How to Get Rid of Flies in the House
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More than merely pesky, houseflies can transmit disease. Use these simple tactics to banish the bugs and keep them out for good.
As warm weather sweeps in, so does an annual nuisance: houseflies. The small black pests that get in your face, buzz in your ear, and land on your food may seem like a harmless though incessant irritation, but in fact houseflies (officially known as Musca domestica) are not as innocent as they seem.
Why Houseflies Are Harmful
Houseflies may not deliver a painful bite or sting the way bees, wasps, gnats, and horseflies (their bigger cousins) do, so they can seem benign. But houseflies constantly flit back and forth between trash, manure, and decaying matter, picking up bacteria that can contaminate your food. Transmission typically occurs when a fly regurgitates directly on food or on surfaces that humans touch. This can cause a number of illnesses, including:
- Food poisoning
- Dysentery
- Cholera
- E. coli
- Typhoid fever
- Tuberculosis
- Eye infections
As if this litany of ills weren’t enough, we can expect to see increasing numbers of these little critters as the planet warms up. A 2019 Canadian study that modeled fly population size and activity under various climate scenarios predicted a roughly 30 percent increase in the transmission of campylobacter, a bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness, by 2050.
Infestations start small. Although you may at first spy just one fly, females can lay five to six batches of 100 eggs that hatch in 12 to 24 hours, leaving you wondering, “Why are there so many flies in my house?” To get rid of houseflies, you’ll need a multipronged approach. Use these strategies to prevent houseflies from becoming a real problem at your place.
Tried-and-True Advice
“I prefer to keep my windows open in the summer, but with the sunshine and breeze comes flies. I’ve tried various methods for keeping them out, including DIY fly traps using apple cider vinegar, and natural repellents like lavender and eucalyptus.
The best defense, I’ve found, is a combination of these things. Keep a few DIY traps out where the flies tend to congregate, and at the same time cultivate a few houseplants that have natural repellent properties. The added benefit of this strategy is that you’ll always have herbs around to use for other purposes, such as cooking or making aromatics.”
—Chase Brush, Contributing Writer