Blow Flies
Biology
There are 1,100 species of the blow fly. They are found throughout the United States. They are commonly found around dead animals, garbage dumpsters, and slaughterhouses. The blow fly is larger in size than the common house fly. The coloring of the blow fly is a metallic blue, green, brassy, or sometimes black.
Blow fly females lay their eggs in the carcass of dead animals. Normally, there are 200-500 eggs in a batch. The female fly can lay up to 2,000 eggs in her lifespan. A hatching egg to larvae stage takes 8 hours to 1 day. The larvae goes through 3 developmental stages. The rate of growth is dependent on the environment and temperature. The higher the temperature, the faster the growth rate. The total lifespan of a blow fly is 17 -35 days.
Habitat
Blow flies can normally be found anywhere outdoors during the summer. Their move towards shelter appears to be started by a sudden drop in temperature. As the sun sets, they crawl into any opening on the exterior of any structure, but usually near the roof. For a few days, they come out during the day and return to the warmth of the structure at night. Blow flies are nuisance seasonal pests. When cold weather approaches, they look for protected areas for the winter. On the exterior, they gather on roofs of buildings, wall corners, cracks, crevices, or any other opening found. Once inside they may be found under clothing in closets, under curtains, behind pictures and furniture. They also may leave their hiding areas and appear on sunny warm days in the winter.
Threats
Blow flies are carriers of transmitted diseases. Due to their diet of rotting animals, sewage, and filth, they can easily contaminate food that people eat. The most common intestinal diseases are migula, shiga, and cholera. Non-intestinal diseases include plague, anthrax, tuberculosis, and tularemia.
Habits
The flies are attracted to light and will fly towards and into lights and windows. They often drop to the floor on their backs and spin around and buzz noisily until exhausted. They are normally active on warm and sunny days, and rest on cooler days. Blow flies are known for flying around dead animals, animal droppings, and garbage. This type of fly is usually the first insects to infest a dead carcass due their sense of smell, they can smell dead flesh up to 1 mile away.
Fly Prevention
In the summer and before late fall or early winter, seal or caulk crack, crevices, voids and all possible entry openings in and around your structure. Also, you will need to screen windows and doors. In addition, keeping lids on garbage cans and properly disposing of any dead animals on or near your property will help decrease the blow fly population.
Structural Pest Fly Program
Our service technician will perform a thorough inspection on the exterior and interior of your structure to locate all problem areas and properly identify the pest you are having.
All programs are specially designed to target the pest that is infesting your structure.
