July 10th, 2023 by Shauna Hammond

Flies can be a nuisance when they find their way into your harm, not only is the buzzing irritating, they can be unpleasant to look at, they seem to get everywhere and in the case of some species such as cluster flies they can even leave a foul odour in the wake too. In the colder months, you can generally keep flies at bay by keeping the house clean and dry. However, during summer months when flies are more active and are looking for a place to lay their eggs, it can be almost impossible to keep them out of your home without taking some extra measures. In this blog, we will discuss the different kinds of flies you are likely to find in your home during the summer and how best to get rid of them.

House flies

As you most likely know the most common types of fly you will find in the summer and around your home are House Flies. They're usually found in kitchens and bathrooms, as they like to breed in garbage, dirty dishes and other sources of food waste as well as very warm environments. These pests can be a nuisance to deal with especially if you allow an infestation to go untreated since the females can lay up to 500 eggs in a three to four-day period – that’s a whole lot of eggs!

Fortunately, house flies are incapable of biting so you don’t need to worry about the particular issue, however, due to their love of dirt and rotten matter they can carry diseases such as salmonella, E. coli and dysentery. This is why it is important to get rid of house flies and to be careful to thoroughly clean the areas where they have been and it is also important to dispose of any food that they may have settled on too. If you have a large infestation of house flies, it's best to call an exterminator because they'll need professional help getting rid of them for good – however, for smaller infestations then these can be easily dealt with by yourself.

What Attracts House Flies

Before we look into how to treat your home for house flies, let’s take a look at what may cause house flies to infest your home. First of all, having one- or two-house flies in your home is not an indication of an unclean environment, so it is nothing to feel embarrassed about. House flies will make their way into almost any home if there is an open window or door as they search for a good place to lay their eggs – unfortunately they are not quite as adept at getting out of homes as they are getting in! On the other hand, if you leave dirty dishes, food or garbage to build in your home this will create the ideal environment for these little pests to prosper. So be sure to keep on top of emptying rubbish – especially if there are lots of food scraps in there, don’t keep food out on the counter or leave fruit in fruit baskets during the summer. It is also worth noting that house flies are not fussy about their next meals so they will also happily land on your pet’s food too – so try not to leave food out for too long even for your pets.  

How to Get Rid of House Flies

There are a few things you can do to keep prevent an infestation of house flies, as mentioned above be sure to put away all food and wipe up any spills or residue from countertops. Don’t let pet food sit and be sure to keep on top of emptying bins. It is also good practice to regularly disinfect surfaces too. While the chances are house flies will still find their way into your home during the summer, especially if you like to keep windows and doors open. They are unlikely to lay eggs and cause further problems if the environment is not ideal.

You can also take further preventative measures such as using fly curtains, this will allow you the benefit of keeping windows and doors open while preventing flies from easily entering your home. Electric fly killers are also a great way to deal with flies as well as other flying insects. They work by using UV rays which will attract flies, they will then fly into a glue board or electrified grill that will kill them. This prevents them from laying eggs and stops them from buzzing around the home – this option is especially beneficial for commercial areas such as restaurants and cafes where hygiene is of utmost importance, but ultimately difficult to avoid having food left out for periods of time.  

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Fruit flies

Fruit flies are small, black insects with yellow or red stripes on their bodies. They are about one-eighth of an inch long and have large eyes that give them a bug-eyed look. Fruit flies lay eggs on fruits and vegetables that have been left out, so they're often found in kitchens or garbage cans where there's food waste. Much like their house fly relatives, you don’t need to worry about bites with these small flies, however, they can also spread disease so it is again important to be vigilant in treating them before the issues get out of hand.

What Attracts Fruit Flies

As mentioned above Fruit Flies are attracted to fruit and vegetables especially ripe ones as they like the sweet smell emitted by fruits as they begin to rot. Fruit in particular can ripen very quickly during warm weather so it is not advisable to leave fruit out in a bowl during the summer as it will simply create the perfect feast for these flies, for produce that cannot be stored in the refrigerator, be sure to keep it sealed away. Fruit flies can also be found in drains and garbage disposals if they have not been correctly cleaned out.

