Flies in an apartment are not only unpleasant, but also unhygienic and dangerous to health: parasites crawl through landfills, rotting food waste, garbage cans, and often get into the sewer. After a long “journey,” insects enter the home and carry particles of dirt and millions of microorganisms on their paws and proboscis.
It is important to know how to get rid of flies in an apartment. Professional exterminators recommend finding out why many parasitic insects have accumulated in your home. Chemicals and folk remedies are used to control flies; it is imperative to follow preventive measures and avoid unsanitary conditions.
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Flies in the home
The first rays of the sun are the awakening of not only flowers and trees, but also parasitic insects. Mosquitoes, bugs, midges, flies become more active and fly into the home through open windows and from staircases. It is important to protect windows with mosquito nets in time to prevent pests from entering the apartment.
If parasites have settled near a person, it is not easy to get rid of them. Insects have panoramic vision; slippers and newspaper are less effective for killing parasites than for fighting cockroaches. Another reason why it is difficult to kill a fly sitting on a window is the presence of sensitive hairs that detect the slightest vibrations in the air.
The length of the body is about 1.5 cm, some types of parasites are larger. Various types of food in a liquefied state are suitable for feeding insects. Pests crawl on fish, meat, offal, and sit on excrement. Rot, honey, juice, jam, sweet syrup, juicy fruit pulp are ideal food for flies.
The average lifespan of a parasitic insect is about 25 days: pests have many natural enemies in natural conditions, and humans do not allow winged parasites to live and reproduce in peace. If the humidity approaches 75–80%, the temperature remains at + 25…+33 degrees, then the pest can live for 2 months or more.
Reasons for appearance
Flies are attracted to apartments and houses by living conditions: there is always food, warmth, water. The more cluttered places, the easier it is to preserve the masonry to ensure the survival of new generations.
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There are several factors that attract insects:
- unsanitary conditions;
- lack of sunlight, dirty windows, darkness in the apartment;
- the owners rarely ventilate the apartment, there is a musty smell in the rooms;
- the home is hot and humid. If you add the first three factors, the rate of fly reproduction and population growth is very high;
- warmth in the home. It is no coincidence that flies try to get into living quarters: there are good conditions here even in winter;
- in the kitchen: shelves, work surface, food often remains, the housewife does not always perfectly clean the table, the area on the floor near the stove;
- There are corners in the apartment where the owners rarely clean. Flies often live in the pantry, on the balcony, filled with boxes, drawers and old things. If vegetables and other supplies are stored there, the risk of fly infestation increases;
- There is no habit of taking out the trash can on time.
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Tips and tricks
- It is better to wash dishes immediately after eating.
- Garbage must be taken out daily.
- If there are children in the house, then chemicals should not be used to kill flies.
- If you are still going to treat the premises with aerosols, then children and pets should not enter the room after treatment for at least 2-3 hours.
- It is better to cover all furniture, things and food before spraying the room.
- Not all folk remedies are safe, so you need to use them carefully so that your household is not accidentally poisoned by them.
- It is better to hang sticky tapes not in the middle of the room, but in the corners, so they will not be more noticeable to others.
Why do you need to kill flies in your apartment?
Pests move through areas where pathogens, fungi, and viral infections are located. Parasites often crawl through excrement, which increases the danger to humans. The causative agents of dangerous diseases easily get on the paws and later remain on the products.
Raw meat attracts flies: they not only feed on pork or beef, but also lay larvae in rotten areas. Salted herring is another delicacy that parasitic insects swarm around. Many flies crawl on raw, smoked and dried fish. For this reason, you cannot purchase this type of product on the market, especially in the heat, if sanitary conditions are not met: it is easy to get sick with salmonellosis, parasitic infections, and dysentery.
Flies also carry cholera, tuberculosis, conjunctivitis, and typhoid fever. After eating foods on which harmful insects have crawled, diarrhea often develops, and intestinal infections are possible.
Harmful insects survive due to high fecundity: it takes about two weeks from laying eggs to becoming an adult. If you consider that there are about 2000 eggs in one clutch, it is easy to imagine what will happen if there is no effect on annoying insects.
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Danger to humans
Flies in the house not only bring discomfort and irritation with their presence and buzzing, but they are also dangerous due to the spread of pathogens, infections, and diseases. There are many types of flies that harm humans in different ways. Among them there are blood-sucking parasites, pests that destroy crops and harvests. The most common are house flies and green flies in apartments and houses.
Diseases, infections:
- diphtheria;
- cholera;
- worms;
- tuberculosis;
- anthrax;
- severe poisoning;
- intestinal infections;
- brucellosis;
- tularemia.
Having excellent charm, flies are able to smell food from afar, they are especially attracted to the aromas of decomposition products. An infestation of flies in an apartment is observed in the kitchen, where they come into contact with household products, human food, in toilets, and restrooms.
