wild rover Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Hello everyone, hope you're all enjoying the beautiful weather! Has anyone got any ideas on how to get rid of flies in a MH. We've got a whole army of them living in ours. We've sprayed them with pesticide, something I hate using, but they're still there! Big ones! I've tried hoovering them up, but that's not working. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Simple. Get a couple of spiders and they will soon get rid of the flies by eating them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Firstly you must have something in the van that they are attracted to, find out what that is first and get rid of it, then whack the flies with a fly swat ,they don't like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild rover Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 Colin Leake - 2011-03-18 5:14 PM Simple. Get a couple of spiders and they will soon get rid of the flies by eating them. Oh no...I hate spiders, and you would need an army of them to eat these flies! :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild rover Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 vindiboy - 2011-03-18 5:15 PM Firstly you must have something in the van that they are attracted to, find out what that is first and get rid of it, then whack the flies with a fly swat ,they don't like that. There's nothing in the motor home to attract them that I can see. I cleaned it really well before closing it up for the winter. I also give it a good spring cleaning the other day. I thought I'd got rid of them, but I was wrong. I suppose I'll just have to spray the MH with something toxic, yet again, and hope it works this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 we use one of those electric bug zapper..great in the summer for mosquitoes and flys... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Flies hatch out from eggs laid on dead things, maybe somewhere you have a dead mouse that you can't find, but Mother fly did some time ago and now the cycle has started again, we had a similar problem at home some years ago, a bird had got stuck in the chimney and died we could not understand why we had so many flies till we found the dead bird, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I suspect your problem to be as Vindiboy suggests......somewhere in your mh you have something attracting the flies, either a dead mouse or bird, or a piece of meat where eggs have been laid. Check all around the inside that it is 'fly free' then shut all vents, windows and doors. Go back the following day and if there are a number of flies inside then that is proof positive. Sprays are often expensive and a total waste of time as they rarely do what they claim. Get some fly papers instead and hang a few of those around. OK they can be a bit of nuisance but they are cheap and more importantly.....extremely effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magbrin Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Don't know about "dead things" but flies hatch from eggs when weather warms up. Eggs are often laid in crevices, edges of doors and windows - so if you have thoroughly cleaned these areas (around ANY possible cracks where flies could get in to lay eggs) they should not continue. I have, for a long time used sticky fly papers (from garden centre or hardware shop) which are meant for greenfly but attract flies, midges, wasps etc. If you put these close to your lights then the flying insects will be attracted to them when the lights are on at night - particularly good with midges - but if you are in the van only have the light nearest the flypaper on for best effect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 These will most probably be "Cluster Fly". See the posts about a month ago : http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=22320&posts=7My post will explain the whole thing.Nothing to do with dead bodies or eggs - They have simply been hibernating.laimeduck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryW Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 laimeduck - 2011-03-20 9:45 AMThese will most probably be "Cluster Fly". See the posts about a month ago : http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=22320&posts=7My post will explain the whole thing.Nothing to do with dead bodies or eggs - They have simply been hibernating.laimeduckI would support this theory, we suffer a lot starting this time of year. If what you have is the same I understand they winter as grubs feeding on roots and then hatch out at this time of year. At night they seek out dark places but when the sun comes out they head for any white surface and bask, white window frames in particular. We have not had a problem with the MH but we find that if we open a house window and they come in if it's sunny they fly straight back out. You may be able to use this to vacate them, make the MH dark and see if they fly out into the sun.There was a thread on this last year but I cant find it, but one suggestion I remember was that having removed them relocate the MH if you can. In our case it only last about 2 months (not that you want them for two minutes let alone 2 months)If we sit in the garden they are a bit of a pain but they never settle on food or us, so that may be one way to test to see if they are this sort or the type that lay eggs in food.Hope that helps, we have had to learn to live with them.PS The locals call them Ground Flies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryW Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Correction, they feed on worms not roots as I said. You may also find this site helpful: http://www.bugclinic.com/clusterfly.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I would support this theory, we suffer a lot starting this time of year. If what you have is the same I understand they winter as grubs feeding on roots and then hatch out at this time of year. At night they seek out dark places but when the sun comes out they head for any white surface and bask, white window frames in particular. We have not had a problem with the MH but we find that if we open a house window and they come in if it's sunny they fly straight back out. You may be able to use this to vacate them, make the MH dark and see if they fly out into the sun. There was a thread on this last year but I cant find it, but one suggestion I remember was that having removed them relocate the MH if you can. In our case it only last about 2 months (not that you want them for two minutes let alone 2 months) If we sit in the garden they are a bit of a pain but they never settle on food or us, so that may be one way to test to see if they are this sort or the type that lay eggs in food. Hope that helps, we have had to learn to live with them. PS The locals call them Ground Flies Terry - nearly right!The life cycle is as follows: The eggs are laid in Spring in the soil. The larvae burrow into earthworms and use them as a mobile larder! The Larvae then pupates ( makes a chrysalis) and metamorphoses into the adult fly. These feed on vegetation during the summer. In Autumn they congregate on warm & sunny South & West facing surfaces ( ie YOUR MOTORHOME!!) Then they find a way in through the tiniest cracks & crevises looking to hibernate & make your life a misery!You will often find ladybirds & lacewings hibernating in the same places.It may be possible to deter them by parking in a totally shady area in Autumn ie to try a make conditions for hibernation untenable.Laimeduck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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