flies, pets, etc

November 2, 2005 1:43 PM

Question for the masses: We keep getting flies in our house, and have no idea where they’re coming from. All the windows are closed up tight, and we don’t have anything laying around for them to be feeding on and breeding in (food, feces, decaying bodies, etc), and yet I can go around a room and kill 4 or 5 and the occasional straggler in another room.

We can spray them with Raid/bug spray in any room but the living room because of Pickle, but short of running around swatting at them all night in here, does anyone have any pet-safe suggestions to get rid of them?

posted by edmcbride to Pets & Animals (15 answers total)

Here are two similar questions: [1] [2].
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:48 PM on November 2, 2005

Do you have a fireplace? We had a fly invasion in our last home, and it turned out to be from a squirrel that had died in the chimney. There was no smell, due to the flue being closed but the flies crawled in through cracks.
posted by bitmage at 1:50 PM on November 2, 2005

flypaper?
posted by edgeways at 1:55 PM on November 2, 2005

Response by poster: No we don't have a fire place, so thats ruled out.

We have the fly glue sticks. they work ok.
posted by edmcbride at 1:57 PM on November 2, 2005

Our issue seems to have been that there was a good amount of honey that had leaked in the back of a cupboard. We cleaned it thoroughly and since then (a week ago) haven't noticed a fly.

*knocks on wood*
posted by xmutex at 2:04 PM on November 2, 2005

If you have plants, you could wrap plastic around the top, to see if anything is hatching from the earth. Aside from dead animals, that's where they would lay eggs.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:16 PM on November 2, 2005

Response by poster: Nope, no plants here. We just kill em.
posted by edmcbride at 2:27 PM on November 2, 2005

We've had problems variously with the chimney, the central air vents -- and, in a log cabin, cracks between the joints.
posted by cribcage at 3:08 PM on November 2, 2005

I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, but...

Do you have cats? We have fly issues during the summer, too, but two of our three cats think that the Best Thing Ever is to stalk and kill flies. And eat them. If you have cats, see if you can get one or more interested in the flies. Seriously.

(I can't believe I just wrote this answer...)
posted by jdroth at 3:10 PM on November 2, 2005

This works... believe me. We know how to deal with our flies in the South.

Take 1 Ziplock bag (large size). Fill it 1/3 full with water, hang it by the location you find flies most. When you hang it, pu tit on a hook, and put the hook through the bag.

No more flies.
posted by bamassippi at 3:14 PM on November 2, 2005

I am not sure where else this might apply, but my fly population went down when I took the screens out of my windows. I attribute this to the river nearby smelling better to the flies.

Luckily, not too many mosquitos around here.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:51 PM on November 2, 2005

I don't know how to stop them from showing up, but I bought one of these bad boys and at least I enjoy zapping the suckers now.

not a referral link, honest
posted by popechunk at 7:56 PM on November 2, 2005

bamassippi: I've seen that before...why does it work?
posted by nile_red at 9:33 PM on November 2, 2005

When this problem occurred at my SO's house, someone suggested checking the gutters. The back one was plugged and full of water, leaves, etc.; I cleaned and drained it, and that solved the problem.
posted by pmurray63 at 9:35 PM on November 2, 2005

When you hang it, put it on a hook, and put the hook through the bag.

I'll bet you're right, that your suggestion works...but I have no idea what you just suggested. Do you mean the hook should be poking through the empty, top 2/3 of the bag? Should the bag be open or closed? What it is it that we're expecting will happen -- the flies hang around the bag, and you can swat them? Are they supposed to get inside the bag? What do you mean, "No more flies"? What happens to them?

I've heard the suggestion about hanging a bag of water above your door to keep flies out. The logic is that flies avoid motion; when they approach the door and see their own reflected motion in the water, they avoid the doorway. I've never tried it, but people swear it works.

But I've never heard of hanging a bag of water to attract, or catch, or kill flies. I wish you'd explained it better.
posted by cribcage at 6:55 AM on November 4, 2005