Every spring and summer, homeowners across the globe face the same irritating problem: flies buzzing around indoors. It’s a common nuisance to find these unwanted guests in your kitchen, living room, or even bedroom, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. If you’re constantly asking, “How Do Flies Keep Getting In My House?”, you’re not alone.
Particularly if you live near agricultural areas or have compost or garbage areas close by, the influx of flies can feel overwhelming. One warm afternoon, you might find dozens, or even hundreds, congregating on your window screens, desperately trying to enter your home.
Understanding the Fly: Fly Facts You Should Know
Before we delve into how they infiltrate our homes, let’s understand a bit about our tiny winged invaders. The common housefly typically lives for about 15 to 25 days. They are diurnal, meaning they are most active during the day, but can be a bother at night when seeking shelter and rest.
Indoors, you’ll find them on various surfaces like floors, walls, and ceilings. Windows are particularly attractive to them. Contrary to popular belief, they aren’t necessarily drawn to windows to escape. Instead, flies are often attracted to the warmth that windows provide. Once there, they can become disoriented, buzzing aimlessly as they search for food.
Outside, flies might rest in plants, on fences, garbage cans, or even on the ground. Temperature and air currents also play a role in their indoor appearances. On hot days (above 85°F), flies might be drawn to the cool air escaping from your air conditioning. Conversely, on cooler days, they may seek warmth from your house’s heat.
What Does a Housefly Look Like? Identifying Your Unwanted Guest
To effectively deal with flies, it’s helpful to know what you’re dealing with. The typical housefly is:
- Dark gray in color
- Between 1/8” to 1/4” in length
- Characterized by six legs and antennae
- Distinguished by a small, oval body, and two wings that overlap at rest.
Houseflies are prevalent throughout the United States. Their larvae are maggots – small, creamy white or gray, rice-like creatures often found in decaying organic matter like spoiled food.
Fly Food: What Attracts Flies to Your Property?
Houseflies are far from picky eaters. They thrive on unsanitary substances including garbage, animal waste, rotting fruit, and dead animals. Minimizing these attractants around your home is crucial. Regularly cleaning up pet waste and ensuring your trash cans are securely lidded can significantly reduce fly populations in your yard and, consequently, in your house. It’s important to remember that flies can transfer harmful bacteria from these filthy sources to your food.
Why Are Flies Drawn Inside Your Home? The Lure of Indoor Living
Fundamentally, flies are seeking survival. Inside your home, they find readily available food sources. They will land on your food, sugary drinks, pet food, and various other items in pursuit of a meal. Sweet substances are particularly irresistible to them.
Do houseflies have a strong sense of smell? Absolutely. Their sense of smell is highly developed. The odor of trash or decaying matter can draw them to your yard and eventually into your home.
How Do Flies Keep Getting In My House? Common Entry Points Explained
Understanding how flies enter your home is the first step to preventing future infestations. Flies can exploit a number of common entry points:
- Open Doors and Windows: The most obvious entry points. Leaving doors or windows open, even for short periods, is an open invitation for flies.
- Damaged Screens: Torn or poorly fitted window and door screens provide easy access.
- Cracks and Gaps: Small cracks and gaps around doors, windows, vents, utility lines, or sealed pipes can be pathways for flies to sneak indoors.
- Plumbing Systems: Drain flies, in particular, breed in the moist organic matter that accumulates in drains, allowing them to emerge directly into your home.
- Following Scents: The enticing smells of pet food, garbage, or outdoor cooking can lead flies right to your doorstep and potential entry points.
Ready to take back control and get rid of house flies?
The Housefly Life Cycle: From Egg to Adult Invader
Lifecycle of a fly
Understanding the housefly life cycle can provide insights into effective control measures. Houseflies undergo complete metamorphosis, with four distinct stages:
- Egg: Flies lay eggs in decaying organic materials like garbage, manure, or rotting food.
- Larva (Maggot): Eggs hatch into larvae, commonly known as maggots. These larvae feed and grow in the breeding material.
- Pupa: After the larval stage, the maggot develops into a pupa. This is a transitional stage where the fly undergoes transformation within a casing.
- Adult: Finally, the adult fly emerges from the pupal case, ready to reproduce and continue the cycle.
Are Houseflies Dangerous? The Diseases They Carry
Many people wonder about the dangers posed by houseflies. The answer is yes, houseflies are indeed dangerous. They are known carriers of over 100 different pathogens. These pathogens can be spread when flies land on food or surfaces, or when they lay eggs in unsanitary environments. Adding to the problem, houseflies frequently defecate – wherever they happen to land, including your kitchen counters and food preparation areas.
Furthermore, houseflies have a peculiar eating habit: they often regurgitate food, liquefy it, and then re-consume it. This process, when performed on your countertops or tables, spreads bacteria and contaminants.
Houseflies lay their eggs in the same unsanitary locations where they feed, such as garbage, manure (including pet feces), and decaying animal carcasses. As mentioned, they can transmit serious diseases, including salmonella, malaria, and tuberculosis, among many others.
