control Methods!

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Identify and Gear Up on Ways to Control House Flies

The house fly is a commonly found pest all over the world. It is usually medium sized with about 1/6 to ¼ inches in length. A housefly lives for about two to four weeks depending on the climatic conditions and food availability. The adult housefly will have a fourth wing vein. It will be angled sharply and will also have dark lengthwise stripes over the top portion of its thorax region. A house fly’s face will have two stripes that are velvety. It is golden below and silver above. The space between their eyes can differentiate the female and male houseflies. Females will have wider space than the males.

The Way A House Fly Eats Food
The houseflies oddly consume food. It regurgitates the liquid present inside their stomach so that they can dissolve the food with it. Then they make use of their spongy mouthparts to suck up the food. Houseflies only have two tiny wings. So, they won’t keep flying for long. They keep landing on waste matters or exposed food particles. Wherever they land, they leave behind spots of faeces. These spots of feces contain harmful pathogens that cause serious diseases in both animals and humans.

Controlling House Flies
Lesser house fly control can lead to harmful diseases and health conditions. Hence, taking proper control measures is mandatory. The first step you need to make is an inspection of possible house fly infestation areas. The next step is the exclusion of the house flies and finally sanitation to ensure that they won’t return. After taking these measures, you can try using insecticides in residual forms, fogging materials, baiting methods and aerosols. You can get various types of fly traps from your nearby stores. The choices range from easy to dispose traps to electronic traps. Electronic traps have replaceable lights, and easy to glue boards.

Inspect-It!
There are many species of flies, and house fly is just one among the several thousand. These flies may all look the same from a distance. But, each type of fly has different control methods. Hence, a close inspection is necessary to determine the type of fly in your house or surroundings.

  • Take a close look and confirm that it is a house fly indeed.
  • Try to identify the spots they lay eggs. It can be common places like an uncovered trash can, a bowl of uncovered pet food left on your patio, etc. But, the breeding sites can be unobvious spots.
  • Before thinking about control measures, you have to first identify the spots where house flies visit often and also try to find the reason they linger there often.
  • Check all the areas in and around the house and find the sources which attract the flies.

Eliminating
Elimination or exclusion is how you try to eliminate all the ways by which flies can enter your home. The exclusion methods are as follows:

  • Repair all your door screen and window panes so that you can close them securely to prevent them from entering your home.
  • Ensure that you close all the doors and windows when you are not using them. You can try using automatic door closers.
  • Cover up all the possible vents, holes, cracks and other openings below your doors, windows and on your walls. The flies can enter inside through such small holes.
  • You can plug the weep holes using nylon pieces, window screens or plastic scouring pads.

Sanitation Methods
The first step you can take to defend yourself from house flies is to opt for sanitation methods. Even if you can get a variety of traps and sprays from the market, basic sanitation measures only ensure that the sources of luring houseflies to your house are eliminated.

  • Try to locate the food materials and other sources on which flies might lay their eggs. Remove or destroy such materials. It leaves the adult, egg-laying fly alone.
  • Infestation can be reduced by killing the adult flies. But, the best house fly control mechanism is the elimination of the breeding spots.
  • Ensure that the garbage bins and dumping cans are covered with a tight-fitting lid. Dispose off the contents regularly and clean it before reusing.
  • If there are any non-refrigerated food substances, cover it securely. Clean up any spills of food substances that fall.
  • The pet feeding spots and litter areas have to be cleaned regularly.
  • Look around for any dripping pipes and possible standing waters where the flies can breed. Fix it and reduce the presence of moisture.
  • A proper drainage system can get rid of extra moisture and help in the control of flies.
  • All the building openings should be screened tightly.

Make Use Of House Fly Control Sprays Or Other House Fly Control Measures Available In The Market!

Here are some of the easy ways by which you can control house fly infestation:

Residual Concentrates Of Insecticides
Usually, the house flies rest over sunny areas during daytime and hide in secluded spots at night. Try to find the usual spots where house flies rest. Spray those areas with contact or residual insecticides. When the flies rest over the insecticide sprayed spots, they get killed. Ensure that when you spray insecticides over surfaces, it should be very wet and enough to cause runoff, but not more than that to cause puddles.

Use Insecticide Dusts
Another easy way out is to use dust of insecticides. You can sprinkle the dust into small crevices and cracks. Dust will easily flow inside all the small gaps. Ensure that you caulk all the openings with the dust.

Use Pyrethrin Insecticide In Aerosol Form
Pyrethrins can be used in space spray and aerosol form for effective eradication of house flies. They act fast but won’t have long-lasting residual effects. It can be used as a quick kill solution in fly infested areas. It gives great short-term results reducing a good amount of the fly population.

