Common Ground - Help! Fly problem.

So I’m sorry if this is totally inappropriate or unwelcome. If it is, please let me know and I’ll delete the thread. But I don’t have anywhere else I can ask for help and there’s so many people from all over that I’m hoping someone can help.

I live in a garden apartment and I have a horrible and annoying blow/bottlefly problem. And I have no idea where they’re coming from. I’ve taped mesh over the outside and inside of my air conditioner. I’ve stopped up the cracks in my windows. I take my garbage out every few days or so and the dirty cat litter is in a sealed container.
I’m one hair from taping mesh over the vent hood above my stove, but I’m on a garden apartment and the vent runs through two other apartments above me so I can’t imagine the flies passing two other places to get to mine, not to mention the vent itself has a double layer mesh over it. I’ve also asked my neighbors and they said said they don’t get more than one or two flies now and then.

I even taped around the cracks in front door when I went on vacation a few weeks ago and still came home to a couple dozen (totally not overestimating, I counted at least 35 flies) in the apartment. In what I thought was a totally sealed apartment. _
I’ve checked behind and under all the furniture for anything they could be laying eggs/breeding on/in. And I haven’t found anything, not even empty fly pupa to show where they might have hatched near/around/from.

This morning there were no flies when I left, then when I got home I had a half dozen in the apartment that I killed/let out the window. Then a little while later I suddenly had two more buzzing around appearing from apparently nowhere! Then I found eggs in my cat’s food. UGH! That’s the last straw. I’ll deal with the suckers buzzing past my face, landing on my computer screen, threatening my tea, but leave my cat’s food alone!

I’m at my wits end and if I can’t figure something out, I’m afraid I’m going to have to find another place to live when my lease runs out next May. I can’t take this anymore. This has been happening every summer for the past 3 years, but this year is definitely the worst. And it only starts happening when it starts getting hot out. Spring, fall & (obviously) winter I’m blessedly fly free.

I can deal with the flies bothering me. I don’t like it and it drives me crazy, but I can deal. I’m mainly worried about the eggs in my cat’s food. Changing to dry food isn’t an option since she has a health condition that limits her to only certain wet food. I can’t just feed her small meals a few times a day because I’m usually at work all day. And I don’t want to take the food away before I leave because she’s finicky and nibbles at it all day and lately I’ve been trying to get her to gain weight.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Natural fly repellents/home remedies that they can recommend? I’ve tried the hanging fly tapes in front of the windows where they’re attracted because of the light but the flies don’t seem interested in them at all and the ones it does catch I think are just lucky chance/stupid flies. When I’m home I generally spray them with a cleaning solution to stop them flying, then hit them with a rolled up newspaper (and flush them down the toilet), or catch them in a jar if they’re sluggish. The cat sometimes catches one or two if she feels like it.

So…help?

14 Replies
Lala said

From my understanding, the eggs have to be laid in a wet material. It makes sense to me why they are lying eggs in the wet cat food. Other places to check would be any house plants. Another possibility could be in the drains of your sinks/tub, etc. You basically have to catch the flies before they lay eggs, which is super hard.

My suggestions: sticky fly strips/traps, letting house plants dry out – not to the point of dying, but letting the soil dry in between waterings, cover the cat food at all times except during meal time, if the problem is in the drains you can pour boiling water down a few times a day to kill the eggs.

Hope that helps.

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Also check the exhaust fan in your bathroom, look for any cracks in or under bathroom cabinetry, and check where the sink pipe goes into the wall.

Left the door for the bathroom sealed up all day and still had flies. So it’s not from that section. But I never thought to suspect the exhaust fan, so thanks for the suggestion so I could rule it out.

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Dustin said

You could try an insect repellant in the house to see if you can discourage any from going in. I have found natural peppermint oil based ant killer before, so there are things out there less toxic than raid. Have you brought it up with your landlord at all? it could be a problem that someone else has had with the unit in the past and maybe the landlord could give you a better understanding on where it is coming from. Are there any foul smells, like something died in the walls that they might be breeding on?

Mandy said

Peppermint oil is a great natural insect repellant according to my pest control guy (including 8legged freaks)

I don’t use raid (despite really wanting to get some when some horribly fast waterbug looking thing bolted across my floor one night) because of the cat and I hate stuff that toxic.
I picked up a natural citronella candle to keep sitting next to the cat food. And I read that cloves discourage flies, so I’m planning on making little satchets to hang around in all the doorways and infront of the windows. Since they seem to ignore the fly tape entirely.

I mentioned it to my landlord last summer when it was bad and aside from paying me back for the window screen mesh I used over my air conditioner, there’s nothing else he’s done/would be able to do. Short of gutting the whole place and rebuilding/resealing everything I guess. Which is so not going to happen since I’d rather not move. Besides, I’m lucky if he gets around to fixing the regular stuff without me nagging him about it. I had to turn to my parent’s repairman to fix an ongoing leak in my hall closet (caused by a leaking hot water heater) that was causing mold to grow within the walls.

It’s my understanding that the tenant before me also had a problem with flies and since that was years ago, I doubt it’s something dead in the walls. Not for that long. And there’s no bad smells from anywhere.

I’m hoping the candle and the cloves will help. /fingers crossed/

Have you checked the hot water heater area lately?

Blodeuyn – I can’t actually access the utility room that it’s in, though I keep trying to get my landlord to give me a key because if the sump pump in there fails, my apartment will likely flood. But since the repairs were made, there’s been no problems. So I’m pretty certain that it’s not that.

Dustin said

Lock pick kits are pretty cheap. :/
I hate hearing about landlords who don’t give a crap. Makes those of us who care look bad.
Maybe try putting the screen mesh over any vents in your place? Don’t bother with the plastic bags filled with water trick. It doesn’t work to deter flies at all.

cookies said

Citrus oils have worked well against insects for me (I use peppermint for mice), but I haven’t tried with flies. Do you have any plants about? I had a problem with flies laying eggs in my potted plants, so I covered the soil with sand and/or small rocks and it helped.

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OMGsrsly said

Clean your drains with drain volcanoes, and make sure they’re stopped up before you leave. I have fruit/drain flies, and making sure there’s no standing water, keeping everything super clean (including keeping my garbage bag sealed), and regularly cleaning my drains has helped with that. If your cat doesn’t mind a fan, maybe point a fan at the food so it’s harder for the flies to get at it? Good luck!

(Drain volcano = baking soda and vinegar, hold a cloth over it so all the force goes down, and follow it up with a couple kettles of boiling water unless you have plastic pipes. In that case, just use hot water.)

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Cwyn said

Some ideas for the pet food in the meantime. To not spend too much money you can try making her a house for her food area. Like an big upside down cardboard box with a hole cut in for a door. If the flies get in the door, make a flap for it from netting. If the box is too dark, cut out the top and cover that with netting so light shines in. But usually cats like cardboard boxes.

If you want to spend money, there are pet food dishes that have a closed lid that opens on a timer. Some have two compartments that can be set to open separately, Petmate and Cat Mate are two brands, the cost on chewy.com for these dishes is $20-30.

SarsyPie said

Totally unrelated, but these cat door things sound awesome!!! I am sick of getting up at 6:30 in the AM because Chairman Meow demands his breakfast!!!!!

Dustin said

Chairman Meow! LOL! Reminds me of my first set of chickens, Kung Pow, Mu Shu and Moo Goo. They played the best rounds of chicken football!

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