The weather has finally warmed up here and now there plenty of super annoying houseflies. They’re way to fast to swat and have an annoying habit of landing on you.
I’ve tried Google’s suggestion of water/vinegar and a bit of dish soap in a bottle, but they don’t seem to go for it at all.
I’m up for trying anything, please make suggestions!
Edit: Thank you to all for your suggestions. So far I’ve tried the idea of spraying them with surface cleaner which appears to work well
Invest in venus flytraps. They’re very loyal pets.
But have some special needs most people don’t know of! They are native to Virginia, they are not tropical plants. Therefore part of their life cycle is a yearly dormancy period due to snow. Put your venus flytrap OUTSIDE in the winter folks! Also I’m told you should only use distilled water. And don’t touch the mouths and cause them to close without feeding.
In addition, be sure to supplement their diet with the occasional human leg
I just water them with longer standing but still hard water. It’s very happy.
What happens during years it doesn’t snow in Virginia? Do they just die?
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Warning about those hanging fly traps. I used them and somehow the glue got aerosolized and spread to every surface of my apartment. I never no idea how this happened but everything I own was covered in brown sticky dots. It was a mother fucker to clean.
Not sure what kind of beasts you have but some apple cider vinegar and dish soap works like a charm for me. Definitely need to find the source though. Usually it’s some old fruit that got left out somewhere.
These things are garbage.
I have one that takes d cell batteries and works great. Have used others that barely function, though
I find it useful when the fly won’t land, I can usually swat it in midair. It’s also my backup weapon when I go to spray hornets nests.
No. You may be using them wrong. You don’t swipe like a tennis racket. It creates a cushion of air that pushes the fly away, you need to go slower, but not too slow. Once you get the knack you’re swear by them.
Though they’re much better for mosquitos than houseflies.
Don’t know about that specific one, but my family has been using this type of “zapping racket” for decades. The ones we got are very effective and have been working that whole time.
I’ve tried Google’s suggestion of water/vinegar and a bit of dish soap in a bottle, but they don’t seem to go for it at all.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I always thought this method was only geared for fruit flies, not houseflys.
Flypaper strips can be effective depending on the severity and location of the issue and are fairly cheap. It won’t be 100% effective, but it might help. Just be very careful about where you place it if you have any pets or children.
Fly paper strips are the way to go
Glass cups work unfailingly for me. As far as I know they don’t see very well, so once, I tried slowly lowering one over them, and have been doing it since. Nothing else needed, just wait for it to land near you on a hard and even surface. They so far have not noticed it until the cup was fully down. After catching one, I slide a thin paper/something under the cup, and take the whole thing outside to release it.
Yeah this is my method as well. Glass cup, very slowly descending from directly above them and they don’t seem to detect it.
Hmm. I’ll have to try going slow. To date I’ve gone fast just because I figured they’d notice at some point.
Junk mail finds a rare purpose in those moments, especially for big bugs where the thickness is desirable rather than an annoyance.
I bought a couple of these for around the house. https://a.co/d/5vjsVs3 Works very well but mostly at night.
Also to make sure you regularly do the dishes, take out trash and clean up any food sources for the flies. After using the above and doing the above, mine went from insanity to maybe 1 or 2 around the house in about a week or two.
I slap them mid air when they are slower and with a towel when they fly more erratic and quick.
Satisfying and I get to feed my fly trapremoved by mod
You’ll catch some flies (and various other insects) with fly paper. The good thing is that it doesn’t smell.
Never heard of houseflies going for vinegar, AFAIK that’s for fruit flies (and even that is rather tricky IME).
It’s apple cider vinegar that works, regular vinegar doesn’t really work well.
Osage oranges also are great for fruit flies.
I set by the compost bin a little glass half full of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap, covered in cling film with numerous large holes punched through. Takes care of all of the fruit flies.
Vacuum cleaner with a wand or a powerful portable vac. You just get the nozzle near the fly and they get sucked in.
If you want to swat them, you need to move your hand slowly at first. They seem to not notice or care if you move slowly and don’t cast a shadow over them as that will frighten them. I use these same techniques for macrophotography, and it works, but you have to be patient.
I could also recommend getting good at snaping towels. Once you get good at it and you can judge distances, you can hit flies mid-flight.
Or if you just want to buy something and have 50ish bucks to spend you can get this
I roast em with a blow torch
I’ve discovered that I’m good at herding flies.
I start by turning off lights sources including the TV, and closing all the doors and curtains except for one open window which is now the brightest, and therefore most attractive destination for the fly.
Then I just stand so that the fly is between me and the window. I wave my arms out sideways, kind of like semaphore, and it discourages the fly from flying towards my body and my hands, and can only avoid me by flying in the direction of the window.
It doesn’t work at night since turning the lights off means I can’t see the fly, and with the light on, it just flies to the light, lol.
They also don’t like wind, so if there is a breeze outside, I make a stronger breeze inside by swinging a towel like a helicopter blade, and it makes the entire room very undesirable for the fly.
When I was a kid I would just wait until the fly was bouncing itself against the window, and just catch it in my hand, then throw it out and open window.
It also helps if you keep your house free of stale or rotting food smells.
This skill has dramatically reduced the number of flies I’ve killed by swatting.
I love this, but also found it hilarious - especially the towel as a helicopter blade trick and your description of it being “very undesirable for the fly.” I’m picturing your partner or housemate sighing and being like, “there they go again, herding flies.” I can definitely see it working though.
I’ve never thought of blocking out windows. I usually just wait for them to be stuck on a particular one, and catch them there.
A transparent cup works very well because they can’t really see it coming. Then it’s just a matter of slowly working a piece of cardstock or similar under, and taking a trip outside.
I came to this to post the same method with turning off lights so they go toward my patio door, then I just crack the door and shoo them out. Glad to see someone else using this very fast method, generally it only takes a few minutes for the fly to decide it doesn’t want to be in the dark.
Yeah. They clearly have little lives and experiences, however different from ours. What few experiments there are seem to indicate that at least some don’t experience pain, which is great news, but even that’s not completely conclusive just due to being under-researched, and due to it being a ridiculously diverse subphylum.
