Traps & Tips For Controlling Flies
From the first warm weather, every homeowner takes up arms against this most persistent form of pest life. Since houseflies do not bite, many people merely worry about them from the point of view of annoyance. However, it’s important to remember that they are also great disease carriers.
Flies breed in and feed on rotting animal or vegetable matter, garbage and in both human and animal excreta–all of which are swarming in germs. Some of these germs they transport on their hairy legs. Others are nurtured in their digestive tract and are transmitted via its own excrement or discharges through the mouth.
When All Else Fails--Arm Yourself With A Flyswatter
Prevention Of Breeding
- Sanitary disposal of garbage is essential. Use a covered can always, preferably one lined with newspaper or a paper bag to facilitate removal.
- Wash out empty beer, gingerale and pop bottles, don’t leave dirty glasses standing about.
- Never leave food uncovered, especially meat, fruit, sweets or preserves of any kind.
Follow the Cleanup & Prevention tips outlined in How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies to make your home uninviting to houseflies.
Repelling & Killing Them
Even when everything possible has been done to eliminate breeding places, flies in the house may still be a problem. Here are some tips to repel them and keep them from getting inside the house:
- Screens: Screen all windows and doors. Make sure all screens fit tightly and mend any tears at once. You can patch them with small squares of similar screening or even paste tape over the hole. Never ignore the gaps, as they are canny about finding openings.
- Bags Of Water: Hanging clear plastic bags of water near entrances of the home is said to scare them off, see Lifehacker: Repel Flies with a Bag of Water.
- Cotton Balls: Attaching a cotton ball to the middle of a door or window screen is an old-time method of fly control. It was believed that they are convinced that the cotton balls were moths or some predator so flies wouldn’t go near the area. Attach the cotton ball to the screen with a few quick stitches from a needle and thread, then once secured, pull out the cotton to make it big and fluffy. Another option is to hang cotton balls over doors and windows.
If they have gained an entrance into the house, here are some ways to get rid of them:
- Flypaper: Can be effective to a certain extent, the idea is to hang strips of sticky paper in areas of the home that will attract flies so they get stuck on the paper and die (see recipe below for making your own).
- Flytraps: Bait a glass jar with 1 part blackstrap molasses to 3 parts water, fruit or leftover milk. Cover the jar with a lid and poke three holes in it with a nail. They will be able to get into the jar to get at the bait but won’t be able to get out. Here’s a more sophisticated project for making a homemade fly trap: Instructables: Fly Trap.
The common housefly is the most prevalent type found in homes. Other species may be encountered but control measures are much the same for all.
Source: Adapted From Woman’s Home Companion Household Book (1948)
Homemade Fly Paper Recipe
*First published July 19, 2007 and moved to this page for better organization
Items Needed:
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 TBS Brown Sugar
1 TBS White Sugar
Directions:
- Mix well then dip strips of brown paper bag into the mixture. Coat the strips well and lay them on plastic overnight to set and dry a bit.
- The next day poke a hole in the paper strip about an inch from the edge and loop a piece of string or twist tie through it. Hang.
Can you tell me how to get rid of those little moth looking things that get in pasta, cereal, etc, in the cabinets? Thanks
I think you’re talking about wheat moths. I’ve had very good success with bay leaves. I’ll store about a 1/2 cup of bay leaves inside a plastic container with a lid with whatever food I’m wanting to keep the wheat weevils out of. You could also store your rice,pasta,flour, etc. in the freezer until you’re sure the pests are gone. Tipnut has a list of natural berbal pest remedies. Good luck!
place in freezer it will kill the eggs
Oh, pantry moths? I hate those things. Had an infestation last year and had to throw away almost every box of cereal, pasta, grits, etc. After you throw away everything that is infested, clean out the pantry very well including in all the corners. There is some sort of trap that hardware stores sell, I can’t remember what it was called. I was going to buy it, but ended up just buying insecticide and spraying the inside of the pantry sparingly, just corners and edges. Make sure to let it dry. Then store anything that they are attracted to inside of ziplock bags or else screw top lids.
I have tried 2 methods. Parper bag and pop bottle. The wasp are not going into the pop bottle. The wasp are still flying around. The pop bottle is been sitting there for 20 minutes non have entered.
We have a lot of pigeons in our roof, and they are soo messy.
Droppings on the steps to the laundry everyday! We have to clean all the time.
Anyone know what we can do about this how do we get rid of them is there something we can put on the steps which will scare them away! Or some smell they do not like.
Thanks
Much appriciated!
I noticed quite by accident that if you left an empty, unrinsed wine bottle on the counter that fruit flies are attracted to the fruity smell and they go inside and are too dumb to come out. They fly up and down but can’t seem to find the entrance. I don’t know if it matters what kind of wine was in the bottle, but in those cases, it was white wine.