Use Professional Fogger Equipment Or Insecticides
If you feel that you need to do fogging within a building, you can use fogging equipments or apply insecticides for complete eradication of house flies.

Use Fly Baits
Fly baits can be very effective in controlling house flies. Use baits of insecticide granules. Distribute these baits along the window sills, walls and other areas where flies commonly visit. Baits are very convenient to use and can also be sprayed over surfaces. Sanitation is critical while using fly baits. Ensure that you clean all the surroundings and remove any prospective fly breeding sources. Keep away the trash cans too. This ensures that the flies will only feed on the fly baits. Another point to take care is to ensure that the fly baits are inaccessible for pets and kids.

Use Fly Light Traps
These fly light traps are electronic and can be effectively used indoors. It is popularly used in commercial buildings and restaurants.

Use Chemicals
You can also use chemicals to get rid of house flies. Get a bag filled with poison trap and hang it from the ceiling in fly-infested places. Now, add a few drops of water into the bag. This will trigger the action of the poisonous ingredients. Within a few hours, the flies will fly inside the bag and fall dead.

Use Bug-A-Salt
Buy the bug-a-salt. It is a type of gun that can shoot tiny grains of salt at the insects like flies and kills them easily.

Use Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
Get food grade diatomaceous earth from the nearby store and apply it over the fly-infested areas You can also dust it over ant hills. It won’t harm birds but is toxic to insects. Be extra careful as it is not recommended to breathe the dust. You can also mix it with dry feeds to lure the flies to it.

Check Out The House Fly Control Home Remedies You Can Use

There is no need to rely on harmful chemicals or insecticides when there are many easy homemade methods to get rid of house flies.

Use Cayenne Pepper
This one is a natural house fly control method. It kills the flies and not just repel it away.

  • Take a spray bottle and mix water with cayenne pepper inside it.
  • Shake the bottle well to mix the contents.
  • Spray it on any fly you spot near you.
  • The fly will get killed within seconds.
  • Make sure that you don’t accidentally spray it into your eyes or anyone else’s eyes.
  • Wash your hands well after using the spray.

Switch On The Fans!
This would be the easiest way out. Switch on the fans in all the rooms you need to be free from flies. Flies will not be able to withstand blowing air and hence will stay away from those rooms.

Use A Fly Swatter
This may be an old-fashioned method but is still very effective. It is very cheap too. Squashing flies with a swatter might sound gross, but it does the job easily.

Use Spray Made With Ginger
The strong aroma of ginger repels away the flies. When all the strong odor spices were tested along with ginger, ginger was found to be the most effective in repelling flies. You can spray the ginger and water mix on flies or in fly infested areas. The flies will get repelled and fly away to find another spot for breeding.

Use Hot Pepper
Another hot spice that is tested and proved to be very effective in repelling flies is the capsicum annum or hot pepper. It has a stinging and strong smell that drives away the flies. If the flies come amidst the hot pepper plants or areas treated with hot pepper, they will find it difficult to breathe and will be repelled by its strong odor. You can either use a hot pepper spray, or a much easier option is to grow the hot pepper plants in your garden. You can treat the secluded corners, moist areas, trash cans and other fly infested spots with hot pepper spray.

Use Andiroba Oil
Andiroba oil is found to be very useful in killing house flies. A study was conducted on a farm using five percent andiroba oil solution. It was proved that the house flies were repelled away from the farm animals for over twenty-four hours with an efficiency rate of sixty percent. During the first six to eight hours, the efficiency was noted to be hundred percent. It started decreasing gradually as the strength of oil started to reduce.

Use Your Vacuum!
You can make use of your vacuum to easily eradicate the house fly infestation in your home and surroundings. There is no need to set any fly traps or use harmful baits. Your old vacuum cleaner can do the job easily and quickly. You can make use of any vacuum that is handheld. A vacuum with a long wire or one which operates on batteries will be easier to move around.

Use A Spray Filled With Water
Get a spray bottle and fill it with water. Such water sprays are also used to adjust the rebellious nature of pet cats. Spray water on the window panes when the flies settle on them. It will repel away the flies. House fly control water bag can also be used to repel away the flies.

Use Vinegar Spray
Get a spray bottle and fill it with vinegar. It can easily repel away the flies in a room. The flies detest vinegar and will soon fly away from the spot.

Use Cultural Control Methods
Cultural control method refers to the method of changing the surrounding environment in such a way that it prevents the development of house flies. The best way is to remove any organic wastes in and around your home. Dispose off the vegetable matters, by-products of food and similar substances where house flies might lay eggs and multiply. Collect it in large garbage bags, tie it and dispose it off away from your home. Ensure that you remove all the food residues and regularly clean the garbage cans.

Use Biological Control Methods
You don’t need any house fly control machine when you can make use of natural biological control methods to get rid of house flies. Fire ants and parasitic wasps help in controlling house flies naturally. You can get fly pupae from the insectaries to use biological control methods like this.

  • The pupae are infected all over with parasites. Spread it near your home and also in fly infested areas.
  • It is better to place them under direct rays of sunlight so that they can be easily seen and not accidentally stepped on.
  • Parasitic wasps will kill house flies but won’t harm animals or humans.
  • Never use parasitic wasps alone as a method to get rid of house flies. They take time to kill the flies. Hence, use it in combination with any of the other eradication methods.

Use Apple Cider Vinegar(ACV) Trap
ACV or apple cider vinegar is nothing but the fermented juice of the apple. Fermented or rotten fruits help in luring flies. Hence, it can be used as a bait to trap the house flies. You can add some dish wash soap to the ACV to make it even more effective. The surface tension of ACV will be broken by the dish wash soap. Hence, it will make the flies sink into the liquid as soon as it comes in contact with it.

Use Fruit Trap
Fruit trap also works in the same way as an ACV trap. Instead of the apple cider vinegar, use a rotten or overripe fruit as the bait. The fruit should be overripe and over the date of usage. The trap won’t kill the flies, but it will help in trapping them. You can dispose of the trap with the flies at a safe place far from your home.

Use Essential Oil Of Lavender
Lavender oil is very useful in getting rid of house flies. Its soothing aroma works wonders on us, but it repels away the flies. You can make use of a sponge dipped in the oil too. It ensures that the oil does not spill all over. Replenish the set up with more oil as and when required.

Use Lemon And Cloves
The subtle aroma of cloves is detested by the house flies and other insects. The flies also hate the smell of lemon. So, a combination of both is found to be very effective in getting rid of the house flies. It is safe to use near foodstuff and can be used on your dining table or kitchen counters. It also looks good when placed in the midst of food.

Use Predator Bugs
You can buy any predator bugs that will feed on the larvae of the flies and interrupt their life cycle. Use the combination of muscidifurax zaraptor and nasonia vitripennis.

Use Vodka Bags
House flies hate the smell of vodka. Hence, you can fill small bags with vodka and hang them near your outside entrances, porches and outdoor recreation areas. You can tie about a quarter gallon freezer bags to the gutter. Any low-cost vodka will work fine. You can try applying small quantities of vodka on your skin too. But, it will have a pungent smell and will dry up your skin.

Use Carnivorous Plants
There are some carnivorous plants which eat flies that come near it. Plant Pitcher plant or Venus Fly Trap in your yard and use them to kill flies.

Use Repellent Plants
Flies get repelled by the aroma of certain plants like elderberry, mint, false indigo, basil, and lavender. Plant these plants in your garden to repel away flies and other insects.

Spiders!
Never destroy all the webs of spiders you notice in and around your home. The spiders feed on flies and can help you in getting rid of them.

Use Pennies Dropped Inside Water
This one is an old trick used in Latin America. Still, it is very effective. If you are placing uncovered food outside, then place some glasses of water around it. Now, drop some pennies inside each glass. The flies will get repelled and won’t come near your food.

Use Milk Sugar Pepper Trap
This trap is very effective in getting rid of all types of flies. Still, it is found to be the most effective in luring and catching the fruit flies.

Use Cucumber
Flies are known to detest the smell of fresh cucumber completely. Hence, fresh slices of cucumber can be laid around your trash cans to prevent them from laying eggs and multiplying inside that. This trick is especially useful during hot summers.

Use Air Fresheners With Cinnamon Aroma
House flies detest the smell of cinnamon. Hence, you can buy an air freshener with cinnamon aroma and spray it all around the house. The flies will be repelled away. But, the air fresheners you get from the outside stores also have chemical contents inside it. Hence, it is better to use pure cinnamon oil and make use of it to repel the flies. You can add a few drops of the oil into your diffuser and let it engulf your home with the sweet smell of cinnamon. You can also add about five drops of the oil into a spray bottle and mix it with water. Spray this mix all around your home to repel away the flies.

Carriers Of Diseases!
The house flies might seem to be a harmless creature at first as it never stings or bites humans or pets. But, they are carriers of harmful diseases and some diseases can even be fatal! It spreads organisms that cause diseases like dysentery, typhoid, cholera, hookworm, leprosy, tuberculosis, fever, diarrhea, etc. It can cause pain, sufferings and even death. House flies unlike other insects are commonly seen in and around human dwellings. This makes it a major cause of threat to health. It feeds on waste and other filthy substances. Then it comes and sits on exposed foodstuff in our homes and transfers the diseases to that food. Hence, elimination of house flies has to be done on a daily basis. Maintain cleanliness, discard the garbage, seal all cracks and holes through which they can enter your home and also ensure that all the trash cans are securely sealed with a cover.

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