Flies easily enter a home through open windows, doors, and cracks. They can be challenging to control once they become an infestation. Flies are annoying, but they can also carry pathogens that cause disease and promote the spread of foodborne illnesses. Fly larvae can develop and thrive in trash receptacles, recycling containers, and floor drains. They can be a particular nuisance during hot summer months.

At Titan Pest & Wildlife, we aim to rid your home of unwanted pests so your family will be safe and happy. We customize our plans to the specific requirements of each house and property and ensure that your needs and expectations are met with care and professionalism.

Common Types of Flies

There are more than 120,000 species of flies in the world, but scientists believe the actual number is likely much higher. Many of these species are composters, consuming rotting organic matter, so we don’t have to deal with it. This means they play an essential role in the environment. They are also a critical part of the food chain for birds, fish, and other animals.

In the St. Louis & St. Louis City area, the most common types of flies you are likely to encounter in or around your home include:

Why Get Rid of Flies?

Compared to bees, wasps, or other insects that spend more time in the air, the common fly only has two wings. This characteristic makes the common fly land more often, which contributes to the spreading of germs on various surfaces in your home.

Flies are attracted to any food leftovers you leave uncovered, but they are also quite happy walking on your toilet or outside the trashcan. When it feeds, the common fly regurgitates saliva on the item it wants to feed on, to dissolve it enough for the fly to suck it with their proboscis. When moving from one place to another to feed, this unsettling habit makes it the ideal propagator of disease-inducing germs and bacteria.

In addition to their “poor table manners,” flies will also eliminate feces on the surfaces they land on. This is one of the many ways flies can spread diseases in your home. When you show symptoms of an infectious nature, always consider that your food or surfaces are exposed to flies. Homes near farms or animals are more exposed to fly-carried diseases and should be equipped with fly screens and other methods to keep them away.

Some of the diseases flies can spread are:

Fly Control Experts

Seeing a few flies every now and then is to be expected, especially during the warm seasons, but when you notice signs of an infestation, it’s time to call a professional pest control service. Here are a few ways you can recognize the signs of a fly infestation:

• Groups of tiny dark spots on light areas of your house, like walls and other surfaces – these are fly droppings
• Seeing house flies regularly in and outside your home
• Noticing maggots in your trashcan or another moist place with decomposing organic matter. Maggots are just the flies’ offspring, and a breeding site on your property is a sign of infestation

How to Get Rid of Flies

Once the flies find their way into your home, they will keep coming for those yummy treats you leave behind. One of the best things you can do is keep any attractive food away from them by sealing and sanitizing your trash bins and garbage disposal and ensuring you’re not leaving any uncovered food or rotten produce out in the open. You should make sure to seal your entrances.

Professional exterminators take different approaches to eliminating flies. They choose the right one depending on the time of year, the type of household, and the species of flies they are dealing with. In severe infestations, they need to eliminate breeding sites and kill adult flies left behind.

Some of the methods that can be used by our local fly exterminator in St. Louis & St. Louis City are:

• Installing fly traps
• Liquid applications
• Installing fly baits
• Removing decaying vegetation
• Improving the overall sanitation of the site

Residential Fly Control

Titan Pest & Wildlife offers a wide variety of pest control products to help eliminate or control any problems you may be dealing with in and around your home. You can expect the best pest protection with customized services created by highly trained pest management technicians. Our technicians will devise a program tailored to your specific needs to ensure complete year-round protection.