House Fly

General Descriptions
The common house fly is dull gray, one-fourth of an inch long with four dark stripes on its middle section (thorax). House flies typically lay eggs on animal feces and garbage. White, legless maggots (the larval stage) hatch from the eggs and grow to about one-half of an inch. When fully grown, maggots crawl away from their food source to undergo pupation. They form a dark brown cocoon, known as a puparium, and later emerge as adult house flies that can fly two miles or more in search of suitable egg-laying sites.

General Control
Eliminate fly breeding sites by locating the attracting material. House flies are attracted to garbage and manure and the breeding site may be located off the premises. Proper sanitation of dumpster and trash areas can help reduce the number of house flies attracted from offsite breeding areas. Barriers such as screening not less than 16-mesh, and tight-fitting, self-closing doors that are kept closed when not in use help prevent flies from entering structures.

In addition to fly swatting, mechanical fly control includes trapping with the use of sticky fly paper and ultraviolet light traps. To be effective, light traps must be properly placed. Light traps should be placed where they cannot be seen from outside the building, no more than 5 feet above the floor, and away from competing light sources and food preparation areas.

While the use of pesticides is usually not the best means of managing filth fly problems, sometimes chemical control can be a valuable component of an integrated fly management program. Often this type of control provides only temporary relief, however, and cannot be relied upon to eliminate the problem.