Why Are There So Many Flies In Summer?

When we think about summer, we imagine bright sunny days at the beach, fun outings at the park, and barbeques in the backyard. Most people consider summer to be one of their favorite times of the year, and we completely understand that since it’s usually full of quality time with your loved ones, and fun activities in the sun. However, one thing that comes hand in hand with summer is flies. No matter where you go, they seem to be around during the summer more than any other time of the year. This is mostly due to the breeding cycle of flies.

There are a few different types of flies, but they all have similar breeding cycles. Flies reproduce only in the warmer months. They look for disgusting places to lay their eggs; they actually prefer garbage or animal waste to breed in. Some even prefer to use the bodies of dead animals. Within one to two weeks, the eggs they lay can complete the life cycle through larva and pupa to adult. If the eggs were laid near your home, they often fly around inside to seek food and a place to lay more eggs. The most common place to find fly eggs being laid is a garbage can.

Flies often come into your house and then find it difficult to make their way back out. They fly toward the light of windows, but when the windows are closed, the flies can't escape. Once inside, flies can lay eggs inside your garbage can before you even know you have a problem. They tend to be attracted to sugary, sweet foods, but they'll also land on anything sitting out, including meat. Since flies tend to stay in bacteria infested areas, they carry that bacteria with them when they touch your food. This can transmit diseases to you or your family when you eat the infected food, including salmonella, E. coli and cholera.

There are a couple things that you can do to reduce the amount of flies in your home this summer. For one, cleaning up after you cook or use any type of food or beverage is absolutely imperative. Flies are always looking for food, so it’s important that you clean up anything that might make your home more attractive in this way. Make a habit out of cleaning every surface you use, each time you use it. Even if it doesn’t look messy, wiping it down with an antibacterial wipe can take a few seconds, but make a world of difference in terms of pest control. There are often sticky residues on surfaces that we can’t see, but are very attractive to bugs, such as flies.

The second thing you can do to reduce the amount of flies you get in your home is to keep your home dark whenever possible. Do you ever watch a movie and notice that flies seem to land right on the screen? This is because flies, like many other pests are attracted to light. Keeping your house dark is a good way to conserve energy as well as make your house less attractive to flies. If you have a fly trapped in your home, a good way of getting it to go back outside is to turn off all the lights besides one, near an exit. The fly will head towards the light and hopefully find its way out.