House flies are more than just a buzzing annoyance in your home. These common pests, making up about 90% of flies found indoors, are carriers of millions of microorganisms on their feet. This means they can easily spread pathogens and contribute to food-borne illnesses. While they don’t bite, their presence is a health concern, making it crucial to know how to get flies out of your house and keep them away.
Fortunately, you don’t need harsh chemicals to tackle a fly problem. There are numerous safe and natural methods to eliminate house flies and prevent future infestations. Experts recommend starting with simple solutions using household items. For severe infestations, or when natural remedies fall short, we’ll also explore effective chemical options.
Understanding Why Flies Invade Your Home
Before you can effectively get rid of house flies, it’s essential to understand what attracts them to your home in the first place. Entomologist Peter Irenicus points out three primary reasons for house fly infestations: food sources, breeding sites, and entry points.
Food: A Major Fly Attractant
House flies are strongly attracted to decaying food and organic matter. This includes everything from obvious sources like food scraps and garbage to less apparent ones such as excrement and general decaying organic matter. Leaving trash uncovered, neglecting pet waste, and improperly managed compost bins can all become powerful magnets for flies. These unsanitary conditions provide flies with both food and ideal locations to lay their eggs.
Breeding Sites: Where Flies Multiply
Flies need moist organic matter to breed. Garbage, manure, compost, and rotting vegetation serve as perfect breeding grounds. If your home is situated near potential breeding sites like farms, garbage dumps, or even slaughterhouses, you’re more likely to experience a higher influx of house flies. These environments support fly populations, making it more challenging to keep them out of your house.
Entry Points: How Flies Get Inside
Flies are opportunistic and will seek out any openings to access food and shelter indoors. Unscreened windows and doors are prime entry points, but flies can also find their way in through unsealed cracks and openings in your home’s structure. It’s important to meticulously check for and seal up any crevices around doors and window frames, as these are common areas for gaps to form.
Natural Ways to Deter and Eliminate House Flies
If you’re dealing with a house fly problem, take heart – there are many natural remedies you can try. Often, the solution is already within your home. Here are some effective natural methods to get rid of flies for good:
Apple Cider Vinegar and Dish Soap Trap
This simple trap is remarkably effective. Combine equal parts of dish soap and apple cider vinegar in a bowl or jar. Add a sprinkle of sugar to enhance its allure for flies. The sweet scent of vinegar attracts flies, while the dish soap disrupts the surface tension, causing them to sink and drown. Entomologist Irenicus suggests that if you lack apple cider vinegar, stale wine or beer can serve as effective alternatives due to their fermented, attractive scents.
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Repellent Herbs: Nature’s Fly Deterrent
Certain herbs act as natural fly repellents. Planting these herbs near doorways and windows can create a fragrant barrier that flies dislike. Basil, mint, bay leaf, tansy, and rue are known to repel house flies. Incorporating these plants into your garden or placing potted herbs near entryways can make your home less inviting to these insects.
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Essential Oils: Aromatic Fly Repellents
Essential oils derived from plants like lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, and lemongrass are also effective fly repellents. You can use essential oil diffusers to disperse these scents throughout your home. Alternatively, mix a few drops of essential oil with water in a spray bottle and apply it to areas where flies frequently gather. These natural fragrances are pleasant to humans but irritating to house flies, encouraging them to stay away.
Fly Paper and Traps: Simple and Effective
Fly paper and fly traps are straightforward solutions for capturing and killing house flies. Fly paper, a sticky paper strip, is hung in areas with high fly activity. The paper is coated with an attractant, and once flies land on it, they become stuck. After trapping flies, the strip can be disposed of.
Fly traps, particularly light traps, use ultraviolet light to lure flies. Once attracted to the light, flies are either trapped on a sticky surface or electrocuted. For light traps to be most effective, they should be placed out of direct view from outside and no more than five feet from the ground. Ensure there are no competing light sources nearby to maximize their attraction.
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Plants That Repel: Botanical Defense
Beyond herbs, certain flowers and plants can also help repel flies and other insects like mosquitoes. Basil, marigold, and lavender are excellent choices for planting around your home to naturally reduce fly infestations. These plants not only add beauty to your surroundings but also act as a continuous fly deterrent.