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

The best way to get rid of fruit flies is by using a sticky trap or glue board fly killers. These will trap the flies in a place where they will eventually die, it will prevent them from flying around the home as well as preventing them from laying any eggs. As mentioned it is also important to put all food away – and keep sinks well cleaned. You can pour boiling water down your drains after disposing of things such as fruit juice or other sweet food to make sure it is fully clean and this will prevent them from gathering in your sink.

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Drain Flies

Drain flies are another common and unwanted house guest that you can find during the summer. As the name suggests you will usually find these flies, in the kitchen and bathrooms buzzing around sinks and plug holes. As you may have guessed these flies can not cause any physical harm through bits or stinger but just like many other flies they can carry bacteria and disease so you do not want to let them linger for too long. Female drain flies can lay up to 100 eggs and these eggs can hatch in as little as 30-48 hours, so it’s quite easy to see how leaving drain flies to their own devices can quickly develop into an infestation. These flies are small and gnat-like in appearance so it is usually easy to differentiate between house and fruit flies.

What Attract Drain Flies

Drain flies are attracted to stagnant and standing water, this is why you are most likely to find them in bathrooms and kitchens. Stagnant water that is left in pipes and drainage areas creates the perfect environment for these flies to eat and reproduce.

How to Treat Drain Flies

Fortunately, these flies are quite easy to deal with. Keep on top of cleaning sinks and ensure that any blockage or slow-draining pipes are dealt with quickly and the flies will have nowhere to build their home. You can clean drains and pipes with a combination of bleach and boiling water and that should easily deal with the issue. For flies that have made their way into your home, using a knockdown fly spray will make it easy to get rid of them too.

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Cluster Flies

Finally, we come to Cluster flies – these little critters are incredibly difficult to deal with and are more likely to cause problems in the home than any of the above-mentioned flies due to a couple of reasons. Fortunately, they cannot bite or sting but they are capable of carrying bacteria and disease, what’s worse these flies travel in large swarms – this means you are unlikely to encounter one or two that can be easily dealt with, if you spot cluster flies it is usually safe to assume there is an infestation somewhere in your home.

You will usually become aware of the presence of cluster flies due to the noise – thousands of flies can be very noisy. You may also notice a rancid and sweet smell similar to rotting fruit – this smell is created by cluster fly’s saliva and also works as a mark so that even when they leave your home the new swarm can find their way back!

What Attracts Cluster Flies

Cluster flies are attracted to light and warmth, so this means if you have vacant rooms with windows or lofts with windows that get a lot of sunlight, cluster flies will find this area very appealing. While these flies are more common as the weather begins to cool, you may notice them towards the end of summer so it’s better to remain vigilant and deal with issues quickly.

How to Get Rid of Cluster Flies

The sheer number of cluster flies makes them incredibly difficult to deal with as often fly killers are not able to deal with the large number, this is why if you are facing a swarm of cluster flies then using a fly spray or pesticide is the most effective way to deal with them. We advise using a combination of a smoke bomb – this will serve as an instant kill and will reduce a large number of cluster flies – this treatment should then be followed up with a fly spray, the Xterminate cluster fly kit comes with a dispenser that works on a timer so this will provide continuous treatment without having to constantly go in yourself to spray the area so is ideal for this job. These steps may require a couple of treatments before the swarm is gone – you should then deeply clean the area to remove any traces of their odour to make sure that no more swarms return. The good news with Cluster flies is that while they swarm indoors they are usually seeking a place to hibernate and will not lay eggs during this time, in fact, they prefer to lay eggs outdoors, so you do not need to worry about dealing with eggs just the initial swarm.

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I hope this article has given you some useful information on how to get rid of flies. Flies can be very annoying and unfortunately, they are almost unavoidable during the summer however if you follow these tips you can hopefully keep on top of them and prevent them from becoming a bigger problem!