Help! FLIES in apartment!

ONE fly got into my apartment about 3 weeks ago when the kitchen was renovated and the doors were open all day. I was not able either to kill it or else redirect it back outside. It must have laid eggs (and maybe the eggs laid eggs too), because since last weekend I have had a LOT of flies in the place.

How do I get rid of them? I got some fly strips from the management to put up around the place. NOT ONE FLY has gotten stuck on any of these. I checked over at Ace, and it looks like the other stuff available is toxic to pets (I have 5 cats).

What can I do? I hate these dirty things being all around the place.

Thanks,
Pat

I have a gadget that zaps them. It's in the shape of a tennis racket and works great. Like a hand held bug zapper.

I also have my little bug killer, Shortie. She may have short legs but she sure can catch a fly in mid air. She eats them. Eeewww.

Get a few cats. :)

I meant to say get a few more cats. Ugh, Pat. Maybe more strips? Or a fly swatter?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by moosmom

I have a gadget that zaps them. It's in the shape of a tennis racket and works great. Like a hand held bug zapper.

I also have my little bug killer, Shortie. She may have short legs but she sure can catch a fly in mid air. She eats them. Eeewww.

---

Donna, what is this gadget called, and where did you get it?

My cats aren't much on fly-hunting, unfortunately. Bob will wave a paw at one as it flies past, but that's about it.

Thanks,
Pat

Spray bottle with cleaner, and a paper towel to wipe up ... my only solution.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cataholic

I meant to say get a few more cats. Ugh, Pat. Maybe more strips? Or a fly swatter?

---

Thanks, Cataholic. I already have 3 more cats than I'm allowed to have in this 2-room apartment (2 pets is "legal" maximum). None of them is much on fly-catching.

The strips have been totally useless. Not one fly has gotten stuck so far.

I got a fly swatter yesterday. Very little help, because so much of the time they don't land on flat surfaces.

On Monday I will call the apartment-complex management again and tell them the strips aren't working at all, see what else they can come up with.

Sigh, this is such a big pain in the @$$. There seem to be more of them just since this morning!

Sorry, no help here. We're lucky to have cats who hunt them down. Unfortunately, they are unconcerned if they knock a bunch of glassware off the shelf in the pursuit of said fly. :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Karen

Spray bottle with cleaner, and a paper towel to wipe up ... my only solution.

---

Spray bottle with what kind of cleaner, Karen?

Thanks,
Pat

Any soap will do, it weighs them down so you can swat them, and leaves a clean spot afterwards!

We have a zapper thingy. havent used it in eons though. forgot even what it looked now. but my brothers dog hated it. hed growl when ever he heard something getting sizzled on it LOL

here be one:
http://www.amazon.com/Flowtron-BK-15...7381503&sr=1-1

but theres hundreds of diff bug zapper things out there. try Yahooing/Googling bug zapper an see what you get ^^

I looked at the one on the Amazon link. That's not something to have in the apartment, though!

It says: "Recommended not to be used within 25-feet of area intended for human activity, should not be attached to house or deck or other structures"

I just did some Google exploring. Looks like Sears (at the mall a couple miles from me!) has a good tennis-racket one that just might do the trick! I must check that out tomorrow.

Thanks for the suggestion, Vette!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Karen

Any soap will do, it weighs them down so you can swat them, and leaves a clean spot afterwards!

---

Any soap, like dish detergent?.. Meyer's Clean Day Liquid Hand Soap?.. Thanks.

Yeah, any soap will do, Windex, 409, anything in a spray bottle!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by phesina

Donna, what is this gadget called, and where did you get it?

My cats aren't much on fly-hunting, unfortunately. Bob will wave a paw at one as it flies past, but that's about it.

Thanks,
Pat

---

Same here for mine. Maybe they are too well fed?

I got flies, too. Except mine came in from the horse pasture most likely. Don't like spraying either. I like the soap and fly swatter. Vinegar bothers the flies, too, but your house gets smelly.

I bought this.....


http://bugasalt.com/

And I love it.

Warning,

It's a little hard to cock, but it's fun and if you don't mind cleaning up a little salt?

I made a sling for mine and keep it ready to rock.

--------------------

I take off my shirt and put on a black headband.........

Attachment 57041

And then I go kill them little buggers.

My goodness, Richard, thank you! What an interesting idea. I never heard of anything like that!

I'll keep it in mind. I got a bug-zapper racquet and a regular fly swatter. I've dispatched a few with those, and the fly population seems to have decreased greatly.

I did call the apartment management. Their next step is to get the exterminators in to bomb the apartment. I told them let's see how the zapper works, and if it doesn't, then we could do that. Maybe I should try the Bug-A-Salt too!

