I don’t leave food out. Garbage gets tossed, counters are cleaned. I replaced half the windows in my home and caulked up the rest. I bought a salt gun and have been picking them off but there’s always more.
How do I figure out where these little fuckers are getting in?
For me it is in the hottest months and its in the recycling. The recycling bins are not as contained as the general bins, residual food is in the recycling from improper washing. Lone fly in through an open door and lays eggs in recycling, in normal times process from egg hatching to maggots to flies takes longer than the recycling collection period so it is all thrown out. Under very hot conditions it is accelerated and you wake up to 10 newly hatched flies on the inside of your garden door every morning. Solution is when it’s very hot put the recycling out more often even if it attracts foxes. This is very specific to me but something similar may be happening for you, I don’t think flies squeeze through small gaps.
Hmmmm I’ll try giving the bins a wash. I’m very particular about recycling being clean but I hadn’t considered they were coming in through the garage either…
However meticulous you are about washing recycling still enough organic material might be left for a fly to consider it a viable site to lay eggs. Also washing can sometimes work against you because putting things in the recycling wet can allow a licour to form over time that will smell as bad as anything you have smelled. Wash and disinfect the bins and in the hottest months put them outside. Do you note there is a limited age distribution in the fly populations you see, they are all young adults and all clean and shiny as if they have never been outside.
This guy flies.
They come in through the door when you do. That’s the only thing I can figure out, I have the same problem. I’ve caught them doing it a couple of times, but of course I don’t see them every time.
I think you’re doing everything you can to keep them out. Unless, you want to build some sort of airlock contraption. Make it with smooth, white walls, a bright light, and a fly swatter. But, the thing is, even then, a few would sneak through, and that would absolutely drive you mad after going through all that effort.
I’m not so sure! Unless they’re laying eggs inside, there’s simply too many of them for that. My dog hates going out in this weather so it’s not like I’m even using the door that much
Clean up the dog shit in your yard if you don’t regularly. That’s likely part of the issue. Also these fly traps work great (we have dogs and chickens).
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Supplement your offensive salt gun strategy with spiders.
I have several spider friends in my plant room helping with the bugs but I can’t convince them to expand their hunting grounds
You could recreate the experiments of Jan Baptist van Helmont to determine if your house is the one place on Earth where life spontaneously generates from inanimate matter.
Brb grabbing some steaks
Start by identifying the fly. Habitats very by species.
Could be something died in your chimney, could be drain flies, could be vents. Could be doors or crawlspaces. Doesn’t take much.
They were laying eggs in the window sill at my apartment. They wouldn’t stop and we didn’t realize.
There’s numerous other places, holes in screens of windows, of bathroom exhaust, dryer exhaust. Most annoying might be central heating if you have.
I thought it was the window sills of my old windows, hence the landlord special (I used removable caulk at least) but I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere else because it just hasn’t stopped!
What kind of flies? House flies or fruit flies?
Big ol house flies. I’ve got separate problems with gnats but that’s mostly under control
Get those sticky paper strips. You might have to wait a few generations, but after they “hatch” they don’t immediately reproduce, but instead look for food first. That’s the small window where you have to get them.
Importantly, you have to keep the strips up at least 1 “cycle” after you’ve caught the last fly!Bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans might be an entry point, especially if some critter crawled into the duct and died.
This is where I’m leaning now - my stove exhaust is broken, too. Maybe it broke when something crawled in and died…
The windows I didn’t replace are all jacked up - including the screens. That’s where I assumed it they were getting in which is why I caulked them closed. I guess at least that’ll save me on heating and cooling…
How close are your outdoor trash cans to your front door? In the hottest summer months it is sometimes hard to keep flies from laying maggots in the trash cans and even though it’s about 15+ feet from my door through a gate they still manage to fly in.
They’re in my garage on the opposite wall but I’m actually leaning attic or HVAC now… The door seal on the garage is good and they still appear when I’m working from home for days
