The weather has finally warmed up here and now there plenty of super annoying houseflies. They’re way to fast to swat and have an annoying habit of landing on you.
I’ve tried Google’s suggestion of water/vinegar and a bit of dish soap in a bottle, but they don’t seem to go for it at all.
I’m up for trying anything, please make suggestions!
Edit: Thank you to all for your suggestions. So far I’ve tried the idea of spraying them with surface cleaner which appears to work well
I’ve discovered that I’m good at herding flies.
I start by turning off lights sources including the TV, and closing all the doors and curtains except for one open window which is now the brightest, and therefore most attractive destination for the fly.
Then I just stand so that the fly is between me and the window. I wave my arms out sideways, kind of like semaphore, and it discourages the fly from flying towards my body and my hands, and can only avoid me by flying in the direction of the window.
It doesn’t work at night since turning the lights off means I can’t see the fly, and with the light on, it just flies to the light, lol.
They also don’t like wind, so if there is a breeze outside, I make a stronger breeze inside by swinging a towel like a helicopter blade, and it makes the entire room very undesirable for the fly.
When I was a kid I would just wait until the fly was bouncing itself against the window, and just catch it in my hand, then throw it out and open window.
It also helps if you keep your house free of stale or rotting food smells.
This skill has dramatically reduced the number of flies I’ve killed by swatting.
I came to this to post the same method with turning off lights so they go toward my patio door, then I just crack the door and shoo them out. Glad to see someone else using this very fast method, generally it only takes a few minutes for the fly to decide it doesn’t want to be in the dark.
Thank you for providing a non lethal alternative method. I’m uncomfortable with how much death humans gleefully visit upon the insect kingdom when they don’t have to.
I use an electric fly swat and I fed the ones I kill to the ants
I have a BUG-A-SALT that attached a laser sight on. It can take out a fly from a few feet away. And it makes it fun.
Seems kinda messy to be shooting salt all over your living space, though.
It’s really just a small pinch of salt that comes out
fellow bug-a-salt owner here. can confirm this works great and makes it fun.
now tell me amore bout this laser sight?
Here you go https://a.co/d/51vzubP
LOL, that’s way fancier than the one that came with mine. Kids broke it, but you got me thinking on rolling my own.
They got an EOTECH Holo attachment?
Just attach a short picatinny rail!
Maybe I can’t shoot for shit, but the laser is a must for me. YMMV, but I aim a little ahead of the bastards from about 6-8". I nail about 9 of 10 if I’m careful.
Glass cups work unfailingly for me. As far as I know they don’t see very well, so once, I tried slowly lowering one over them, and have been doing it since. Nothing else needed, just wait for it to land near you on a hard and even surface. They so far have not noticed it until the cup was fully down. After catching one, I slide a thin paper/something under the cup, and take the whole thing outside to release it.
Yeah this is my method as well. Glass cup, very slowly descending from directly above them and they don’t seem to detect it.
Invest in venus flytraps. They’re very loyal pets.
But have some special needs most people don’t know of! They are native to Virginia, they are not tropical plants. Therefore part of their life cycle is a yearly dormancy period due to snow. Put your venus flytrap OUTSIDE in the winter folks! Also I’m told you should only use distilled water. And don’t touch the mouths and cause them to close without feeding.
I just water them with longer standing but still hard water. It’s very happy.
In addition, be sure to supplement their diet with the occasional human leg
What happens during years it doesn’t snow in Virginia? Do they just die?
These things are garbage.
I have one that takes d cell batteries and works great. Have used others that barely function, though
I find it useful when the fly won’t land, I can usually swat it in midair. It’s also my backup weapon when I go to spray hornets nests.
Toy salt shotgun. Start hunting.
Edit: just saw another comment recommended the one i used to have. Bug-a-salt. It was the only thing that worked when we had something like 200 flies in a tiny 3-bed apt.
We got one of those electric fly swatters, but the thing is too heavy to swing fast enough to pop flies like you’d want. So on a hunch, I checked YouTube for a trick to make them more effective.
Basically take a styrofoam plate with a little food on it and tape it to the fly swatter, and zip tie the switch down and set it wherever the flies are at their worst. For bait, I just put a smear of ketchup and ranch dressing on a paper towel.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tDZb2l2A888
We managed to kill over 30 flies in about 2 days. Heads up though, they’re not designed to be left continuously powered on, the batteries will end up dead and leaking after a couple days.
I had to toss the batteries and open up the swatter handle to clean out the battery juice off of the terminals so it won’t rot out.
But hey, aside from the inconvenience with the batteries, the trick just freaking works 👍
It would be simple to make it corded with a wall adapter.
I know right?!
But where do you find a 3 volt DC adapter these days?
Well I have like 3 decades of wall adapters collected, so I would dig one out with the right specs lol. You can find the exact voltage and amperage one on Amazon or any number of electronics suppliers.
I do have a spare box of old wall wart adapters put up in storage, I might have to check those someday.
Thankfully not yet though, those two days were enough to kill all the flies we had at the time. 👍
I’ve tried Google’s suggestion of water/vinegar and a bit of dish soap in a bottle, but they don’t seem to go for it at all.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I always thought this method was only geared for fruit flies, not houseflys.
Flypaper strips can be effective depending on the severity and location of the issue and are fairly cheap. It won’t be 100% effective, but it might help. Just be very careful about where you place it if you have any pets or children.
I slap them mid air when they are slower and with a towel when they fly more erratic and quick.
Satisfying and I get to feed my fly trapRemoved by mod
Vacuum cleaner with a wand or a powerful portable vac. You just get the nozzle near the fly and they get sucked in.
Play wildly upbeat frantic fly punk music and when they’re all worn out from shaking their little fly asses - nab 'em.
I roast em with a blow torch
My cats take care of most of them.
If you want to swat them, you need to move your hand slowly at first. They seem to not notice or care if you move slowly and don’t cast a shadow over them as that will frighten them. I use these same techniques for macrophotography, and it works, but you have to be patient.
I could also recommend getting good at snaping towels. Once you get good at it and you can judge distances, you can hit flies mid-flight.
Or if you just want to buy something and have 50ish bucks to spend you can get this
