Flies attack my house-help!

[paul253]

Starting exactly 4 days ago, houseflies have been flying all over my house. I've musta killed 15 of them, including 5 today. They are big ole flies too. I have no idea where they are coming from. I was thinking of calling an exterminator, but I'm not sure if he'll just spray blindly or if he'll actually be able to find where they are coming from. It doesn't do a whole lot of good to spray if they are getting in from the outside. Does anyone have any ideas? Do exterminators actually try to find the origin of the problem? If not, who would be the best person to call?

[trwi7]

I would look outside myself first to see if you can find if they're coming in from outside. I'd try to block the place off if possible and then spray it with bug spray.

[1992casey]

I had an extermination service in the past. They're very good about attacking the source, i.e. working both indoors and outdoors. Besides using poison, they'll look for points of entry and plug them up.

 

They're also good about making sure they do their job in a manner that's safe for children and pets. You'll need to sign a contract for a year's worth of visits. I'm sure that part of that is because they want your money, but the "official" explanation is that multiple visits are necessary to keep things under control.

 

Besides insects, rodent control would also be part of the package.

[Hammer]

Don't flies usually hang around dead stuff? Is there a dead rodent/animal outside your house? Maybe under a bay window or something?

[Schlitz001]

Try hanging up 3-4 fly strips. Keep all windows and doors shut whenever possible. The problem will go away in a few weeks max. Because it only started 4 days ago it's probably a single colony, in which case isolation will kill them off because they won't breed with their direct relatives. If however, there is a place for them to sneak into your house that you don't know about the problem could get out of hand.

[valpocrewsader]

Did you recently bring anything in from outside? A few years ago I brought a garbage can into my basement from my shed and a few days later my kitchen was infested with big flies. Turned out they came from the bottom of the garbage can.

[paul253]

The only thing I can think of is that I just had a bathroom built so obviously there was some plumbing and what not that went along with it. It was completed for about 3 days before the problem came about. Its nothing too serious...I've been killing 3-4 a day, although so far none today.

Because it only started 4 days ago it's probably a single colony, in which case isolation will kill them off because they won't breed with their direct relatives

 

Do you know how many flies are usually in a colony? I've killed about 20 so far.

 

I appreciate all the feed back. Maybe I'll hang a fly strip in the basement and one on the main level to see which one collects more. I don't go to the basement much and all the ones I've killed except 2 were on the main level.