this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

The weather has finally warmed up here and now there plenty of super annoying houseflies. They're way to fast to swat and have an annoying habit of landing on you.

I've tried Google's suggestion of water/vinegar and a bit of dish soap in a bottle, but they don't seem to go for it at all.

I'm up for trying anything, please make suggestions!

Edit: Thank you to all for your suggestions. So far I've tried the idea of spraying them with surface cleaner which appears to work well

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[โ€“] [email protected] 36 points 1 month ago (6 children)

I've discovered that I'm good at herding flies.

I start by turning off lights sources including the TV, and closing all the doors and curtains except for one open window which is now the brightest, and therefore most attractive destination for the fly.

Then I just stand so that the fly is between me and the window. I wave my arms out sideways, kind of like semaphore, and it discourages the fly from flying towards my body and my hands, and can only avoid me by flying in the direction of the window.

It doesn't work at night since turning the lights off means I can't see the fly, and with the light on, it just flies to the light, lol.

They also don't like wind, so if there is a breeze outside, I make a stronger breeze inside by swinging a towel like a helicopter blade, and it makes the entire room very undesirable for the fly.

When I was a kid I would just wait until the fly was bouncing itself against the window, and just catch it in my hand, then throw it out and open window.

It also helps if you keep your house free of stale or rotting food smells.

This skill has dramatically reduced the number of flies I've killed by swatting.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Thank you for providing a non lethal alternative method. I'm uncomfortable with how much death humans gleefully visit upon the insect kingdom when they don't have to.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I use an electric fly swat and I fed the ones I kill to the ants

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah. They clearly have little lives and experiences, however different from ours. What few experiments there are seem to indicate that at least some don't experience pain, which is great news, but even that's not completely conclusive just due to being under-researched, and due to it being a ridiculously diverse subphylum.

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