House flies

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DaveReading

Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
Location
Reading, obvs
I swear by one of these.

Takes a bit of practice to get one's eye in, but after that flies have no chance.

Fly gun.jpg
 

a.twiddler

Veteran
We give 'our' flies 3 chances to get out of the house. If they don't, then splat or a dose of Mrs SD's 'hairspray' or whatever they call it these days.
If you use hairspray don't they all end up in front of the mirror admiring themselves? Or do they just glide out of the window?
 

presta

Legendary Member
Yeah, I do that with wasps, spiders, moths, etc. I have a special dish & piece of card put aside for that - it saves washing the glass after each catch.

But the flies have such good backward vision and reactions that I can't trap them.
Flies only respond to fast moving objects, you need to creep up on them slowly so they don't react. There's fun to be had with the crevice nozzle on the Hoover, if you approach them slowly enough they just sit there until they suddenly disappear up the spout like the banana in Wafter's avatar.
 

Chromatic

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucestershire
How is it that if I open the door for more than about 5 seconds a house fly will get in but when I open a window to let it out it'll batter itself against the glass for hours without realising that outside is just an inch away over the frame?

I wouldn't mind so much but I don't know where it wiped it's feet before it came indoors xx(

Your post reminded me of this which I saw on another forum a couple of days ago:

1752333768419.jpeg
 
How weird - a couple of days ago I was thinking back over 50 years to the one that I had!

It was called a 'sonic gun'.

I don't think that they would be allowed now, looking and sounding like a real rifle. They were so powerful that I could topple Scrabble tiles from across a room! I would place them all around the room and see how long it took me to shoot them. Lord knows how my parents and neighbours put up with the noise.

My dad smashed up my sonic gun after I accidentally fired it as a friend of my sister walked into shot. I almost deafened her and her father came round threatening to call the police!

Yes - that was it - great thing

and no - I am not getting one for the grand kids - not unless they keep it at the other grandparents' house!!!
 
Get a length of net curtain and an extending pole, hang it on the exterior of the door. It allows the door to stay open but virtually stops altogether flies coming in. We have a curtain hook on one side, then you can pull it to one side as required.

More effective than the dangling plastic straps...

we have just got a curtain thing made of fine mesh which attaches to the window with velcro
and has a split down the middle which is held together with strip magnet
you can just walk through it and it closes behind you


the SOnic Gun was more fun though
 

a.twiddler

Veteran
In an alternative universe a fly paper would be something that gave flies something interesting to read, to to distract them while you prepared to zap them.
 
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classic33

Leg End Member
Need to get some Fly Paper!

View attachment 779916
Get the "newer" cyanide impregnated window stickers. The bright colours attract the insects, they land on the sticker and are killed.

There's also ultrasonic pest control devices available. Or just crack a dry tea towel in the air, when the flies are about. The supersonic crack from the tip of the towel knocks them out of the air for a while.
 
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