this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by 13esq@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
 

The weather has finally warmed up here and now there plenty of super annoying houseflies. They're way to fast to swat and have an annoying habit of landing on you.

I've tried Google's suggestion of water/vinegar and a bit of dish soap in a bottle, but they don't seem to go for it at all.

I'm up for trying anything, please make suggestions!

Edit: Thank you to all for your suggestions. So far I've tried the idea of spraying them with surface cleaner which appears to work well

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[–] CaptainPedantic@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Get a dish towel wet and use that to swat at the fly. The weight of the water and the extra length of the towel let's you get it going faster than the fly can react.

Move your lightly cupped, relaxed hand behind the fly. Then suddenly accelerate and grab the fly that got startled into flying into your hand by the movement.

[–] Waveform@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

A clear plastic cup and a paper card large enough to cover the opening.. Wait for the fly to land on a window, and approach slowly with the cup while distracting them with your other hand. When close, cover the fly by pressing the cup on the window and slip the card underneath the opening. It helps if the fly has tired itself out first. Works well for all manner of bugs.

[–] techwithjake@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

I bought a couple of these for around the house. https://a.co/d/5vjsVs3 Works very well but mostly at night.

Also to make sure you regularly do the dishes, take out trash and clean up any food sources for the flies. After using the above and doing the above, mine went from insanity to maybe 1 or 2 around the house in about a week or two.

[–] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not sure what kind of beasts you have but some apple cider vinegar and dish soap works like a charm for me. Definitely need to find the source though. Usually it’s some old fruit that got left out somewhere.

[–] 13esq@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

The apple cider vinegar gets fruit flies but the house flies just aren't interested.

[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 months ago

If you want to catch then when they land you can slowly approach them with both hands like you're gonna clap. They will try to avoid one hand and fly to the other hand and you can catch it.

Fan works. Bubble maker like the one on weddings can discourage fly and mosquitoes.

I use rubber band like on a rubber band pistols to shoot them when they land.

Let the friendly lizard and spiders stay around the house. They will help you get rid of them.

[–] HowMany@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Fly strips work. They work even better after catching a few flies (I guess misery loves company!). They're cheap too.

The vinegar thing is for fruit flies or gnats - it doesn't really work on typical house flies.

Or... you could use a fly gun. ..... : D

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[–] multifariace@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

I open a window and they fly to it. Then I shut them out.

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