Posted: 8/19/2015 12:53:00 PM EDT
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We've owned this house for about ten years, and have never had this issue come up before.
In the last week, we've had a fly infestation pop up in one particular room in the basement. It's the room where we put the cats' food and litter box, and isn't used for much else. It's the one room in the basement (and maybe in the entire house) where a light is left on 24-7. As it's a room in the basement with no windows, there's not much ventilation to speak of. I've hung up a bunch of adhesive fly paper, but I'd love for there to be something else I can do to get rid of them. Since that's the cats' room, and we also have toddlers who have the run of the house, poisons are probably out of the question. Does anybody have any suggestions? |
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Flies do not appear magically, and spontaneously.
They have to lay eggs, which have to hatch into maggots, which have to pupate, and then metamorphose into adult flies. This all takes time, so where is it taking place? You have cat shit there, so that gives them a place to lay eggs, so how often do you clean/change the litter box. Where else could they be breeding, did you leave anything out? |
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Quoted:
Flies do not appear magically, and spontaneously. They have to lay eggs, which have to hatch into maggots, which have to pupate, and then metamorphose into adult flies. This all takes time, so where is it taking place? You have cat shit there, so that gives them a place to lay eggs, so how often do you clean/change the litter box. Where else could they be breeding, did you leave anything out? I'm stuck there. The cat box gets scooped out more or less daily, and completely changed more or less weekly. We've been on that schedule ever since we first moved in. The fly activity isn't centered on either the cat box or on the (covered) trash can that it gets scooped into (which is also hauled out with the trash every week if not more often). I don't know where else to look. There are a very few flies flying around in the room adjoining the cat room, and pretty much none in the rest of the house. |
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Quoted:
You have dead things in the wall. Or, the cat has a maggot infestation. Or demonic possession. Fly paper will help, but you have to find the source. This. They are going through their life cycle somewhere. It takes anywhere from six to twelve days, so there has to be a place where they are doing this. |
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Just a note, cats do better (fewer behavior problems) if their box and their food are farther apart or "separated" with a partition or something. Your cat probably dragged something in there. Check your dryer if it's in the basement. I had all sorts of problems with flies until the chipmonk that got stuck in the vent (and then in the dryer) started to really smell. Running clothes in it often makes the smell go outside so it can go on a while. |
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and we also have toddlers who have the run of the house, poisons are probably out of the question. Outside of finding and solving the real problem of where they're coming from, there are baits you can use that can be kept out of reach of the toddler/cat. |
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Only thing i have found to work for flys is Starbar Captivator . but i would NOT.. REPEAT...NOT... use it indoors. maybe put it outside where the flys are coming from.. but you will literally get 100's if not over 1000 flys in a few days inside this thing. It says to wait till the fluid is 1/2 gone to replace, but i usually left it out for a week (all fluid was gone) and id still be getting some.
StarBar |
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I don't know if the mystery is solved, or just became more confusing.
In the last 72-hours, I've seen a few flies in the kitchen and the garage (neither place near the infested cat room) but none - no kidding, none at all - in the cat room. The cat's not showing any signs of being infested himself. He's healthy. Batshit insane, but physically healthy. No sign of dead animals in the dryer vent. No sign of anything in the floor drain, which isn't near the cat room anyway. I ended up just hanging up a crap ton of fly paper near the lights and leaving them turned on. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about the flies being gone. But I'm confused. |
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Quoted:
I don't know if the mystery is solved, or just became more confusing. In the last 72-hours, I've seen a few flies in the kitchen and the garage (neither place near the infested cat room) but none - no kidding, none at all - in the cat room. The cat's not showing any signs of being infested himself. He's healthy. Batshit insane, but physically healthy. No sign of dead animals in the dryer vent. No sign of anything in the floor drain, which isn't near the cat room anyway. I ended up just hanging up a crap ton of fly paper near the lights and leaving them turned on. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about the flies being gone. But I'm confused. I would guess what ever food source they were using got used up. If you get another dead animal (or whatever) in wherever this one was, you will get a repeat of the problem. |