As the weather warms, people are eager to know what attracts flies to learn how to avoid them. Like treating bed bugs, or cockroach control, pest control for flies often feels like a challenge. Whether you’re facing indoor flies or outdoor flies, adult flies, their fly eggs and feces are disgusting and annoying.
Fly infestations may be one type of fly, such as the fruit fly or cluster fly, or there may be varieties such as house flies, blow flies, and phorid flies, all contributing to the issue. By understanding what are flies attracted to, it’s possible to use management techniques both inside and outside your home to reduce populations of bothersome pests such as cluster flies or flesh flies.
If you have questions or concerns about fly control, such as do fly traps attract more flies, this article covers everything about what attracts flies and how to reduce their numbers in your home and yard.
What are Flies Attracted to and How to Avoid Them
A house fly infestation or a sudden influx of flies in your yard may leave you wondering what attracts fruit flies. Sometimes, it may seem like more flies are present after setting up traps, leaving many asking, “Do fly traps attract more flies?”
Dealing with flies seems challenging. These pests multiply fast and rapidly overtake an area, whether it’s fungus gnats around your garbage disposal or horse flies harassing you in the yard. Flies are unsanitary and spread bacteria and disease.
Some species leave painful bites on pets and people, making a space appear dirty and unappealing. Once you know what are flies attracted to, it’s straightforward to lower their population by creating less attractive spaces for them and setting up traps to eradicate them.
What Attracts Flies?
Many homeowners face flies in their houses during the late spring and summer months. Pests enter for many reasons, and the majority do so to feed on waste, ripe fruit, or water. Residents who understand what items attract flies have a better chance of avoiding them and not cause an infested house that is unpleasant and unsanitary.
It is necessary to identify the species of insect you are dealing with to figure out why gnats follow you and what draws flies to your home.
Fruit flies like sweet substances and feed on overripe fruit, soda, and alcohol, but regular house flies prefer decaying organic matter like dung and rotting meat. Drain flies are drawn to drains because they need damp conditions and a food source to lay their eggs.
Do Fly Traps Attract More Flies?
Though it may seem counterintuitive, fly traps do attract more flies to the area where they are set. While this is first confusing, it makes sense when considering how these traps work to reduce fly populations in the long term.
Flytraps must lure flies in to kill the most significant amount of flies, usually with a favored food source. Flies scent the food and move towards the trap to consume it. This influx of flies results in a temporary increase in the number of flies in the area and may make some people feel their trap isn’t working or has made the issue worse.
When given time to work, the flies that flocked to the area eventually engage with the trap and are destroyed. While the trap does attract more flies, it does this to kill them, making it a valuable addition to a fly pest control regime long-term.
What Attracts Fruit Flies?
The fruit fly, fungus gnat, or drain fly is a widespread pest and tends to be found in the kitchen around the sink or garbage disposal. Fungus gnats, known as fruit flies or filth flies, are a significant annoyance, unsanitary, and persistent.
Fruit flies are particularly drawn to overripe fruit and vegetables in the kitchen. Dirty drains and garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans with sweet residue, trash containers, damp mops, and dirty cleaning cloths are where these pests breed.
A moist layer of fermenting material is all fruit flies require to create the optimal environment for breeding. Removing items offering this environment and cleaning out sinks and drains are effective ways to quickly lower the fruit fly population.
An Apple Cider Vinegar Fly Trap Helps a Fly Problem
This DIY fly trap is affordable and easy to make, and it swiftly gets rid of adult flies and annoying flying insects. This vinegar trap is a practical way to get rid of flies, and this natural fly catcher is easily moved around to where it’s most beneficial to combat the fly invasion, whether inside or out.
Blend the vinegar, sugar, water, and dish soap in a Mason jar. Use a rubber band to fix the plastic wrap around the opening. With the toothpick, poke multiple tiny holes in the plastic wrap. The blend of apple cider vinegar and sugar is ideal fly bait. Fruit juice or overripe fruit work to bait the flytrap in a pinch.
The flies approach the sweet-sour surface of the liquid and attracts gnats and flies in the office or your house. They die if they try to sit on the solution’s surface because dish soap reduces the surface tension and sticks to their wings and feet, making them unable to fly, so they drown in the liquid.
DIY Bottle Fly Trap
Fungus gnats and other fly pests are attracted to red wine’s pleasant aroma, similar to apple cider vinegar. Try a plastic bottle trap as a homemade fly trap option.
Make a plastic bottle trap as a DIY fruit fly trap. Fill a bottle halfway full with red wine, place a paper cone around the neck, and leave it in a fly-infested region. If you don’t have red wine, fruit juice or sugary water are suitable substitutes.
Like the vinegar trap, add a few drops of your preferred liquid dish soap to the bait mixture so the fruit flies are covered in dish soap and can’t fly out of the liquid and drown. Dead flies accumulate in the liquid. Remove the paper cone, throw out the contents, and reload the trap after the bottle is full or every few days to minimize odor.
Add vinegar to a spray bottle with some water to mix a simple fly spray that kills flies instantly when you spritz them. Keep it handy in the kitchen or on the patio.
To use the spray for equines, add some eucalyptus essential oil to the water and vinegar. It’s often used as natural fly spray for horses to keep them comfortable when flies are around.
Light Traps for Outdoor Flies
Horse flies are one of the most nuisance-causing outdoor flies. In particular, female horse flies with their painful bite quickly cause the backyard to be unpleasant. A horse fly light trap is simple to make, though you may purchase a commercial light trap if preferred.
Hang sticky flypaper close to light sources such as a porch light or outdoor lantern. Horseflies and other species are attracted to the light and land on the flypaper, where they become trapped and are easy to clean up.
Preventing Flies with Management
After figuring out what attracts flies, make necessary changes to keep the bugs away. Reduce fly populations by frequently removing interior and outdoor trash, keeping waste containers sanitary and covered, and cleaning pet feces often.
Getting rid of rotten food and cleaning the garbage disposal makes the house less attractive to flies. To prevent fly ingress into the home, ensure windows are properly sealed and doors are closed when not in use; this is critical to avoiding overwintering flies, such as cluster flies.
Homemade Fly Paper for All Species
Flypaper is excellent for catching all types of flies, making it an invaluable tool when you have a fly infestation. Hang flypaper strips in places of your home where insects are a problem. The flies descend on the strips and become trapped on the sticky surface of the paper. Make your own homemade flypaper with a few simple ingredients.
Add the maple syrup, white sugar, and brown sugar to a small bowl and stir well to incorporate. Cut the paper into strips and coat it with the paste. Hang the flypaper strips near windows, doors, and in the kitchen. The flies are attracted to the delicious material and land on the paper, where they are captured.
A fly infestation rapidly takes over a home or yard, making it unpleasant, unsanitary, and frustrating. Whether horse flies, fungus gnats, cluster flies, or house flies, these pests are troublesome and annoying. While learning how to avoid flies and reduce their numbers may seem daunting, many household items comprise homemade fly traps.
If you have a fly problem, make a DIY fly trap to eliminate your pest problem swiftly if they are already in your home. By paying attention to the things that draw flies to a location, it’s easy to remove these factors to keep your space fly free.
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