Proven ways to fight
Basic Rules:
- keep the apartment clean;
- do not wait until a lot of garbage accumulates in the bucket, especially food waste;
- put mosquito nets on the windows;
- get rid of dampness in the premises;
- attach gratings with small cells to the air vents;
- do not leave food on the table after a meal;
- do general cleaning, recycle or give away old things cluttering your home;
- wash the windows well, restore wooden frames;
- do not leave leftover food on the table, remove rotten fruits and vegetables into bins in a timely manner;
- exclude unsanitary conditions: dirt combined with dampness and an abundance of food is a suitable habitat for flies.
Chemicals
Insecticides and chemical repellents for flies:
- Clean house (aerosol and dust).
- Mosquitoll.
- Off.
- Raptor.
- Raid.
- Dichlorvos Neo.
- Byte fly.
- Mashenka (cockroach chalk).
During disinsection, it is important to protect the organs of vision, breathing, hands, and face. An old sweater, trousers, shirt, medical gloves and a mask are mandatory attributes of a “home exterminator”’s wardrobe. After treatment, you need to wash your face, hands, rinse your mouth, and leave the apartment for a while.
Folk remedies
Flies cannot tolerate certain types of odors. This feature can be used to remove pests. First, you need to put your home in perfect order: thoroughly wash the windows, ventilate your home, sort out the trash in the hallway, pantry, balcony, mezzanine, fix leaks in the bathroom or toilet.
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Repels flies:
- orange peels;
- onion juice;
- clove buds;
- lavender ether;
- bouquets of wormwood, mint, thyme, bay leaf.
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The smell of cleanliness combined with strong aromas creates an unfavorable environment for flies. It is necessary to periodically rub cabinets, kitchen shelves, flowerpots with essential oils, and update bouquets in the apartment so that insects experience discomfort in the room. Pests do not tolerate the smell of camphor. You can fry a few drops of camphor oil in a dry frying pan and carry the container around the rooms. After fumigation, not only flies disappear from the apartment, but also mosquitoes.
Other control methods
You can get rid of flying pests using simple and effective means:
- duct tape;
- homemade traps from a plastic jar with sugar syrup/wine/vinegar and a film with holes stretched on top;
- electric flycatcher;
- trap for mosquitoes and other insects.
What to do if you appear
What to do if flies appear in the apartment? There are many answers to this question. Next, we will describe the most popular methods of destroying or expelling insects.
spring-cleaning
This method involves eliminating the source of attraction for insects. In the kitchen, you need to wash the refrigerator, cabinet and other surfaces, clear the table, and wash the dishes.
To prevent pests from entering your apartment, store stale food in a separate sealed container, cover the trash can with food waste, and constantly treat the trash can with disinfectants.
Using a fly swatter
If general cleaning in the kitchen did not give the desired result and flies reappeared in the apartment, you can try to eliminate them using a fly swatter. If you don’t have such a device, use old newspapers or magazines that are wrapped in a tube.
A huge disadvantage of this method is considered to be insect stains on the ceiling and wall, which is why many housewives have started using electric fly swatters. This device runs on batteries and does all the work without the participation of the apartment owner.
Using homemade traps
If for some reason a person cannot buy special sticky traps for flies, then you can make insect bait yourself using improvised means. First, make syrup (50-60 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters of water with the addition of lemon juice). Next, cut pieces of paper to the required length, spread with the prepared solution and leave to dry. A hole is made in the top of the trap for a loop.
After the syrup has dried, the strips are hung in places where flies are most concentrated. Another option for a homemade trap is to use a milk solution with the same sugar concentration. The liquid is simply poured into a jar, after which the containers are placed around the perimeter of the apartment.
Here's another way to make homemade fly traps.
Using a mosquito net
Anti-mosquito nets on doors and windows will prevent the appearance of flies in the apartment and will make it possible to ventilate the premises without fear of pest attacks. It should be remembered that flies can crawl into the smallest cracks, so places of damage in the mesh must be repaired immediately after they appear.
Prevention measures
It is difficult to fight flies; the insects multiply quickly, disturb their owners, and crawl on food. You need to follow a few rules, and pests will quickly leave a home in which there are no favorable conditions.
Flies rarely appear in an apartment where:
- no trash or unsanitary conditions;
- always clean windows and window sills;
- there are no leftover food or crumbs on the dining table;
- the housewife does not store food waste in the trash bin for a long time;
- windows are protected by mosquito nets;
- the home is regularly ventilated, there is no dampness or leaks from pipes;
- there is sufficient sunlight;
- In the apartment there are vases with bouquets of mint, lavender, and thyme. Wormwood gives a good effect, but you should not place it in the bedroom;
- The ventilation ducts are equipped with fine mesh grilles.
Below is a video from which you can learn several more effective ways to control flies without the use of harmful chemicals:
