Small flies can be a persistent nuisance in many households. These tiny invaders often seemingly appear out of nowhere, multiply rapidly, and become a major household annoyance! When it comes to dealing with these pests, it is important to understand what you may be dealing with, where they’re coming from, and how to eliminate them.
What Are Small Flies?
While that category is used loosely, there are a number of flies that fall into the category of “small flies.” The most common that you’re going to see in your home in South Carolina are going to be:
- Fruit Flies: These tiny flies are often found around rip or decaying fruits and vegetables. They are typically brownish with red eyes and are attracted to sugary substances.
- Drain flies: Also know as moth flies, these small, fuzzy insects thrive in moist environments and are most commonly found near drains, sinks, and other areas with standing water.
- Fungus Gnats: These small black flies are often found around indoor plants. They are attracted to moist soil and can be a problem in homes with overwatered plants.
- Phorid Flies: These flies are sometimes mistaken for fruit flies, phorid flies are slightly larger and are often found in areas with decaying organic matter. This can be a garbage can, compost bin, or a missed piece of food behind the stove.
- House Flies: The common house fly is a well know pest with a black or brown body and red to brown eyes. These small flies feed on everything from animal and human waste to actual garbage. They are abundant almost everywhere that humans live.
Where Do These Flies Come From?
Small flies usually enter homes in search of food, moisture, and breeding sites. They can be brought in on fruits and vegetables, flying through open doors or windows, or entering through small openings around the structure. These flies usually enter the home in search of food, moisture, or shelter. The moisture, temperature, food, and protection available inside makes homes an alluring place for all types of small flies.
Once these pests are in your home, they will quickly reproduce. While each type of small fly will reproduce differently, their life cycles range from as fast as a few days to as long as a month, but once they’re in your home they will, they will start to multiply. Since they will try to lay their eggs in protected and sheltered environments, you may not be able to easily spot where their eggs are laid. If you don’t deal with these invaders quickly, a few annoying flies can quickly bloom into a full-blown infestation.
What Can I Do To Get Rid Of Them?
The best way to deal with small flies isn’t a pesticide or a spray. The best approach is to remove what attracted them in the first place. While you can try to swat all of them, there are a few better approaches to take first.
- Identify Their Sources: Before you can kill them off, you need to look for the source of the infestation. Is there any ripe fruit, overwatered plants, standing water, or decaying food matter? Don’t forget about your pet’s food! If there is a water bowl or reside in their food bowls, that can be plenty for the flies to use! If you’re struggling to find a source, check behind and under appliances in the kitchen area. These small flies don’t need much food, moisture, space to start multiplying.
- Clean and Remove the Sources: Once you’ve found the sources, it is important to clean those areas and remove the access to food or water. This can be as simple as making sure that you take all the kitchen trash out every night or as intense as deep cleaning your kitchen. It really just depends on the situation. Don’t skimp on the cleaning or mitigation. Removing the source is going to be the best long-term solution to small flies.
- Set Traps: After the source has been located and dealt with, you can use simple traps to deal with the current population. There are a number of a home remedies for most small flies, but we always recommend fly light traps. They are affordable and offer an easy way to clear out the population once their source has been removed.
- Regular Maintenance – When the current issue is fully resolved, the most important next step will be continued maintenance. If the flies have found their way into your home through a torn screen or gap in the siding, make sure those are repaired. Make sure that there are no easy points of entry, no accessible food, and no areas of excess moisture. Reducing those attributes will help avoid a small fly infestation cropping back up.
Dealing with flies in your home can be a frustrating annoyance, but there are ways to deal with them. Once you understand what is attracting them and how to minimize those conditions, you will be in a much better place to get rid of your fly problem. Taking this approach will remove the problem at it’s core instead of giving you a short term break.
