It's summertime and we all know that brings 'skeeters.... which are bad enough.

What I forgot was that it also brings hordes of houseflies......

This are by far the most disgusting insect since the tick.

Anyone have any remedies to get rid of those suckers by chance?

Thanks

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

Flies are annoying, disease carrying and generally obnoxious,the floor of my vacation cottage up the adirondacks is black with their corpses each summer i arrive.

I know of no real remedy for them,the so-called ultrasonic repellants do not work,however some friends swear by the following which,admittedly,I have not tried yet.http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=3101&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=fly+trap

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I purchased a similar item from Home depot that had an attractant that lured them like an SOB, however it smelled like ***** and stunk up the joint.

I still use it but am looking for alternatives that aren't so smelly.

One of my greatest joys is standing above a horde of them that have converged on a pile of dog shot, spraying a fine mist of raid that slowly lowers onto the dung, causing any housefly to fly right into it's path and certain death.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

One of those fly tape sticks that you hang from the ceiling? I remember when we had a housefly problem, we sprayed nearly every room with fly killing spray, I think it was Raid since we didn't know exactly which room they were "based" in. Well, there were no more houseflies, we had to clean up housefly bodies the next few days though.
-Joe

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

To make a fruit fly trap you need to drink 75% of a bottle of wine then put whatever is left on the counter. The flys go in for a drink and get tipsy and can't fly out....and die.


We have orchards around here so the fruit fly population is out of control, the low tech wine bottle has eliminated the problem.

That's a great idea for the fruit flies. However Mangoes don't last too long at my house.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

fly paper is cheap and the most effective, imo. partial beer in a bottle works also.

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

I know this topic waaaaay too well. I can tell you that you CAN solve the problem, but you need to understand where they are coming from. When I first moved here I would get flies that were the size of small birds (for TWO years!), I mean these things were HUGE. I tried all the tricks, fly paper, spray, wine, etc. It is all a huge waste of time. In the end you have understand the basics about flies. They breed from decay. This means that something has to be rotting or dead for them to breed. First I checked under my deck. Nothing. Then I checked my chimney. BINGO. There wasn't a chimney cap, so critters would go and fall in the chimney and die, and the flies would breed, can come in the house, probably via the hot water heater connection or something. I cleaned out the bottom of the chimney, and installed a nice stainless steel chimney cap from Home Depot. Never had a single fly again.

Trust me. You have to find the breeding ground and get them there, you WILL NOT kill them for good in the house.

Good Luck,

Pete

They aren't coming from inside. They come in anytime I leave the door open for a bit.

My neighbors have a couple of dogs and I'm sure there's plenty of crap laying around.

My dog takes a dump but we pick it up most of the time.

Thanks

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

You mean the answer is as simple as closing your door?

I'm gonna try the wine tomorrow. Then I'll let the flies have some.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

You're probably looking at the remains of cluster flies, which resemble houseflies but are totally unrelated. They're earthworm parasites as larvae, and as adults they try to find shelter from the winter so they can go out and lay eggs on earthworms in the spring. They can be annoying in the house but are basically harmless.

What I wanna know is how the heck they get so damn big!

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Insects are not limited in maximum size. They continue to grow at a decreasing growth rate until they die. There is a physiological upper limit due to their vascular system. They use passive diffusion through spiricles in their bodies that ramify internally. Their circulatory system is also primitive, though some insects have hemoglobin. I think I read somewhere that the maximum core size is about 15-20 cm diameter. That's the threshold above which they die of CO2 poisoning/oxygen deprivation even if they don't move. So those giant insects in the 1950's atomic mutation movies ain't happening without a cardiovascular system at least analogous to the mammalian.

All of the melon shacks here have ziplock bags full of water hanging above the tables to act as prisms that keep the flies away. Some of the soul food restaraunts hang them in front of the doors. I have never tried it, but I have never noticed flies in these places either....