How to Get Rid of Flies

Flies carry diseases like anthrax and dysentery.

While flies may look like harmless, if not a bit irritating, insects, they have the potential of carrying a variety of dangerous infectious diseases, like cholera, salmonella and typhoid. If you notice an excessive number of flies in and around your home, you must take immediate action to rid the area of the pesky creatures and protect those who live with or visit you.

Things You'll Need

• Fly swatter
• Fly tape or paper

Instructions

1. Look for the breeding ground for the flies. One fly can lay hundreds of eggs in one day. Each egg turns into a maggot, which eventually turns into a fly. Common sources of breeding materials include uncovered trash cans, pet food dishes, litter boxes with feces, dropped pieces of food, a dead mouse behind the refrigerator and even an unwashed dish in the sink that has bits of food remaining.

2. Remove the breeding site. Rinse dishes before leaving them in the sink, cover trash cans and clean pet litter boxes often.

3. Identify any areas in and around your home where water is allowed to pool, including drains and stagnant buckets of water, and remove the potential for water buildup if possible. Wet areas provide a location for drain flies to breed.

4. Swat the flies with a flyswatter to kill those already present. Alternatively, hang fly tape or lay out fly paper to catch the flies.

5. Hang the flypaper or trap in an area where flies congregate in the house. Most often, this will be the kitchen or other areas where there may be uncovered trash cans, pet food and other materials that flies consume.

Tips & Warnings

• After an infestation of flies, it is important to maintain a sanitation program that eliminates all breeding areas. This will help prevent future infestations.

• If a fly has entered your home and lands on uncovered food or pet food, dispose of the food immediately to prevent the spread of disease.

• Avoid pesticide sprays, as they lose effectiveness quickly after being sprayed and introduce toxins harmful to humans and pets to the environment.

References

• University of Georgia Extension: Help! Flies Are In My House!
• Orkin: House Fly Diseases

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish