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Fly Control Services by Bull Run Turf & Pest Control

Horse Flies and Deer Flies Information

Characteristics:

  • Size: Horse flies are 3/4 to 1-1/4 inches long; deer flies are smaller.
  • Wings: Clear or solidly colored wings; dark bands across wings in deer flies.
  • Eyes: Brightly colored eyes in horse flies; colored eyes similar to horse flies in deer flies.

Habits:

  • Intermittent feeders, painful bites.
  • Mechanical vectors of some animal and human diseases.

Habitat:

  • Larvae in aquatic, semi-aquatic, or terrestrial habitats.
  • Adults attracted to humans and animals for blood meals.

Protection for Animals:

  • Horse flies and deer flies can be nuisances around swimming pools.
  • Animals with access to protection during the day can escape constant attacks.

House Flies Information

Characteristics:

  • Size: Up to one-quarter of an inch long.
  • Lifespan: 15-25 days.

Habits:

  • Feed on liquids, turn solid foods into a liquid for consumption.
  • Taste with their feet, highly sensitive to sugar.

Habitat:

  • Tend to stay within 1-2 miles of their birthplace, but can migrate up to 20 miles for food.

Threats:

  • Carry over 100 different disease-causing germs.

Prevention:

  • Vigilant sanitation: remove trash, use well-sealing garbage receptacles.
  • Clean up pet waste immediately.
  • Use fine mesh screens on doors and windows.

Drain Flies Information

Characteristics:

  • Appearance: Tiny (1/5 to 1/6 inch long), fuzzy, dark or grayish insects.
  • Wings: Wings held roof-like over the body when at rest.

Habitat & Life Cycle:

  • Breed in polluted, shallow water, moist organic solids.
  • Eggs, larvae, and pupae in muck, slime, or gelatinous film in drains, pipes, sewage disposal areas.
  • Larvae feed on decaying organic matter, microorganisms, algae, sediment.

Control:

  • Eliminate larval breeding sites from drains.
  • Screens offer no protection; flies may breed in large numbers at sewage filter plants.

Cluster Flies Information

Characteristics:

  • Appearance: Slightly larger than common house flies.
  • Abdomen: Irregular light and dark gray areas.

Habitat:

  • Seek protected places like walls, attics, storage rooms, basements for winter.
  • Invade houses through small openings.

Life Cycle:

  • Lay eggs in soil near earthworm burrows.
  • Maggots feed on earthworms.
  • Four generations a year.

Damage:

  • Parasitic on earthworms.

Control:

  • Complete control challenging; focus on homes where adults hibernate.
  • Aerosol sprays effective against buzzing adults.

Prevention:

  • Use screens and caulking to seal openings.
  • Apply synthetic pyrethroid to structure exterior in early August.

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