How to Get Rid of Flies in Your Garage
Do you find yourself waving your hands around your face in your garage? Don’t worry, you haven’t lost your mind. However, you probably have a few flies buzzing around. If this becomes an everyday occurrence, then you have larger problems with these disease-riddled pests.
Keeping flies out of the garage can be a challenge, but with guidance and knowledge, you can effectively stop them before they spread. From identifying potential breeding grounds to implementing preventive measures, you can make your garage the last place a fly wants to be. In this article, you will learn some of the best tips to keep flies away.
Before we do that, let’s understand their biology and behavior. Adult house flies are 1/8-1/4″ (4-7.5 mm) long and identified by four narrow black stripes on the thorax. They will breed in the moist organic matter around the structure and complete their life cycle (egg to adult) in 6 to 8 days, particularly in summer. Adults usually live for 15 to 25 days. Food odor, light, and air movement will attract house flies to the site. In addition, odor and unsanitary conditions around a dumpster area, or garbage can, will attract and serve as a fly breeding site.
Four Ways to Make a Fly-Proof Garage
- Remove the Attractants in Your Garage
The first question you ask yourself is “why are there flies in my garage?” Like all pests, flies are attracted to three main things: food, water, and shelter to reproduce. Flies require standing water to breed, and puddles or buckets in your garage can make the perfect spot. Uncovered garbage cans can provide an ample food supply for generations of flies, and bright lights will draw them in from outside through any openings they can find.
Start by covering all garbage cans, drying up all standing water, and closing all the gaps you can find in your garage. This will help prevent additional flies from entering, but the flies already inside will remain without active pest control measures.
Use trash cans or dumpsters only for dry waste (or as dry as possible). Water in trash bags add weight that often rupture the bags as they are placed in the dumpster and compacted. Liquids in the dumpster contribute to the decay of organics and food. Food, water, organic decay, and odors all attract and will support development of flies.
- Making Flypaper Traps
Once you’ve removed their sources of food and water, bait them into a fly trap. There are many varieties of DIY fly traps you can make, so feel free to explore other trap designs to find the one that works best for you.
Give this simple fly trap a try and place them around your garage, especially near entry points and sources of light for the highest effectiveness.
Before you get started, there are a few materials you’ll need to have on-hand:
- Apple cider vinegar
- Plastic wrap
- Cups or containers
- Flypaper
Fill your cups with one to two inches of apple cider vinegar and cover the top with plastic wrap. Poke several small holes in the top, just large enough for the flies in your garage to fit through, wrap the fly paper around the brim to make a sticky “crown” that sticks up above the top of your cup. The flies, attracted to the strong aroma, will either land on the flypaper and get stuck, or entrap themselves in vinegar under the plastic.
- Use Fly Repellent
Just like bug spray, fly repellents release an odor that is harmless to humans, but an effective deterrent against flies. Flies are drawn inside by the scent of food sources like trash, scents that linger even after the source is eliminated. Be sure to place the repellent in areas you know flies tend to gather.
Repellents may come in the form of a spray or a plug-in and can affect a wide variety of flies. Place these repellents near possible entry points to stop the flies before they come in, and the ones already indoors may just decide to leave to avoid the smell that is noxious to flies, but hardly noticeable to us.
- Swatters and Zappers
Fly Tennis anyone? If you decide that you want to take an active approach against the flies in your garage, a swatter is a tried and tested method to eliminate them on site. Electric swatters (AKA zappers) enable you to kill flies without slamming them against a hard surface, helping you avoid a mess and requiring far less effort on your part.
If you want a professional solution to your fly issue, you’ll need to contact pest control experts.
Massey Services’ pet-friendly and targeted treatments are performed by specialists who target pests at their source. We will identify entry points, and make sure that flies stay away.