How do I get rid of house flies?
There are hundreds of large black houseflies in my dining room. I don't know how they got in, but they are clearly breeding because I swat ten or twenty a day and they keep coming back. I have hung flypaper which caught several, but there are plenty more. I have left out a mason jar of red wine vinegar in hopes that the colloquialism is wrong and I'll catch flies with vinegar.
What else can I do to quell the invasion?
Answers ( 1 )
First, find out how they got in. Block further entry. Second, search for a forgotten bit of food in which one fly might have laid eggs. The other day I opened our small sink-side compost bin to find maggots (future flies) crawling all over it. And we empty it almost every day, so they can be fast! Once you have "turned off the tap", as it were, you can go looking for a "drain". Occasionally, if you have french doors, you can herd them out faster than they come in. One sticky fly-strip probably isn't enough. Hang them all over.
Insecticide is a last resort. I try never to use poisons, but I do not consider it a mortal sin. Just don't spray it where people or pets have to breathe.
Speaking of pets, you might start cultivating spiders; but then you have them to dispose of. Tame rats are also pretty accomplished insectivores, and actually make excellent pets.