The common house fly has a worldwide distribution, including the United States. Irritating and pesky, house flies are also potential disease carriers and should be taken seriously and eliminated as much as possible. They have short lifespans but reproduce very rapidly, leading to serious infestations if the homeowner doesn’t address the problem at an early stage.
How Do House Flies Get in?
House flies can enter a household in any number of ways, anywhere there’s an opening large enough for them to slip through. Under doors, via damaged weatherstripping or torn screens, up from the basement or down from the attic. House flies are attracted by odor and temperature, trying to stay in an environment as close to 83 degrees fahrenheit as possible. On a cool day they’ll be attracted to warm air currents from buildings, on a hot day they’ll be attracted by cooler air currents. Once they get inside, they get to work immediately seeking out food sources and reproducing.
Eradicating House Flies
The simplest way to deal with a house fly infestation is to call us. We have experience dealing with the problem and can often identify breeding sites and hiding places that may not be obvious to the average homeowner. If you wish to tackle the problem yourself, however, interior garbage cans and compactors provide a suitable environment for house fly breeding sites. It’s also important to clean your kitchen drains and automatic dishwashers. If you can’t find and eliminate all of the breeding sites, the problem will continue.
After you’ve identified and eliminated all of the breeding sites, you still have to deal with the adult flies remaining. Our pest control professionals have a variety of effective tools at their disposal, including but not limited to fly bait, chemical applications or traps.
The best way to prevent an infestation from happening in the first place is through vigilant sanitation. Make sure your garbage receptacles all form a tight seal around the lid, preventing flies from feeding and breeding inside. Remove garbage from your residence and store it OUTSIDE, in a tightly sealed container at a good distance from the residence. Clean pet waste (litterboxes etc) frequently. Make sure all your mesh screens around windows etc are in good repair and without holes and that your doors don’t leave any space on any side for invaders to crawl through. Generally insects and animals in general can make their way through shockingly small spaces so it’s important to regularly inspect, repair and maintain all possible entry points into your home.
Why Are Houseflies a Concern?
House flies don’t bite they can spread more than 100 different pathogens to all surfaces of your home, including salmonella, typhoid and tuberculosis. They pick up these disease carrying organisms on their legs while feeding on trash, feces and other waste material then deposit them on whatever surface they contact. In addition they defecate constantly. Don’t treat houseflies as a harmless nuisance, respect the harm they can do and be proactive in dealing with them should you find them in your residence.