House Flies: Evolution in Action in My Apt.

Jazzberry said:
I'm adding a sink drain plug to the shopping list. Boiling vinegar? Holy sh*t Batman! I never heard of that before. I imagine that it will stink to high heaven, but I'm doing this. It may drive me out of my apt. before it drives the flies out, but I'm still giving it a try.


A 50/50 mix of boiling water and vinegar works well too. I suggest opening the windows, turning on the stove fan and possibly wearing goggles.


Thanks. :)
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Once I had a bad case of flies in my bathroom...I think the feral cat brought some dead animal under my mobile home. I used the vacuum hose to suck them. It took me few days to get rid of them.

I heard you can use hair spray on them to stop them from flying but don't have a hair spray.
 
Jazzberry said:
Somehow my apt. got infested with houseflies. My two cats are usually very good at killing the odd bug or flea but they are useless right now. I suppose they are either on strike or have decided to adopt the pests as pets. :mad:

Nothing works more than once. I put out a container of vinegar mixed with sugar. It worked one night. None of the survivors have gone near the vinegar/sugar mixture after one night.

I put out a plastic container of honey. It worked one night.

I sprayed them with water. Their wings get too soggy to fly and than I could kill them. It worked one day. The survivors are either too quick or their have amazing wings that are soggy proof. :eek3:

I put out an unwashed dinner plate covered with a large clear plastic bag. I was able to keep the flies in while carefully extracting the dinner plate. It worked one night. I have another unwashed plate on a table in a clear plastic baggie that has absolutely no flies. They are buzzing around everywhere but on the plate.

What can I do? I'm willing to use poison as long as it won't kill my cats or make them sick. But I haven't seen any fly poison ads -- most search engine results seem to recommend a vinegar/sugar combo.

Help!
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spray w/ water? try using rubbing alcohol instead. worked very well when I had a massive fruit fly invasion cuz I threw away pomegenerate and didn't take trash out before I went to bed.
 
Oh yeah, *good idea* Sneaker! :roll:
 
mbrek said:
Oh yeah, *good idea* Sneaker! :roll:
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Mmmm...yeah... the only problem is that they have union agreement, they only work during dusk hours, and they are not responsible for any droppings.
 
get a Venus Fly Trapper
 
No wonder you have flies you're feeding them honey!! Try buying some fly trap tape . I know it is really gross to use but it does trap flies. . Try to find out how they're getting in your house and blocking the opening.
 
It's Chemical Warfare ...

SneakerNet said:
Get Bats....
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Hah! That might work ... for a day.

I tried spraying them with rubbing alcohol. That worked very well for about 30 minutes. It was great seeing them drop down in mid flight. I squished them once they hit the floor or a table. Still have a lot of survivors though.

The boiling 50/50 water vinegar mix poured down the sink helped also. I see a lot fewer babies so I guess that is where most of the eggs were. I'm geniunely surprised because I keep sink strainers in all my drains. But I guess the flys were dropping their eggs through the strainer anyway? Just in case, I poured the mixture over my sponges also.

Couldn't find any fly poison or large sink plugs in my neighborhood stores. I'll be near a K-mart within a couple of days so I'll try there.

In the meantime hair spray does make them fly away ... I haven't noticed that it kills them on the spot though. I'm hoping that they are dropping dead behind furniture or something. I do see fewer of them and I just got the hairspray an hour or so ago.

I have tried sticky tape before -- but they just don't seem interested. Maybe I'll try again with sticky tape and food stuck to the sticky tape. That might put a dent into the population.

I'll keep you all posted. I'm a little concerned that I'm probably going to end up breeding a super indestructible breed of fly. If you stop hearing from me in a couple of days that probably means that the flies won. :eek3: You may still have time to flee from the fleas.
 
Hair spray will harden their wings and if aimed properly will clog up the respiratory system so they will suffocate
 
JabberJay said:
Hair spray will harden their wings and if aimed properly will clog up the respiratory system so they will suffocate
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I think I have to pick up another brand. I got one labeled "Max Hold", but it was also the cheapest brand on the shelf so I guess its not working as well as it could. Still the situation is improving so it must be doing something.

And I also tried the dirty plate in a plastic bag trick again and it worked last night, so I got a few that way also.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
No wonder you have flies you're feeding them honey!! Try buying some fly trap tape . I know it is really gross to use but it does trap flies. . Try to find out how they're getting in your house and blocking the opening.
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I only fed them honey in a trap. And only a few flies fell for it and only for one night.

It seems that doing just one thing won't work, but if I try a lot of different things they all help a little bit.
 
You need to find the source of the files if it is in your home. The cat(if they are outdoor cats) might have dragged in an animal and that may be were the flies are consummating.
In my place, I had an opening next to the window air conditioner. I killed all the flies and covered it up, problem solved.
 
Jazzberry said:
I think I have to pick up another brand. I got one labeled "Max Hold", but it was also the cheapest brand on the shelf so I guess its not working as well as it could. Still the situation is improving so it must be doing something.

And I also tried the dirty plate in a plastic bag trick again and it worked last night, so I got a few that way also.
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I think they will fade out if you keep using different methods as people have suggested. I don't recommend the hairspray one because it will build up on floor, carpet, etc. Flypaper, No-Pest strips, swatters, and the home remedies will work, as long as the source of these flies has been stopped. Keep trash covered. Not sure of your location, but winter will soon finish off the flies outside in most areas, and they do not live more than a couple of weeks.
 
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