Fly Prevention

The most important thing to know about flies is that killing the adults doesn't solve the problem. Every fly species breeds in a specific kind of moist, decaying material, and as long as that breeding source exists, new adults will keep appearing. In warm Texas weather, a house fly can go from egg to adult in little more than a week. Effective fly prevention comes down to two things: eliminate where they breed, and block how they get in.

Flies We See Most Often in Texas

Large flies (usually breeding outdoors)

• House flies. Breed in garbage, animal waste, and rotting organic material.

• Blow flies and bottle flies. Metallic green or blue. They breed in meat scraps, garbage, and dead animals. A sudden appearance of many blow flies indoors often means a rodent, bird, or other animal has died in a wall, attic, or crawl space.

Small flies (usually breeding indoors)

• Fruit flies. Tan with red eyes. They breed in overripe produce, empty bottles and cans, recycling bins, floor drains, and damp mops.

• Drain flies (moth flies). Small, fuzzy, moth-like flies that rest on walls near sinks and showers. They breed in the gelatinous film that builds up inside drains.

• Phorid flies. Small, humpbacked flies that tend to run across surfaces rather than fly. They breed in wet, decaying organic matter, and persistent infestations are frequently linked to a broken drain line or sewage leak beneath a slab.

• Fungus gnats. Tiny, dark, and delicate. They breed in overwatered potted plant soil.

Why Prevention Matters

Flies feed and lay eggs on garbage, waste, and decaying matter, then land on food and food-preparation surfaces. House flies are capable of carrying a long list of bacteria on their bodies and in their digestive tracts. For food service areas and healthcare facilities, flies are also a regulatory and inspection issue.

Prevention Tips for Your Home

Garbage and outdoor sources

• Use trash cans with tight-fitting lids, bag all garbage, and rinse the cans periodically.

• Keep outdoor cans as far from doors as practical.

• Pick up pet waste at least every day or two.

• Keep compost covered and turned, and located away from the house.

• Don't let fallen fruit rot under trees.

Kitchen

• Refrigerate ripe produce or keep it covered, and discard anything overripe.

• Rinse bottles and cans before they go in the recycling bin, and empty the bin often.

• Clean under and behind appliances where spills collect.

• Wring out and hang mops and dishrags to dry; don't leave them sitting wet.

Drains

• Clean the inside walls of sink, tub, and floor drains with a stiff brush and an enzyme or microbial drain cleaner. Bleach and boiling water pass through too quickly to remove the film where drain flies breed.

• Run water in seldom-used drains weekly to keep traps full.

• Clean the garbage disposal, including the underside of the rubber splash guard.

Plants

• Let the top inch or two of potting soil dry between waterings and empty standing water from saucers.

Exclusion

• Repair torn window and door screens.

• Keep doors closed, and check that door sweeps and weather stripping seal properly.

For Property Managers and Healthcare Facilities

• Dumpsters are the largest fly source on most commercial properties. Keep lids and doors closed, locate them as far from entrances as possible, keep the pad clean, and ask your waste hauler to clean or swap out dumpsters on a schedule. Increase pickup frequency in summer.

• Floor drains in kitchens, laundry rooms, mop closets, and shower rooms need routine brush-and-enzyme cleaning. Pay attention to cracked floor tiles, missing grout, and the gap beneath kitchen equipment legs, where organic matter collects out of sight.

• Soiled linen and waste in care facilities should be kept in closed containers and removed on a regular schedule. Flies are attracted to soiled materials and to open wounds, which makes fly control part of resident care and infection prevention.

• Doors at loading docks and kitchen entrances are the main entry point. Keep them closed, and consider air curtains or self-closing hardware.

• Insect light traps work well for monitoring and reducing adult flies when placed correctly: inside, away from competing light, not visible from outdoors, and not directly above food-preparation surfaces.

• Persistent small flies that don't respond to drain cleaning may indicate a plumbing failure under the slab. That needs a plumbing inspection; no amount of pesticide will fix it.

When to Call a Professional

Call us if flies keep returning after you've cleaned up the obvious sources, if you can't determine where small flies are coming from, if large flies appear suddenly indoors, or if you manage a kitchen or care facility and need an ongoing fly management program.

Schedule a Fly Inspection

Southeast Texas Pest Control has been solving pest problems since 1994. We serve Houston, the Gulf Coast, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas. Call [PHONE] or [request an inspection online].