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 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.
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
Seems kinda messy to be shooting salt all over your living space, though.
Well, you can lick it right up after and get your extra post-workout sodium and protein.
It’s really just a small pinch of salt that comes out
At least its salt, quite inert, not sugar
I wonder how that fares against cockroaches…
Not great against hard shelled insects in general. It doesn’t phase Junebugs unless you catch them right and they lose some legs but that feels cruel even for stinkbugs.
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.
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?
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 love this, but also found it hilarious - especially the towel as a helicopter blade trick and your description of it being “very undesirable for the fly.” I’m picturing your partner or housemate sighing and being like, “there they go again, herding flies.” I can definitely see it working though.
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.
I’ve never thought of blocking out windows. I usually just wait for them to be stuck on a particular one, and catch them there.
A transparent cup works very well because they can’t really see it coming. Then it’s just a matter of slowly working a piece of cardstock or similar under, and taking a trip outside.
You’ll catch some flies (and various other insects) with fly paper. The good thing is that it doesn’t smell.
Never heard of houseflies going for vinegar, AFAIK that’s for fruit flies (and even that is rather tricky IME).
It’s apple cider vinegar that works, regular vinegar doesn’t really work well.
Osage oranges also are great for fruit flies.
I set by the compost bin a little glass half full of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap, covered in cling film with numerous large holes punched through. Takes care of all of the fruit flies.
I roast em with a blow torch
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.
Junk mail finds a rare purpose in those moments, especially for big bugs where the thickness is desirable rather than an annoyance.
Yeah this is my method as well. Glass cup, very slowly descending from directly above them and they don’t seem to detect it.
Hmm. I’ll have to try going slow. To date I’ve gone fast just because I figured they’d notice at some point.
Get a used spray bottle, one that you can adjust the spray to be narrow or wide angled by screwing unscrewing the cap. Set it to wide angled. Fill the bottle with some water and cleaning solution. Something you wouldn’t mind being sprayed about. Surface cleaner is a good bet because you probably already have that around the house to clean with.
Creep up on a fly with this diluted concoction and let rip. It might try and fly away but the wide angled spray plus the slight stickiness of the solution will hamper it’s efforts. Watch as it falls to the floor and writhes about in agony as it desperately tries to breathe (flies breathe through their skin which is now clogged with cleaning solution). It’s wings will be useless now too as they’ll be weighed down by the solution.
Finally with some tissues mop up and squash the little shit. For the first several flies leave them where you let them die as a warning to other flies in the area. After a couple of days you can clean up the bodies.
You’re welcome 🤗.
 is enough to surprise them & get them to drop. Once they’ve fallen it takes them a bit to dry themselves & get airborne again, that’s usually enough time to swat it and finish the job.
That works well if you just have one or a few flies - if you’ve got a ton of them fly paper is going to work much better.
Oh yeah fair point. Depends how sadistic you want to get mwahahaha! 😈
But also after swatting the fly it’s nice to give the area a quick clean anyway.
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
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.
I have a Bug A Salt Home and Garden edition and I love it. I’m in a dry climate though, so the salt doesn’t clump up. Mileage may vary if you’re in a humid place.
My cats take care of most of them.
Don’t know about that specific one, but my family has been using this type of “zapping racket” for decades. The ones we got are very effective and have been working that whole time.
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.
Fly paper strips are the way to go
Play wildly upbeat frantic fly punk music and when they’re all worn out from shaking their little fly asses - nab 'em.
Fly strips work. They work even better after catching a few flies (I guess misery loves company!). They’re cheap too.
The vinegar thing is for fruit flies or gnats - it doesn’t really work on typical house flies.
Or… you could use a fly gun. … : D
