• Where does the Fly Winter?

  • As we sit snug in our warm houses during a snow storm ever wonder where the flies are and how they survive?

    We found this post in a November 13, 2012 • ABC Home & Commercial in Pest & Termite, Rodent & Wildlife • Atlanta advertisement that explains.

    Have you ever noticed that house flies seem to disappear during the winter months? How do they manage to virtually vanish in the cold weather and then reappear in full force once weather starts to warm up?

    “Flies have a short lifespan of approximately seven to 10 days, and the main goal of the species is to find a food source and breed. When winter is approaching, female flies will seek out a place to lay eggs that hatch into larvae. Flies prefer to stick with dirty areas such as fecal matter or garbage bins for egg laying.

    Each female fly is able to lay between 100 and 150 eggs at a time, and the reproduction cycle of a fly allows each female to lay a total of about 500 eggs in her short lifetime. These hatched larvae, commonly known as maggots, consume large amounts of food before protecting themselves for the winter in a type of cocoon. Once warmer weather arrives, the flies will emerge from these cocoons to find food and reproduce.

    Large flies that are known as cluster flies because of their tendency to cluster survive the winter through their parasitic relationship with worms. The larvae live in the body of earthworms throughout the duration of cold weather. It is not uncommon for unseasonably warm weather to prompt adult flies to emerge and seek shelter in a building when the cold returns, so some homeowners may have to deal with the unpleasant surprise of harboring flies in the wintertime.”

    Never fear warm weather is on its way.  And, HorseFlyNets® will once again be shading our horses from flies.