We are often asked about flies and where they breed. The answer depends on the kind of fly, because many different types of flies come indoors, and each kind breeds in a very different place. Here are some common indoor flies.

There is a fly called the common housefly. It breeds in nearly anything moist and decaying, from food products to garbage to animal droppings. Flesh flies are larger and slower than these, and they breed in dead snails and animal carcasses. Cluster fly maggots develop in earthworms. Drain flies breed in the moist gunk on the inside of drains. Fungus gnats breed in damp houseplant soil. Fruit flies lay their eggs in any break in the skin of very ripe fruit, but also on wet, dirty mops and garbage cans, and similar places.

The disease-carrying capacity of flies is legendary. One study found that a single fly was carrying approximately one million bacteria! These germs can easily be transmitted to food or food-preparing counters when flies simply land, when they regurgitate, or leave their feces.

Persistent household fly problems are best solved with a multipronged approach. Excluding flies with screens and other methods, plus removing breeding places and odors that attract flies, is an important defense. It is also important to identify the flies so that we will know where they might be breeding and how to stop them. Our professionally applied treatments are part of an overall fly control strategy.