Flies can drive you crazy. It doesn't matter if you have flies around your exterior trash receptacles, flies crawling on your kitchen counters, or bathroom flies taking turns sitting on your toothbrush; flies are just plain gross. You know that most flies are garbage flies. They feed on rotting organic matter in your garbage and also lay their eggs in this material. When flies emerge from trash receptacles, they're already contaminated. No matter how often they clean themselves with their little legs, they're never fully clean. The reason is that they don't clean their feet. They rub their legs against each other and along their bodies but they don't address the germs on their feet. Therefore, flies impact human health negatively. However, not all flies are equal. Some are a little better than others. Let's take a look at common flies in Bradenton, the health risks associated with them, and the steps you can take to reduce health concerns and get rid of flies in your home. Keep in mind that we provide year-round pest control in Bradenton that comes with routine perimeter treatments that make it hard for flies to live near your home or get inside. If you're looking for a permanent solution to your fly troubles, jump to our contact page or give us a call. With that said, let's look at common flies in our area and five things you can do about them.
What Types Of Flies Are Common In Bradenton Homes?
Fly infestations come in many shapes, sizes, and population numbers. Let's first take a look at how they behave and how they get into your home. Then, we'll look at the health hazards associated with them.
House Flies: These mid-sized grey flies have difficulty reproducing inside homes. The materials they lay their eggs in are quite stinky. Most residents have a low tolerance for the aroma of rotting food, and house flies must reproduce in sources of decaying organic matter.
Bottle Flies: These metallic-colored flies are sometimes called house flies, but a better name would be farm fly. They are usually found where animals live outdoors. They breed in rotting organic matter and also animal waste. They'll enter homes through open doors by accident, or they might find a gap or crack to enter in through, but rarely will they reproduce inside.
Phorid Flies: These are tiny black flies. If you have a phorid fly infestation, you may mistake them for fruit flies because they can grow into a swarm of flies indoors just like fruit flies do. But there is a big difference between these flies. Phorid flies are drawn to pet waste. Fruit flies aren't. You'll find fruit flies hanging out around sweet, decaying foods.
Fruit Flies: These little flies are usually tan with red eyes. (If you have lots of tiny black flies everywhere, they are more likely phorid flies.) Fruit flies can enter your home from the outdoors but they also enter homes on produce from the grocery store. What happens is a fruit fly will lay eggs on produce and the eggs remain dormant for a short time—long enough to go to the grocery store and travel to your home. While grocery stores do their bests to cull old fruit, a piece of old fruit can accidentally get through. When brought into your home, the eggs hatch and fruit flies begin to appear. As the flies leave their droppings in your home, a secondary problem begins. Fruit flies outdoors are able to smell the pheromones in the waste material of the indoor flies and will attempt to get inside to investigate, making some infestations challenging to correct.
Fungus Gnats: These are tiny black flies that often get mistaken for fruit flies or phorid flies. They lay their eggs in soil and are often brought into homes in the fall when potted plants are brought inside. If your fly pests seem to hang out on your plants, these are the flies you're dealing with in your home.
There you have it. While there are other flies that could get an honorable mention, these flies are the ones worth mentioning. Each is unique in its own way. Now that you know how they get into your home and what they do once they get inside, let's discuss the health concerns.
The Health Hazards Of Flies In Your Home
We mentioned five different flies. We also placed them from worst to best. Let's go down through the list again and discuss why we chose the order we did. We'll do our best to keep things as clean as possible. Unfortunately, talking about flies is a gross topic.
House Flies: These flies are known to transmit at least 65 diseases. The reason is that they breed in trash and feed on waste material.
Bottle Flies: These flies are dirtier than house flies, but they don't tend to enter homes as readily. The health risk increases when pets or livestock leave their waste close to dwellings.
Phorid Flies: These are the worst of the tiny, swarm-making flies on our list. It is their association with animal waste that makes them exceptionally filthy. If you have a cat and a cat box, you have a recipe for health risks when phorid flies find their way indoors.
Fruit Flies: These little flies are more of a nuisance than a health risk in most cases. If your home is clean, you shouldn't have much to worry about with fruit flies.
Fungus Gnats: These gnats are annoying but they present no health risks to humans. They can, however, present a risk to the health of your house plants.
Flies aren't just annoying pests. There are often health concerns when flies breed near or inside a home. If you keep seeing flies in your home, connect with us to request an inspection. We can evaluate the conditions and provide insights into why you're having trouble with flies.
Five Easy Ways To Prevent Flies From Coming Into Your Home
Often, fly infestations are not a pest control problem as much as a fly prevention problem. Since most flies have difficulty breeding inside, prevention methods can break the cycle of infestation. Here are our five best suggestions to make your home a no-fly zone.
- Moisture Control. All flies are impacted by moisture around a home. A moist perimeter promotes plant decay. A clean gutter system is the first step in deterring flies. It is also essential to make sure that you don't over-water your potted plants because this can attract fungus gnats.
- Trash Management. It is critical to remove trash from your home routinely and get your receptacles to the curb weekly. When trash sits, it stinks. When receptacles start to stink, flies take notice.
- Exclusions. When flies come near to your home, they can come indoors by way of tiny gaps, cracks, and holes. Address any potential entry points to keep flies outside. You can add another level of exclusion by also keeping trash receptacles away from your exterior doors and by only keeping exterior doors open long enough to quickly go in and out.
- Sanitation. Many flies are attracted to decaying foods and juices. When you clean your home, you reduce the smells that lure flies into your home. When combined with exclusions, you can win the battle against flies.
- Food Management. When you bring fruit home from the store, you can prevent fruit flies from hatching in your kitchen by watching produce and storing items in your fridge. Washing them can dislodge fruit fly eggs, and storage in a cold place can prevent eggs from hatching. Combine this with effective exclusions, such as repairing damaged screens, door sweeps, and weatherstripping, and you should have no trouble with fruit flies.
In most cases, these five steps are all you'll need to prevent fly problems, but if the fly pressures in your yard are higher than normal, or you have conducive conditions that are attracting flies, more control is needed.
Professional Pest Control Is A Great Way To Keep The Flies Away
There is no better way to keep flies out than to have routine visits from a licensed pest professional and regular treatments applied to the exterior of your home. A liquid barrier treatment provides a layer of unseen protection around your home that works to keep flies out all year long. When you need that extra protection, it is best to let a licensed professional select and apply appropriate materials according to manufacturers' guidelines. If you'd like to get started with year-round pest control, reach out to us. The Westfall's Lawn and Pest service team looks forward to helping you find the right solution for your family, your home, and your budget. It is easy to get started because we offer a free pest control inspection. We'll take a look at what you're up against and provide you with the data you need to make a sound decision about your pest control needs. Connect with us today. We're here to help.
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