[AnonChick]

Okay so this isn't a matter of sewer flies, since they're not coming out of the drain. They're not fruit flies. I'm guessing they're just garden variety houseflies/black flies. They look like them, anyway.

They're slow, and I -thought- they were creeping up between a crack in the windowsill and the windowframe. But I put wet paper towel down to cover the area that looked vulnerable, and when I came home from the gym, there were around 20 more just hanging out on the kitchen screen window.

There's also around 2 dozen on the screen in the TV room. And another dozen on the screen window next to that one. And another 2-3 dozen on the third screen in that room.

I opened the screens to let them all out, because it's less stressful than running around stomping on them when they fly to the floor (told you they're slow. Apparently they're lazy too).

Ten minutes later, either they or their cousins move in.

There's no garbage on my screens, and there aren't any flies hovering around my kitchen trash container.

I have a cat, and no air conditioning, so serious aerosol/spray bomb/keeping the windows closed isn't an option.

Is anyone else in the Northern New Haven area experiencing anything like this, or should I call the Register to tell them all about the newest version of the Amityville Horror right here in North Haven?

Does anyone have any practical solutions for keeping these danged things out of my house?

Thanks in advance,

The Reincarnation of Brundlefly

[Mixum]

flashbacks of amityville horror

[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

should I call the Register to tell them all about the newest version of the Amityville Horror right here in North Haven?

Or call that TV show Infested.

It sounds like they must be hatching from somewhere. You would typically see maggots on the underside of garbage can lids etc. Where do you keep your garbage? Under a sink possibly? I would search the area for any garbage or rotting food that might have fallen out of sight. A fly might have laid eggs in such a spot, and they are hatching. Look over your entire house carefully, any food fallen out of sight that a fly landed on could be the site of the eggs hatching...turning into maggots..... *shudders* I hope the alternative is that they have found a way in from outside.

[AnonChick]

Oh they've definitely found a way in, from outside. There's the random crumb here and there in the kitchen, in the food cabinets, in the TV room where we eat. And the flies aren't even -attempting- to seek those spots out. No maggots anywhere, I've looked. They're pretty much dedicated to hanging out at the windows.

We had a carpenter ant infestation just over a week ago - and we found the nest in our kitchen trash container, between the plastic bag and the container floor. Dozens of egg sacs. They showed up within a single week's time, because we empty it every week the day before the municipal trash comes to collect curbside. We cleaned the trash can and put in a new bag, put ant bait/poison in the corners of the kitchen and on the countertop, and all's well with the ants other than a random stray.

I guess the flies were just waiting for the ants to vacate. Of course this was all preceded by the earwigs, which came and went in late June to early July.

I suppose as long as the elephants stay out, we should count ourselves lucky.

[skel1977]

How to Keep Flies Out of Your House | eHow.com

[AnonChick]

I read that, thanks for posting. Other than the plastic bag and the fly traps, the rest is already done (our screen doors close automatically, all our windows have screens, none of them have holes, our kitchen trash container is clean, we keep the outdoor trash can covered, etc. etc.) I'm thinking, not gonna happen with the fly traps. The last thing I need to see when I'm preparing our dinner, is a bunch of dead flies hanging from a yellow sticky-strip outside the kitchen window.

I actually soaked a paper towel with white vinegar and laid it down on the windowsill, and the flies -seem- to not like that idea so much, so they're not coming in from that location anymore.

I'm gonna check on some black pepper oil mixed with alcohol and sprayed on another windowsill, to see if that doesn't solve the problem (black pepper oil is used as a fly repellant for the skin, in natural bug sprays).

I really hate spraying stuff -on- my screens; it just attracts dirt and then you have to wash them, and then you're washing the spray off, so the bugs come again, then you have to spray them again, then you have to wash them because the spray attracts dirt, etc. etc.

If I have to go that route, I might as well just get the acetylene torch and have some fun a-torch-erin flies.

[andthentherewere3]

They have to be coming in from somewhere. That is an awful lot of flies, we don't even get that many flies indoors if the kids are opening and closing the doors a lot. You must have a hole somewhere, or some kind of gap.

[AnonChick]

They have to be coming in from the windowframe. I looked outside, and it looks like the wooden frame has some very small dents and gaps near the corners. And one of the window supports has a chunk of wood missing from it, so they might be coming in from there too.

[andthentherewere3]

That's an easy fix, just caulk the openings.

[TPVP]

Could be cluster flies. They look almost like regular house flies, but move slower. They do not feed on rotting food, so their presence is not an indication of lack of cleanliness. If Wikipedia is correct, the larvae feed on earthworms. The adults go inside houses as a place to hibernate, although it seems a little too early for that. Over winter, they could hibernate in the attic or inside the walls and then come out through any gap or opening. Something to think about.

How to Get Rid of Cluster Flies - howtogetridofstuff.com