12 Sep How To Get Rid Of Green Flies In Your Home
Green bottle flies are large compared to common houseflies, and their bright blue-green hue makes them easy to identify. They consume waste material, exposed food, and dying plants and animals. Unlike other flies, a house’s lights don’t usually entice them in. Large numbers of green bottle flies in your house indicate that you have suitable feeding and breeding areas that they are enjoying. Removing these areas will also help remove the flies. They are often found around garbage cans and dumpsters.
Pets and people can become ill from eating foods contaminated with their fecal matter because they are prolific breeders and can transport bacteria.
Today, we will discuss how to eradicate those horrible green flies and keep them away for good.
How To Identify Green Flies
The green bottle fly is a medium-sized, robust species of fly with a large head and small eyes. Their bodies are shiny and black, with bright green abdomens. During the spring and summer months, they have a whitish dusting on their heads and thoraxes. They are easily identified by the bottle-shaped projection on their back behind the wings. The larvae are similar in appearance to housefly larvae, but they have shorter hairs on their bodies. Adult flies range from 1/2 to 1 inch long; larvae are 1/8 to ¼ inches long. The lifespan of a green bottle fly is about three weeks.
Where Do Green Bottle Flies Come From?
Green bottle flies are native to the United States and Canada, but have spread to other parts of the world, including Australia and South America. They are often found in moist, warm areas near rotting vegetation or animal carcasses. In the spring and summer months, they are commonly seen on windowsills or other areas of a home where they can lay their eggs. They are common in the United States and eat filth and decay. Green flies are beneficial decomposers because of this. However, they also serve as disease vectors.
They can lay up to 500 eggs at a time on the walls or ceilings of buildings or in animal carcasses. This allows them to have multiple generations in one season. They often lay their eggs in moist areas where they can easily find food for their larvae when they hatch.
Their eggs are similar to those of common houseflies, but are yellow or orange and stick to surfaces better. They often lay their eggs in moist areas where they can easily find food for their larvae when they hatch. These larvae often feed on other insects and decaying matter that may be present in these areas as well. The larvae will change into pupae before emerging as adult flies about a week after hatching from their eggs. They then mate and begin the cycle all over again, laying hundreds more eggs within weeks of each generation hatching. If you notice green bottle fly infestations inside your home, it is important that you take action quickly before they begin laying too many eggs for you to handle on your own!
Having the ability to reproduce both indoors and outdoors, green flies are extremely difficult for homeowners to deal with, particularly if they are unfamiliar with the kind of fly they are dealing with. A large number of green flies might indicate that something else is wrong, such as a dead animal in your walls, chimney, or attic. The green fly is frequently mistaken for a house fly because of its similar size and appearance. Despite being a different species, these flies require two different methods of treatment in order to be cured.
An indication of green fly invasion is the large number of them. Because they reproduce so quickly, you will frequently find them near rotting organic material like garbage and dog poop.
It is not uncommon for some green flies to get stuck inside a home after coming in through an open door or window. An infestation of green flies might be evident if you see adult flies or even their larvae emerging from the decayed matter from which their eggs were originally laid. Green flies can live both inside and outside of homes, and they are typically associated with dirt because they are drawn to decaying organic matter.
As disgusting as it sounds, green flies have even been known to lay their eggs in rotting tissue of open wounds in animals.
What Green Flies Are Attracted To:
- Wet garbage
- Rotting meat
- Decaying tissue from dead animals
- Dog feces
- Rotting food
- Overly ripe fruits and vegetables
- Food leftovers
- Compost
- And light
If you are seeing a large number of green flies around your home then you likely have a dead animal nearby that you will have to remove. This may be a dead mouse or rat in your crawlspace or wall or a bird that got stuck in your chimney and died.
Knowing your options when trying to eliminate green flies is crucial. While getting rid of green flies is not as difficult to handle as some other pests, such as mice or squirrels, they can still be challenging if there are a lot of them. There are a number of natural ways to remove them along with insecticides and other repellants you can use to keep them away.
How to Naturally Get Rid of Green Bottle Flies in the House
There are a number of steps you can take to get rid of green bottle flies in and around your home:
Remove Garbage
Reduce or eliminate anything that attracts flies to your home to make it less hospitable to them. Uncovered food should not be left on counters or tables. Fruit – especially apples – and vinegar are particularly attractive for houseflies. Keep countertops clean of crumbs, wash dishes soon after meals rather than leaving them in the sink, and ensure that the door to the dishwasher is firmly closed. Flies sometimes lay eggs in meat and vegetable scraps in your garbage, especially in the summer. Trash and other dark, secluded places provide a place for maggots and pupae to develop. Be sure to vacuum any fly maggots and pupae, then discard the bag. Keep your garbage cans covered, and take out the trash regularly. It’s important to clean or cover pet bowls between meals if you give your furry friends wet food.
Don’t forget to consider outdoor sources that flies may be feasting on close to your home. Though it’s not as high-priority as addressing a potential indoor bug buffet, houseflies often become established just outside your house and then come in when they spot an opportunity, like an open door or window. Make sure to check the gutters for any sources of standing water (eliminate pet waste and rotting wood and plants that have rotted). You should disinfect your outdoor garbage and recycling pails, or hire a service to come steam clean them.
