June 4th, 2010 by Shaun Day

Throughout the majority of the world there are a variety of flies, each as large a nuisance as the last. House flies and blow flies are the most common; however the latrine fly, flesh fly and the stable fly provide extra cause for concern. Problems with flies are exacerbated during the summer months however as Blow Flies and House Flies tend to come into the home more during summer, annoying home owners. Business owners also need to control their exposure to flies during these months to protect their customers’ hygiene and to cause them less discomfort whilst they are on the premises. Flies breed in manure, household and business waste, and even mismanaged home compost heaps. This leaves every fly carrying disease causing-bacteria, including dysentery, diarrhoea, typhoid, and most commonly, food poisoning. In short, fly control is important for the maintenance of sanitation and health. There are various types of treatment for the different types of flies. Typically Cluster Flies can be found in your home during the winter. They will use your attic spaces and other areas in your home to shelter, but typically will not reproduce there. The problem can be eliminated by chalking the entrances to the attic spaces, supplemented by the use of Insecticide which is readily available from mail order online stores. Conversely, house flies during the summer can be managed by screening entrances to your property which may be available to them, such as doors and windows. There are many nets available that will prevent flies from entering your property, however it will never be a precise science as the flies will live on. Houseflies, as said, are the most common pests in and around family homes. They are a dark grey in colour, and can be any length between 1/2 - 1/3 inches long. The identification of a breed of housefly can be performed with the use of a basic magnifying glass. Houseflies have darker lines running over their thorax – the lower portion of their body, with some yellow colouring to differentiate them from Face Flies. Generally if you have an extreme infestation, identification of the pest is more important, as the correct treatment can be applied. Houseflies, over their life span of around three weeks, will travel around 1 mile from their egg site, where they lay their larvae (maggots). Houseflies are actually flies for between 2 – 50 days of their lifespan, but in this time lay many larvae, so there can be as many as 10 generations in one summer period. The houseflies will last only 2-3 days without food, but if it is plentiful in supply, the 50 day maximum can be reached. In areas that are heavily infested, flies will certainly lay their young within 100 yards of a source for the maggots to develop, such as household waste, spilled pet food, wasted vegetables, compost piles, human and pet excrement, as they need a warm damp environment generally given off by decomposition. Dry conditions are not preferable as the larvae and young flies cannot chew dry food, and are susceptible to desiccation. They liquefy food by regurgitating it before consumption. Towards the very end of the life cycle, as the fly becomes an ‘adult’, they do have the ability to consume solid foods, such as sugar. To control any infestations, cleaning and removing all potential breeding areas is fundamental. Regular removal and covering household waste is the most obvious of all of the breeding grounds, as it is something that you have control over. Cleaning away all spillages of meat, vegetables or pet food will also provide less opportunity for flies to breed. Further to this, refrain from putting meat or manure on compost heaps as this would make them perfect breeding grounds. Houseflies will spend the daylight hours resting inside if possible; however they will also rest outside if they cannot find a building that they can access. You are likely to find them hanging on ceilings and walls, and on dangling light cords and cables. Outside, they can be found on plants, bins, edges of buildings and plants. They prefer to be on corners or curved edges so that they can take advantage of their wide peripheral vision. They will rest from 5 feet upwards off of the ground, so it is important to look up whilst trying to identify their location. This is especially important when looking for sites to spray with insecticide. Safe eradication comes with responsible use of insecticides. By looking around your property you will be able to identify if the infestation source is within your boundary. If there are only a few flies around, it is possible that the adjoining building is causing the nuisance. If this is the case, it is still effective to watch for resting spaces and to spray them with the insecticide. Residual sprays can be effective in these situations. These can also be used for short term repellents of flies, i.e. during picnics. In outdoor areas, few other methods have very high proven success rates. Fly baits, small trays of insecticide, can be purchased and placed around garden areas. Resin strips can be used either indoors or in certain outdoor conditions, such as under bin lids, where there is no clear way out for the flies. If however the problem is not on your property, seek the assistance and cooperation of the person who’s causing the issue. If this is not possible, your local council or state health office should be able to assist you in the removal of a persistent problem. As a rule of thumb, insecticide and bait should be renewed after 2 – 4 weeks of spraying them during the summer months, and can be reapplied sooner if there is a high amount of rain, which can wash residual spray away. If the controls are all not put in place at the same time, or are poorly managed or neglected, treatment may be wasted and can be quite costly to go through many cycles. For indoor controls, fine net screens are the most cost effective method of treatment, however fly swats, repellent sprays and insecticides will work better indoors, but only if it is safe to do so. Electric fly ‘zappers’ are the final method of reducing the amount of flies inside, and these can be seen in many takeaways and supermarkets. These are however mainly used in commercial applications.