Get Your Rolled Up Newspaper Ready! (House Fly)

Member Name: cazkins

Product:	House Fly
Date:	18/07/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They give me something else to moan about.

Disadvantages: Dirty & annoying!

I can't believe there's a category for house flies, but as I seem to be swatting one of these ugly things away every 5 minutes lately, I thought I'd vent my annoyance of them!

House flies are the most common of the pesky things that fly around your home, especially in the warmer months. In fact, I don't think I ever notice any in winter. Annoying and dirty, these flies are on my list of pet hates.

House flies are under 1cm long, and I believe tend to have red eyes, are grey in colour with a yellowish underside, and are somewhat hairy. Lovely. Needless to say, they wont be winning any beauty contests.

They tend to spend the majority of their time flying around, settling occasionally but not long enough for you to swat them unless you're quick and accurate, and generally like to make their presence known. Smells and remnants of food and drink attract them, which is why if there's food that's out in the kitchen during the summer I cover it over. Buying a net designed to cover plates is a good idea if you want to keep food fly-free. When they're not buzzing and flying, they seem to groom themselves, though this can't be to make them look any prettier because putting a diamond on their backs wouldn't make these ugly critters attractive in any sense of the word.

When I think of house flies, I think of germ-ridden pests, annoying buzzing and their remarkable tendency to get on your nerves regardless of how many times you try to swat them away! Because they only ingest liquid foods, they spit out saliva onto solid foods to predigest it and hoover it back in. If that's not bad enough, they conjure back up partially digested substances and then hoover that back up too. In addition, female house flies can lay around 500 eggs, which isn't something you want to think about possibly lying around your house. Flies can tread on, or touch, anything, and then touch anything afterwards; if a fly happens to go around dog poo in your garden it can then fly into your kitchen and spread germs, diseases and bacteria. So, all in all, I think I'm qualified in saying they're unhygienic!

There's an industry built on these pests, with people wanting something to quickly and effectively get rid of them. The most traditional and long-running fly-killer is a fly swatter. I personally would roll up a newspaper, take your aim and hope for the best. Buying a swatter however should be more practical, and the holes in it prevent the air hitting the fly first and warning them off.

Second in the list of traditional purchases for ridding your house of these flies would probably be a spray. I find these to be fairly effective, though they tend to have a strong and pungent smell.

Electronic gadgets seem to get much more advertising, especially in the summer. Most of these act as a zapper, electrically zapping and killing the fly once it's been enticed towards it. Other gadgets include strips, which I think just act more like Velcro, but getting strip full of flies stuck to it hanging somewhere doesn't seem very appealing. Whatever method you use, there will be the inevitable tidying up of fly carcasses.

There are more creative ways of getting rid of house flies if you don't mind being a fly murderer. For example, my father used to get an elastic band, make a cut in it and tie a knot in the end. He'd use this to flick a fly, and because practice made perfect, it was a pretty effective and cost-free method.

Overall, these would get 0 stars if that was an option. Scientists and biologists would challenge this by saying they have a purpose and that they're a necessary part within the environment, but they're definitely not necessary within my house. They're annoying and germ-ridden, with positive features when it comes to them being in your home.

Summary: An unfortunate pest that we have to share our homes with