Dog poop attracts hordes of green flies, so it’s very important to clean up the poop and stay on top of this chore and ensure it’s completed each and every day.
Seal Potential Entry Points Around Your Home
You can make it difficult for green flies to infest your home by keeping them out. To prevent major pest problems, make sure the perimeter of your home is secure. To begin, seal and caulk any crevices or cracks around your house that may serve as entry points for pests. It’s also important to ensure that screens are properly fitted and free of rips or tears and that there are no gaps in doorways. A quick-closing magnetic screen door might be a good addition to high-traffic portals, such as decks or patios. Avoid leaving attached garages or cellar doors open for long periods to prevent flies from entering and making themselves at home.
Lure Them Out with Light
Because insects are drawn to light, you can use this clever trick to get rid of the majority of bothersome flies in your home. During a bright, sunny day, close the door to the room where flies are present and shut the blinds and drapes, except for one gap that lets in light. Open that window wide to the outside. The flies should naturally be drawn to the light and they will hopefully leave.
Check Your Pipes
If you see green flies circling around your pipes it may be a good idea to hire a plumber to check them. There may be a break in your sewer pipes, allowing sewage to seep beneath the pipe which attracts flies and they can use it as a feeding and breeding site.
Create A Natural Fly Trap
You can entice and ensnare unwanted insects with a simple, all-natural homemade fly trap. You just need a plastic container, plastic wrap, and fly bait (such as fruit, vinegar, or apple cider vinegar) to make this. Position the fly trap in a corner to entrap and capture flies, then get rid of them once they have lost their battle.
Use Houseplants to Repel Flies
Potted plants and essential oils can be part of your fly-fighting arsenal. A kitchen window ledge herb garden that consists of mint, lavender, and basil is an excellent fly fighter. Flys will be less likely to enter if they are placed there. To keep flies away, spray door and window frames with a water bottle filled with lavender or eucalyptus oil and water.
Ultrasonic Pest Repellers
Ultrasonic pest repellers are electronic devices that emit high-frequency sounds in an attempt to repel household pests such as rodents and insects. Whether they’re actually effective at doing so has been disputed by testing labs and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These repellers may work to keep flies out of your home, but there are more effective methods.
Rescue Disposable Fly Traps
These disposable traps are a good solution for around your yard and windows. Just hang these budget traps in your backyard, add water to activate the attractant, and watch them flock to this attractant. No poisons are used in these traps, but they do produce a strong odor. When the trap is full, just toss it.
Yellow Bug Repellant Lights
While flies are attracted to light, studies have found that they are actually repelled by yellow light bulbs. Yellow light cuts down on the number of flying insects flying around your windows or doors. Have you ever noticed how many insects are around when you have a regular light bulb in your porch light? This can be installed into your patio or porch light to keep away pests at night and keep green flies and other bothersome creatures away from your home.
How To Get Rid Of Green Flies Using Insecticides
In case you are having difficulty keeping away green flies from your house and property after using natural methods, you should resort to pesticides. Chemical insecticides often offer long-term relief from pests like green flies and can also help reduce other pests when applied correctly. Remember, insecticides are often formulated with harsh chemicals that are hazardous to people and pets. Therefore, you should only utilize them as suggested and keep them away from children and pets.
Some good insecticide products you can use include the Ortho Flying Bug Killer and the Raid Flying Insect Killer. These products don’t just work on greenflies but mosquitos, fleas, and other pests. Another product you can try is the Terro Garbage Guards. This device is meant to be positioned inside your outdoor garbage can in order to avoid attracting green flies, gnats, and other pests that are drawn to waste.
How To Get Rid Of Green Flies Using Home Remedies
Green bottle flies do not bite humans. But, they do pose some serious health concerns. Because bottle flies feed on garbage, sewage, and animal carcasses, they may carry pathogenic bacteria that can infect the food in your home. In addition, fly larvae can infest human tissues. An infestation can sometimes even be created on unbroken skin. These infestations, called myiasis, can lead to severe irritation and pain. In extreme cases, myiasis infections can be fatal.
Green flies have also been known to lay their eggs in the open wounds on animals like livestock and horses, where their larvae can cause a serious blood infection known as myiasis.
Finding and eliminating the cause of green fly infestations is difficult, so it’s important to seek professional pest control help if you are unable to do so. Most pest control experts charge around $100 to $500 for green fly removal, but this cost could vary depending on your region and the severity of your infestation.
Conclusion
If you want to get rid of green flies, there are several natural remedies and preventative measures that you can take. One of the most effective methods is to kill the larvae before they hatch by using a larvicide or insecticide. Another way to prevent an infestation is to keep your garbage cans covered. You can also use sticky fly traps or sticky fly paper and set them up around your home, especially near doors, windows, and patios where flies tend to gather.
You can also try planting certain herbs and flowers around your home that repel green flies, such as lavender and catnip. You can also try to clean up the messes where green flies like to lay their eggs, such as compost piles and dirty containers. If all else fails, you should call for professional pest control for help.
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