Pat

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RICHARD

I bought this.....


http://bugasalt.com/

And I love it.

Warning,

It's a little hard to cock, but it's fun and if you don't mind cleaning up a little salt?

I made a sling for mine and keep it ready to rock.

--------------------

---

That is an interesting idea! Is it the salt that is actually killing them or the impact? Just curious. My fly problem is much better, and I don't like what you have to do just to bomb the place, nor the bombing chemicals. I'd rather work on eliminating the sources of the creep flying things.

I just use the good old fly swatter.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mrspunkysmom

That is an interesting idea! Is it the salt that is actually killing them or the impact? Just curious. My fly problem is much better, and I don't like what you have to do just to bomb the place, nor the bombing chemicals. I'd rather work on eliminating the sources of the creep flying things.

---

It's the impact of the salt. It's like a shot-gun effect and even if they aren't killed at first, it stuns them enough so that you can kill them - I carry a tissue to snatch them up with.

It does work fairly well in places where you cant get a real swing or impact with a swatter.

----------------------

It's more geared toward a guy's desire to shoot and kill flies and laugh about it later on.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mrspunkysmom

That is an interesting idea! Is it the salt that is actually killing them or the impact? Just curious. My fly problem is much better, and I don't like what you have to do just to bomb the place, nor the bombing chemicals. I'd rather work on eliminating the sources of the creep flying things.

---

I don't like the idea of bombing the place either. That would mean I'd have to get all the cats out AGAIN, before whatever time the bombers actually show up at the apartment (of which I'd only have been given a general idea), then however long it takes to do their thing, and then for the stuff to dry. The apartment-management office person told me it takes two hours to dry, but I don't trust that figure. And I wonder if even after it dried there would be dried bomb residue all around that might not be all that good for the cats (or me) either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RICHARD

It's the impact of the salt. It's like a shot-gun effect and even if they aren't killed at first, it stuns them enough so that you can kill them - I carry a tissue to snatch them up with.

It does work fairly well in places where you cant get a real swing or impact with a swatter.

----------------------

It's more geared toward a guy's desire to shoot and kill flies and laugh about it later on.....

---

Thanks. I'll look into it. In the meantime, I'll use the swatter. The electric swatters didn't seem that expensive.

My electric swatter cost $10.00 at a local hardware store. Sears has them a bit cheaper, from what I saw on line.

Pat,

Not sure what it's called but if you PM me with your address, I'll pick one up and send it to you.

Thanks, Donna. I found one like that at a local hardware store. I've been able to zap a couple of flies with it, but they're pretty much too fast for me to get with it.

I've gotten several more with an old-fashioned non-electrified fly swatter, but there are still too many flies here. I really don't want to get the apartment bombed.

Pat

UGH!!! I feel your pain, Pat. I despise those nasty critters, and I go slightly ballistic when even one gets in the house. A year ago last Spring we had an invasion of them - who knows where they came from - but I used the tacky strips for a couple of weeks before I finally got rid of them. That, and the good old fashioned swatter finally did them in. I hate when they get in, in the Fall too. They get slow and stupid and fly right in your face. :eek: YUK! :mad:

I just remembered a fly-catching method my dad had when I was a kid and had frogs to feed. :p

First get a large glass container, wide-mouthed. I can't find a picture of it, but it's kind of like a goldfish bowl with flat sides so you can lie it on its side.

When it's on its side, put a small piece of meat - like a piece of stewing beef - at the back of the jar.

Put two strips of tape in a cross shape across the mouth of the jar.

The flies can get in, but they can't get out.

Hope you have success with those pesky things soon!

Oooh, Candace, does that ever sound like a good idea! Let me see what I can do to get those things together.

Pat

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pomtzu

UGH!!! I feel your pain, Pat. I despise those nasty critters, and I go slightly ballistic when even one gets in the house. A year ago last Spring we had an invasion of them - who knows where they came from - but I used the tacky strips for a couple of weeks before I finally got rid of them. That, and the good old fashioned swatter finally did them in. I hate when they get in, in the Fall too. They get slow and stupid and fly right in your face. :eek: YUK! :mad:

---

Thanks, Ellie. Maybe I will try the regular old kinds of strips that hang down. The ones the apartment maintance guy got me that you stick in the windows, and that I also stuck in places with more fly traffic, didn't catch a single one.

I tend to take a live-and-let-live attitude towards God's other creatures on this earth, but flies are an exception. they're nasty, they're dirty, and they spread germs and disease, and whatever works is the way to go.