Cluster flies

Cluster flies are typically slow-moving. Eight species are found in Britain and in Europe. This is the same family to which bottle or blow flies belong. The cluster fly will fly around the home but at a less frantic pace than that of the house fly.

You don’t need to resort to a full-blown extermination when a cluster fly infestation happens. However, when you kill cluster flies , you need to be careful to clean up the corpses quickly or you could attract far more problematic critters.

So, you want to get rid of cluster flies. And you want to get rid of them fast. Many flies , like cluster flies , love the sunlight and warmth, which is often why they buzz against windows. So always make sure your open windows have screens to keep flies from entering. Likewise, don’t leave doors without screens open for long periods of time.

Entry Entering living spaces by way of electrical outlets or baseboards, the pests take shelter in attics and walls to hibernate, awaiting the arrival of warmer spring weather. Fall months are the times to use a good residual sprays before they enter the building and over-winter. Spray the outside walls of the building where cluster flies are likely to land and rest before entering the building.

Flies near your windows, doors, and lights in the spring as temperatures begin to warm may be cluster flies.

While they are harmless to humans as they do not spread disease, they can be a nuisance, especially in large numbers. They have black markings and have golden-yellow hairs on the thorax and under their body which gives them a golden brown look. They let off a pheromone that signals other cluster flies to head over to where they are, thus forming a large group or cluster. A lot of homeowners use a vacuum cleaner to remove cluster flies.

Eggs are laid on damp soil or beneath dead and rotting leaves. The adult flies feed on the nectar of garden and wild flowers. As a free-living insect the length of the life cycle is weather.

They are known to give off a sickly odour and they also have a big effect on earthworms around your home. Fortunately, cluster flies are not harmful to humans as they do not carry disease or damage household items, and are instead considered a nuisance pest. Use our guide below to determine if you have cluster flies and not another species of fly. Then, continue reading our 4-part guide for cluster fly control options.

There really is no need to use any chemicals, insecticides, or pesticides to get rid of cluster flies. You can easily treat the issue with one of these natural pest control solutions. Some of the best fly traps for cluster flies are these window traps. Know your enemy Before we learn how to get rid of cluster flies we need to understand the enemy better.

They are greyish olive in colour and adorned with golden hairs which makes them quite distinctive to the trained. This is a type of fly that will breed silently in your garden and then one day, the adults will fly right into your home, not in one and twos but an entire swarm of hundreds and maybe thousands. The cluster flies are parasitic during the larvae stage and once they pupate, the adult flies become herbivorous.

The major source of food for the larvae of cluster flies is earthworms and especially Aporrectoda chlorotica and Aporrectoda caliginosa species of earthworms.

They also feed on other species including Lumbricus terrestris, Lumbricus rubellus, and Eisenia lucens genus of earthworms. The abdomen of a typical cluster fly features a black and silver chequered pattern. Despite bearing a strong resemblance to house flies , cluster flies are larger in size and darker in colour, they lack. They sit on windows in swarms for example (because they are attracted by light). EWS Pest control is your professional in fighting the cluster fly.

We do this by performing a seams and cracks treatment. This means that, in autumn, we spray an insecticide on every possible entrance in the top of the building. The thorax (the middle body segment where the wings and legs are attached) has yellow or golden hairs. If they are found in one spot around the house, chances are they are also hibernating somewhere else in the home. How to get rid of cluster flies in house.

Although it is quite easy to swat and kill cluster flies , your primary objective should be to prevent them gaining access in the first place. You can use these measures to fly-proof your premises. DIY fly sprays will have an effect on direct contact with the flies , but not on those already hibernating.

A secondary issue with cluster flies is that if they die in areas such as wall voids or false ceilings, they may attract other pests such as larder beetles , which are known as stored product insects (SPIs).