The Humble House Fly

Few things are more disgusting than a fly trying to share your sandwich. We won’t go into the details about what a fly actually does on your sandwich, and what it carries to your food. But just trust us, it’s not pretty!!

House flies have long been known to carry and transmit diseases and frequent filthy areas like garbage cans, barns and other waste materials. Flies are restless creatures, moving back and forth between food and filth, which could lead to the spreading of diseases. Flies pick up pathogenic organisms from garbage, sewage and other sources of filth, and then transfer on their mouthparts, through their vomitus, feces and contaminated external body parts to human and animal food. Flies are most commonly linked to outbreaks of diarrhea and shigellosis, but also are implicated in transmission of food poisoning, typhoid fever, dysentery, tuberculosis, anthrax, and parasitic worms.

Flies deposit their eggs in decaying matter such as grass clippings, garbage, human excrement. Horse manure is the preferred breeding medium. About l00-l50 eggs are deposited by each female on appropriate food. Eggs may hatch in 7 l/2 hours when temperatures are high (about 99o F), or it may take two days if the temperature is only 59oF. Eggs hatch into worm-like creatures called maggots. Maggots lack definite heads, eyes, antennae or legs. Their bodies are pointed at their front end and gradually widen at the rear.

If you’re bothered by flies, let us know and we’ll take care of them! Call DA Exterminating 800-650-PEST.