Chemical Solutions for Stubborn Fly Infestations
When natural methods aren’t enough to control a persistent fly problem, chemical-based solutions can offer a quicker way to get rid of house flies. According to entomologist Michel Johnson, chemical controls use compounds designed to specifically target and eliminate these pests.
Common insecticides used for fly control often contain pyrethroids. These synthetic versions of natural insecticides found in chrysanthemum flowers work by disrupting the nervous system of flies upon contact, leading to paralysis and death. Imidacloprid is another chemical frequently used in bait fly traps, also targeting the fly’s nervous system to cause mortality.
Professional Pest Control: Calling in the Experts
For severe or ongoing fly infestations, it may be necessary to consult a professional pest control service. Experts can accurately assess the extent of the infestation and identify potential breeding environments that you might have overlooked. They possess the experience and specialized tools needed to handle even the most resistant fly problems.
A professional service typically starts with a comprehensive inspection of your property. Based on their findings, they will develop a tailored treatment plan. This plan might involve a combination of methods, from targeted insecticide sprays to baiting systems and even fumigation in extreme cases.
Preventing House Flies: Long-Term Strategies
The most effective way to manage house flies is to prevent them from entering your home in the first place. Securing your home by sealing potential entry points is key to long-term fly prevention.
Maintain Cleanliness: Eliminate Food Sources
Inside your home, reduce fly attraction by diligently cleaning up food waste and crumbs – both human and pet-related. Ensure all garbage is contained in trash cans with liners and tight-fitting lids, and empty your garbage and recycling bins frequently. If you have pets that use litter boxes or indoor toilet areas, clean these spaces regularly to prevent odors and fly attraction.
Eliminate Breeding Grounds: Outdoor Management
Extend cleanliness to your outdoor areas. Promptly pick up pet waste and food scraps, and ensure outdoor garbage cans have secure lids. Regularly inspect your yard for potential fly breeding grounds, such as rotting food or stagnant water. For home gardeners with compost piles, turning the compost regularly can disrupt fly breeding cycles. Remove grass clippings and fallen leaves promptly, as decaying vegetation can attract flies.
Wise Use of Lights: Reducing Attraction
Lights can attract flies, especially at night. Minimize unnecessary outdoor and indoor lights at night. Be particularly mindful of open windows or doors when interior lights are on after dark. If it’s dark outside and brightly lit inside, insects will be drawn to your home through any available opening. Consider using yellow “bug lights” as these are less attractive to flies than standard white lights.
Seal Entry Points: Fortify Your Home
Thoroughly seal any cracks or crevices in your walls and around windows to block fly entry. Use caulking or weatherstripping to effectively seal gaps around doorframes and window frames. Regularly check that all windows are properly closed, especially at night, and ensure window screens are installed and in good repair, without holes or tears. These simple sealing measures are crucial for denying flies access to your home.
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Frequently Asked Questions About House Flies
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What do house flies look like?
House flies (Musca domestica) are insects belonging to the family Muscidae. They are characterized by gray or black bodies, large red eyes, and two translucent wings. Their body length typically ranges from 0.2 to 0.3 inches. House flies have slightly hairy bodies, with females generally larger than males. -
What is a sign of a house fly infestation?
Seeing a large number of house flies is a primary indicator of an infestation. You might also find fly eggs, which are laid in batches of about 100 on food waste, rotting meat, and feces. These eggs hatch quickly, usually within 12 to 24 hours, into legless, white larvae known as maggots. Maggots then develop into pupae and finally into adult flies. Adult house flies typically live for two to four weeks but can reproduce rapidly, contributing to quick infestation growth. -
What instantly kills flies?
While various methods can eliminate house flies, chemical-based solutions are often the quickest way to kill them. Spraying flies directly with pesticides can result in immediate mortality. However, it’s important to note that while these sprays kill flies on contact, they may not prevent new flies from returning if the underlying attractants and breeding grounds are not addressed. Addressing the source of the problem and implementing preventative measures are crucial for long-term fly control.
