Fly Season and The Gang Is All Here
Flies belong to the order Diptera, and they are one of the largest groups of insects that spread disease. Inside we look at a long list of flies the trouble they cause.
The House Fly
Generally, these are larger flies that include the bottlefly, house fly, and sarcophagus fly. These are also referred to as flesh flies. Yes, these same flies that buzz around your kitchen are found on corpses, at murder scenes, and on roadkill. Yum!
House flies spread an assortment of diseases such as typhoid and cholera. The list of diseases that house flies can spread is quite long and devastating.
The Fruit Fly
Fruit flies are amazingly adaptable. They seem to appear out of nowhere, and the next day there are four million more of them. These are food pests that you find in most kitchens.
Surprisingly, fruit flies can also spread disease. They can transfer pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli to surfaces in your home. That process is, of course, dependent upon their coming into contact with those pathogens. Despite their name, fruit flies will also eat dead things such as dead rodents, dead birds, and other dead critters that can produce pathogens.
Drain Flies
Drain flies are small, heart-shaped flies that suddenly appear when the weather warms. Drain flies crawl down the drains in homes and into sewers. They lay eggs there and then die. When the eggs hatch, the larvae (maggots) eat the drain sludge and sewer. When they mature, they pupate and turn into adult flies. The adults emerge from the drains to mate, and the cycle starts over again.
Interestingly fact — drain flies do not spread disease to humans. Even though they eat sewer and pipe sludge, they are still highly annoying in the house.
Crane Flies
Also called mosquito haws, they are not a mosquito. These are big, gangly flies that appear in mid-spring. Another fact about crane flies is that they don’t eat mosquitoes. Most species of crane flies don’t eat at all. They live just long enough to make and lay eggs and then die. These big and sometimes annoying flies do not spread disease. Their pest status is that they appear in droves, and then just as fast, they are gone.
The Mosquito
Mosquito is another species of flies that spread disease. They spread malaria, yellow fever, and many other conditions, including West Nile Virus. Everyone knows what mosquito bites feel like. While the native species of mosquito are bad enough, there is the risk of encountering non-native mosquitoes that can spread malaria or yellow fever. Mosquito abatement programs can help reduce the populations of mosquitoes, but they are often not enough. Home mosquito pest control helps reduce the population of mosquitoes around your home and yard. Science thought mosquitoes required standing water to breed, and it is true they do breed in standing water, but they only need damp soil to reproduce. That little fact makes it more difficult to eradicate them. Under every lawn, you find wet soil.
If you are tired of flies pestering you, give us a call. Fly abatement is possible, and our skilled pest control experts can help.
