Treatment

As always, sanitation is the key to preventing or eliminating a fruit fly infestation. Because fruit flies can propagate in microenvironments it is difficult to keep an establishment so clean that fruit flies are unable to infest, making professional help necessary. Red Carpet Pest Control has found that, while sprays and fogging will kill multitudes of fruit flies, insecticides alone are not the way to get rid of them completely. Bioremediation is really the key to controlling this pest. Red Carpet Pest Control uses a foam product with natural scum and odor-eating microbes. Once we have applied the foam, it expands, coating the breeding surface and gradually digesting the decaying organic matter on which the flies breed.

If you think you have an infestation of flies, contact Red Carpet Pest Control immediately.

Overview

Flies come in different sizes and varieties, but they have two things in common: they feed and breed in disgusting places and they spread germs.

The most common fly to find indoors is the house fly, though you may also have fruit flies, shiny blue or green blow flies, or cluster flies.

House flies are typically grey in color and have 4 dark stripes running down the back. Their size can vary, but in general, house flies are 1/4 inch in length. They prefer to lay their eggs in a warm, moist medium where the larvae (maggots) can flourish. Sanitation is the key to controlling house flies: If there is no warm, moist medium, there will be no place for them to breed. And breed they do, quickly and prolifically, especially in warm or hot weather. Many control measures seem so simplistic, they are often ignored, including:

• Using well-fitting screens and keeping them in good repair
• Caulking cracks around windows
• Fixing doors so they close tightly and either keep them closed or use a screen door
• Not putting trash cans or dumpsters near doors

Of course, you can do all these things and flies will still come in. If you have them in your home, use a fly swatter. Flies in food service establishments require more vigorous control efforts. Air curtains, fly baits, and insect light traps used together will provide the best results. For the most effective control, call Red Carpet Pest Control and we will help design a successful house fly management program for your residential or commercial property.

There are a number of species referred to as blow flies, but the ones that are most commonly seen are the green bottle and blue bottle flies, easily identified by their blue or green metallic sheen. Blow flies typically lay their eggs in carrion flesh or dung, where their larvae can flourish. This means that if you have numerous blow flies in your home or business, you likely have a dead animal somewhere. It could be a dead bird in your chimney or a mouse in your wall or something in your trash. Whatever it is, try to find it and get rid of it. Also, take your trash out more often and make sure food is kept in fly-proof containers.

Blow flies are not generally a big indoor problem in this area, but it is not unusual to have a stray one enter your house. Traps, baits, sprays and flyswatters are all effective for controlling and eliminating blow flies. Red Carpet Pest Control can help determine sources and provide solutions.

Fruit flies are very small and breed very fast. In fact, they breed so fast and produce new generations so quickly that scientists use fruit flies for experimentation and study purposes.

For all intents and purposes, there are 2 types of fruit flies that keep Red Carpet pest elimination specialists busy; red-eyed and dark-eyed fruit flies. Until about 15 years ago we had only the red-eyed variety of fruit fly, also known as vinegar flies for their love of being near anything associated with fermentation, including liquor bottles, beer taps and overripe fruit. Then along came the dark-eyed fruit fly, overtaking cockroaches as the most difficult pest to control in food service establishments. Dark-eyed fruit flies breed in decomposing organic matter. A microenvironment such as worn grout in a tile floor, a dirty drain, a wet mop in the corner or plywood that gets wet and begins to delaminate are all potential breeding grounds for thousands of dark-eyed fruit flies and source for a fruit fly infestation.