I don't care what role they serve in the outdoor habitat, they're nasty. I figure if they're flying around in my backyard they are free game for me and my fly swatter. I say get them outdoors before they get inside. When they're sunning on my patio, it's pretty easy picking. Keeps my dexterity at the top of my game.
Flies don't usually bother me, and there aren't enough around to be a problem. We sometimes have wasps on the back deck, which the dog loves to hunt. I hadn't expected that from a pet, but the stings don't seem to faze her, and she's more than agile enough to leap and twist to snatch them out of the air.
I do when they make a nuisance of themselves. In addition to common house flies, we have black flies, deer flies, stable files, and horse flies. And then there are those weird narrow headed island flies, although they don't generally bite. Speaking of non-biting flies, the fruit flies here are unbelievable in the late summer, after all of the fruit harvests. The mayflies and midges are pretty bad too. Mosquitoes I don't even want to mention. Tom
Yeah. Fruit flies go nuts on our compost. But they're actually helping the compost process. Houseflies, they're just ucking yucky. Swatting them and then putting them in the path of ant lines provides great free entertainment, fascination, exercise and a sense of guardianship over my household domain. I see no personal benefit for their existence. Yeah, they eat dog poo, but not fast enough to merit usefulness.
With the exception of wasps, if they don't bother me....I don't bother them. Wasps....I preemptively kill on sight.
Nope. As I said earlier...I kill them on sight. Actually....there aren't many other animals that I take this policy with on my beautiful 5 acres of paradise, but now that I think about it....add fire ants to that short list as well. Raccoons, opossums and armadillos I usually manage to live trap and relocate. Fencing takes care of almost everybody else---except for the occasional stray kitty cat, which falls under the trap and relocate policy excepting that felines usually get a free ride to the SPCA. If you want to disapprove of my kill on sight policy WRT wasps, go ahead. I'm hypersensitive to their venom, and although I've never been stung more than a few times, I always get a large amount of swelling to complement the stinging and redness. It's not bad enough to carry an eppy pen. I'd be happy to arrange a truce with the wasps since I would otherwise let them be, but they're rather anti-social....so kill them when and where I can find them. Otherwise, I use no pesticides or herbicides on my property, and my fertilizer usage is limited to the occasional "Miracle Grow" on indoor house plants. Composting usually takes care of my outdoor gardening needs, although at the rate food prices are skyrocketing, I may have to get a little more aggressive with my home gardening. Hate me if you must.
Side note: I was at a restaurant recently in between lunch and dinner and saw a gadget I'd never seen before. It looked like Electric Fly Swatter. The worker was going around the room just moving/waving around the electric swatter and literally zapping bugs. The zap was very loud and he only needed to wave it around very slowly (no swatting needed). I'd never heard of such things before and asked where he got it from. IIRC, he said he got it in a Chinatown for $20 or so. edit: I just found an amazing price at http://www.harborfreight.com/electronic-fly-swatter-40122.html. I think I'll be picking up a few the next time I'm near a Harbor Freight store. Hope the price remains at $3. There seem to be multiple versions of stuff like this. http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=222851&catid=184455&aid=338666&aparam=222851&scinit1=pla&scinit2={keyword} takes 2 AA batteries whereas some others take 2 D cells.
No. I don't usually kill them inside my house, either. I usually open a window or door and escort them back out where they belong. Fruit flies, however, might find themselves lured into a jar of water where they drown themselves. It's sad, really.
No, but when I was a kid I killed a couple billion ants. However, was not able to stem the invasion. Sorry. They apparently remember me though, when I lived in the south the fire ants got back at me, ended up in the hospital. Inside, I do go for flies with an electronic zapper shaped like a tennis racket. They apparently know this and stay away.
We have the new kitten, Lucky, which is in reality a proven fly hunter killer terminator. That's all she does, and won't stop, until all flies are absolutly dead, then consumed! It's quite a show from target acquisition, the hunt, then the kill, oh boy, snack time!
Indoors I kill any arthropod I see and manage to get at. Outdoors I mostly don't bother. What's the point? However, where I go hiking, there are sometimes horseflies, and I kill those when I can. They are fast and hard to swat, but I try, and sometimes I succeed. Mosquitoes also, though killing them doesn't seem to help as they usually come in such numbers there's nothing you can do other than poison yourself with chemicals. I only do that if I am extremely desperate. This summer I never did, but in the past I have. I do attempt to swat anything that lands on me.
Fly season is in full gear again. Swatted like 15 flies yesterday and laid them out for the ants. Those ants just go absolutely nuts when they get a dead fly. I'm thinking a fly bag trap would be more utilitarian. Anyone use these things. Do they catch fruit flies well too? Since I've been juicing the compost has become a fruit fly infestation of the third kind.
Every chance I can. The house cats love the excitement of a good Fly chase around the house, the Fly always loses, and becomes a snack for the victorious cat!
Hmm I remember that game from days back east. Don't know if I've see a house fly in my part of colorado. Never killed one, that much I know. (No mosquitos either). We do get various other bugs and moths, which I try to set free if they are indoors and I'm alone. If its alive and in the house and my wife sees it, one of is killing it.
Our old black lab likes to kill 'em as they're attracted to the light coming through the sliding door. We get very few of 'em as long as I get the crap picked up in a timely manner. And with a neighbor that complains about the stench of steamy Labrador piles, we get 'em picked up on the quick.
