Flies

Fruit Fly

Description: Fruit flies are very tiny flies. They get to be 1/8” in length and are tan.

Attractions: Fruit flies eat decaying matter, and they are particularly attracted to decaying fruits and vegetables. They are commonly found in homes, restaurants and other facilities where food is processed. To prevent them from becoming a problem in your home, you can remove kitchen trash daily and keep counter surfaces clean.

Damage: Fruit flies are often found in unsanitary conditions, so they are a potential health concern, especially when present in health facilities. Fruit flies are best prevented through vigilant sanitation practices.

Horse Fly

Description: The Horse Fly is a blood-sucking fly that primarily attacks animals for a blood host. In the absence of an animal host they will also bite humans.

Seasonality: Peak season is May through September.

Attractions: Horse Flies lie in wait in shady areas under bushes and trees for an animal or human host to happen by. Sight, carbon dioxide and odor are the host finding mechanisms. Moving objects are most prone to attack.  Attacks occur during daylight hours with a peak beginning at sunrise and lasting three hours. A second peak is two hours before sunset.

Damage: Horse Fly bites are very painful and they are known to carry and spread Anthrax. Fly attacks result in lowered gains and low milk production in livestock animals. It is not uncommon to see as many as 100 flies feeding on an animal at one time. Twenty to thirty flies feeding for six hours are capable of taking 100 cc of blood.

Stable Fly

Description: The Stable Fly (aka, Dog Fly) is a blood-sucking fly who primarily attacks animals for a blood meal. In the absence of an animal host, they will also bite humans.

Seasonality: The stable fly breeds all year in Florida although peak season is August through October.

Attractions: Unlike many other species of flies, both male and female Stable Flies suck blood. They are very persistent and will continue their attempts to bite even after being swatted at. They require wet vegetation to breed such as green chop, silage, crop residues, cut grass, seaweed, and animal manure. If you are being pursued by a large fly it is probably a Stable Fly as their persistence is legendary. They can be found anywhere in the vicinity of wet vegetation or blood hosts.

Damage: Stable Fly bites are extremely painful to both humans and animals. Although the bite is painful, there is little irritation after the bite, and few people exhibit an allergic reaction.

Green Bottle Fly (aka Blow Fly)

Description: The Green Bottle Fly is abundant in Florida, primarily in urban areas. They are large, strong flyers with a metallic blue or green color on the thorax and abdomen.

Attractions: These flies are very attracted to garbage and decaying flesh. Bottle Flies can breed on dead rodents and birds in attics or wall voids of houses. They also breed in meat scraps, animal excrement, and decaying animal matter. The adult flies are quite active inside and are strongly attracted to light. Garbage cans and dumpsters are their favorite feeding and breeding grounds.

Damage: Green Bottle Flies are a nuisance pest with exceptional breeding power. Once inside the home, they can spread many intestinal diseases such as dysentery and diarrhea.

House Fly

Description: The House Fly is one of the most common pests in Florida. They are typically black, strong flyers, and persistent in their attempts to access indoor feeding and breeding locations.

Attractions: Warm environments, human food, fermenting vegetation such as grass clippings, animal feces and garbage provide both the food they crave and ideal breeding grounds. This fly can only eat liquids and will liquefy solid substances with regurgitated saliva. The adult House Fly has a 15-25 day outdoor life span, or 7 days when trapped indoors. The House Fly can be found in homes, barns, poultry houses, food processing plants, dairies, and recreation areas. They have a tremendous breeding potential and during the warmer months can produce a generation in less than two weeks.

Damage: The House Fly’s feeding and breeding habits along with its persistence for invading homes and feeding on human food enable it to spread many intestinal diseases such as dysentery and diarrhea.

Humpback Fly

Description: Humpback Flies are about 1/8 inch long with a small head and large thorax, causing the fly to have a hump-backed appearance.

Seasonality: Year-round, most abundant during the warm summer months.

Attractions: Garbage, decaying vegetation, termite nests. Humpback Flies can be found in garbage cans, composting stations and in ant and termite nests.

Damage: One of the filth-spreading flies, they can spread many intestinal diseases such as dysentery and diarrhea.