Beyond disease transmission, houseflies are simply a nuisance. They can disrupt outdoor activities, constantly buzzing around when you’re trying to relax or enjoy a meal in your backyard. While houseflies themselves don’t bite, other fly species do, such as horseflies, mosquitoes (which are part of the fly family), and stable flies. If you live in a rural area, you’re likely to encounter a greater variety of fly species, including houseflies and biting flies.
Learn More:
How to Get Rid of Mosquitoes in a Yard
Houseflies vs. Cluster Flies: Knowing the Difference
Houseflies are often confused with cluster flies, as they share a superficial resemblance. However, there are key differences.
The most critical distinction is that houseflies are notorious for spreading disease due to their feeding habits on feces, garbage, and rotting carcasses. They readily contaminate surfaces with both feces and vomit.
Cluster flies, on the other hand, pose less of a health risk. While they might occasionally land on unsanitary surfaces, it’s not their primary feeding behavior. They are not intentionally seeking out filth like houseflies. Importantly, cluster flies are not known to transmit diseases.
Cluster flies primarily feed on plant-based matter like sap, honeydew, and nectar. Therefore, if you notice a “cluster” of flies, particularly in fall and winter, it’s more likely you’re dealing with cluster flies rather than houseflies indicating a nearby source of rotting garbage or a dead animal.
Identifying Cluster Flies: Key Distinguishing Features
While similar in appearance, you can distinguish cluster flies from houseflies by these characteristics:
- Size: Cluster flies are noticeably larger, measuring 8-10 mm in length compared to houseflies at 6-7 mm.
- Flight Pattern: Cluster flies are clumsy fliers, often described as sluggish or “drunk” in their movements.
- Clustering Behavior: As their name suggests, cluster flies tend to congregate in large numbers, forming clusters, especially in attics or less disturbed areas of a home.
Where Do Cluster Flies Come From? Their Origin Story
Cluster flies have a different life cycle compared to houseflies. Cluster flies lay their eggs in soil. The larvae then parasitize earthworms before pupating and emerging as adult flies that resemble large houseflies. Adult cluster flies seek out homes in the fall to overwinter, entering through small openings.
Do Cluster Flies Bite? Are They Harmful?
No, cluster flies are not aggressive and do not bite, sting, or cause structural damage to homes. Their primary impact is as a nuisance due to their sheer numbers.
Why Are Cluster Flies In My House? Overwintering Pests
Cluster flies enter homes primarily to find a sheltered place to overwinter. They often congregate in attics and wall voids in large numbers. Preventing their entry involves sealing cracks and openings.
Related:
How to Keep Bugs Out of a House
Effective Housefly Control Measures: Taking Action
Fortunately, you don’t have to tolerate a housefly infestation. Several effective control measures can help you eliminate flies from your home and yard:
1. Maintain Impeccable Cleanliness: Your First Line of Defense
“Cleanliness is next to godliness” – and it’s certainly the first step in fly prevention. Here are key cleaning practices:
- Frequent Trash Removal: Empty kitchen trash cans daily to eliminate food sources.
- Trash Can Hygiene: Regularly clean and sanitize kitchen trash cans to remove lingering odors and food debris.
- Food Storage: Cover all food and drinks to prevent flies from accessing them.
- Spill and Crumb Control: Immediately wipe up any spills and crumbs from tables and countertops.
- Outdoor Trash Management: Ensure outdoor trash cans have tight-fitting lids to contain odors and waste.
- Seal Entry Points: Repair any broken seals around windows and doors, fix damaged vents, and replace torn screens.
- Recycling Prep: Rinse bottles and cans before placing them in recycling bins to remove sugary residues.
- Yard Cleanliness: Regularly clean up your yard, including pet waste, fallen fruit, and debris.
- Food Waste Disposal: Promptly dispose of any food left outside.
- Grill Maintenance: Regularly scrub your outdoor grill to remove food particles and grease buildup.
2. Biological Fly Control: Nature’s Helpers
While spiders and wasps might not be everyone’s favorite creatures, they are natural predators of houseflies. Consider tolerating spiders and wasps around your property as a form of natural pest control. Parasitic wasps, in particular, are beneficial as they prey on houseflies and other pests without typically stinging humans. Predatory plants like Venus flytraps, while not a complete solution, can also help manage fly populations.
3. Professional Pest Control Services: When to Call the Experts
If you’re facing a persistent housefly infestation that doesn’t respond to cleaning and basic controls, it’s time to contact a pest control company. A large number of flies, or the presence of multiple fly types (houseflies, fruit flies, cluster flies), can indicate hidden breeding sites or more complex issues. Pest control professionals can investigate less obvious areas like wall voids, drains, and attics to identify and eliminate fly breeding grounds, ensuring the safety and comfort of your home.
Warning: Pesticides are poisonous. Always read and carefully follow all directions and safety precautions on product labels. Handle pesticides with care and store them in their original labeled containers, safely out of reach of children, pets, and livestock. Dispose of empty containers promptly and responsibly, avoiding contamination of forage, streams, or ponds.
Do you need help protecting your home from flies and other common pests? Explore our Year-Round Pest Control Program. Contact us today to learn more.
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