When looking for a mate, flies will gather around a noticeable landmark such as a bush or under a tree. When indoors this is commonly under a lampshade or equivalent. Potential mates will head towards this landmark looking for candidates. Since flies are poor at hovering they will circle around the area.
The lesser house fly or little house fly, Fannia canicularis, is somewhat smaller (3.5–6 mm (0.14–0.24 in)) than the common housefly. It is best known for its habit of entering buildings and flying in jagged patterns in the middle of a room.
Hover flies, often referred to as flower flies or drone flies, ies are beneficial insects that appear in large numbers during the spring and summer. They are often mistaken for bees or wasps and can cause undue fear over possible stings.
They fly in squares because experience has taught them that if they flew in straight lines they'd end up splat on the wall ahead. Clever flies. If you look carefully at the corners of some rooms you can see where the 'mistakes' happened.
To escape from predators, flies have evolved a highly aerobatic flying style. Instead of turning by flapping harder with one wing than the other, they roll their body to one side and pull up, like a fighter pilot in a high-G turn. Random zig-zags like this make it much harder for birds to get a 'missile lock' on them.
These intricate eyes provided them with nearly a 360-degree field of view, which allows them to see behind themselves. Unlike ours, the eyes of a house fly don't move. Being able to see in all directions allows them to navigate while also being on the lookout for danger.
Hoverflies do not damage crops: they are not pests. They are beneficial, occurring on many crops. They are important biological control agents. The larvae feed on aphids (Photo 2), which are their main food, but probably they also eat caterpillars, mealybugs and even other hoverfly larvae.
What is this? Mix the vinegar with two parts water, and add some drops of peppermint oil, basil oil, and dishwashing soap. Put this solution in a spray bottle, and sprinkle it on fly-infested areas. The pungent and strong smell will drive them away.
Door Traffic
One of the main reasons flies are getting into your home when the windows are closed is because you may have a lot of door traffic. If you and other people consistently go in and out of a door, this is prime time for flies to enter your home.
The life expectancy of a housefly is generally 15 to 30 days and depends upon temperature and living conditions. Flies dwelling in warm homes and laboratories develop faster and live longer than their counterparts in the wild. The housefly's brief life cycle allows them to multiply quickly if left uncontrolled.
Therefore, if you find that you suddenly have a lot of flies in your house, chances are there's decaying matter somewhere. No matter how clean you keep your house, you probably have something rotting somewhere. For example, garbage cans and garbage disposals. These spots are prime breeding sites for flies.
Cinnamon – use cinnamon as an air freshner, as flies hate the smell! Lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint and lemongrass essential oils – Not only will spraying these oils around the house create a beautiful aroma, but they will also deter those pesky flies too.
Cluster flies are attracted to light, which explains their fixation with windows on sunny days. They are also attracted to artificial lights at night. These flies are not attracted to garbage and other refuse like so many other types of filth flies.
A fly's vision is usually to blame for why it can't make it back out of your living room. Unlike humans, flies have compound eyes which are made of thousands of individual visual receptors.
Use a vacuum
You can suck flies straight out of the air by hovering a few inches behind with a regular vacuum on to pull them in. Use this method only with vacuum cleaners that have a bag, and dispose of it immediately after loading it up with pests so they can't find their way back into your home.
Hover flies are found throughout Australia.
Hoverflies live from a few days to a few weeks.
Flies hate the smell of essential oils like lemon grass, peppermint, lavender and eucalyptus – put a few drops in a spray bottle and use around the house daily. They also hate the smell of camphor (a traditional moth deterrent) which you can buy online, cloves and cinnamon.
Cayenne pepper is an excellent natural fly repellent and also deters many other insects. Mix one cup of water and one teaspoon of cayenne pepper in a misting bottle and spray it near entryways and wherever you see flies. Other natural fly repellents include lemongrass, peppermint, eucalyptus, camphor, and cinnamon.
Vinegar attracts, not repels flies; however, a container with vinegar and dish soap will function as an attractant trap as the vinegar lures flies to enter the trap and the dish soap will cause the flies to sink and die.
Flies are more than just a nuisance. These buzzing insects also play important roles in nature, including pollinating plants, breaking down organic material, and serving as food for other bugs and animals.
The Fly has a very soft, fleshy, spongelike mouth and when it lands on you and touches your skin, it won't bite, it will suck up secretions on the skin. It is interested in sweat, proteins, carbohydrates, salts, sugars and other chemicals and pieces of dead skin that keep flaking off.
Before sunset, a sleepy fly will try and find a safe place to rest. Some favourite places are on the undersides of leaves, twigs, and branches, or even in tall grass or under rocks. They need a comfortable place to sleep that will shelter them from the cold, rain and wind.