Mosquitoes are one of the scourges of the earth, but a close second in my book are flies. Mosquitoes may suck your blood and quite possibly pass along some diseases but flies are just plain and simply gross. The primary reason for living is to reproduce but food it the real motivator and flies will go to great lengths to get it. House Flies  land on their food and immediately regurgitate onto the surface, this allows the food to soften up and then they sponge it up. Hence the gross part, wherever they landed previously they may carry germs and salmonella on their body.  There are many types of flies from the House Fly to Filth Flies, knowing their habitat allows the client and Pest Management company the opportunity to handle the problem often times by the use (IPM) Integrated Pest Management techniques. Here are a few tips, whether it’s your home or a business:

1. Garbage cans must have lids and must be closed.
2. Dumpsters are the same, lids must be closed. Garbage cans and dumpsters should be cleaned regularly. Odors attract flies, by keeping the lid closed the odors may be contained. There are also fly baits available today to employ at these sites, helping to eliminate flies (MaxForce Fly Bait) can be painted, sprayed or used as a granular around dumpsters.
3. Doors must be kept closed or for restaurants- air curtains. Dumpsters should be as far away from the building as possible on a concrete pad. Employees should clean up around the dumpster frequently and the dumpster should be dumped weekly.
4. Screens must be kept in place.
5. Fly lights are a great tool, today there are a lot of choices from the mini FlyWeb to CB IQ to even larger and more advanced systems. A special word here – Zapper lights should never be used within a restaurant – they blow up the insect scattering parts everywhere. Fly machines should be placed at 5 to 6 feet height levels, that is where most flies travel.
6. Restaurant drains must be cleaned regularly. Sanitation is the word! Nothing is more important!
7. Recycling is great but cans should be rinsed out or bagged.
8. Restaurants can seal any crack or crevice to prevent food particles from accumulating.
9. Communication is vital – the customer should mention the problem to the technician and then this problem can be investigated thoroughly.

From House Flies to Filth Flies everything can be managed, it is as simple as knowing the enemy. You must know their eating habits, breeding habits and harborage requirements, then you will have the strategy to solve the problem. Remember the offspring of  a single pair of House Flies left unchecked can produce 200 Quintrillion flies within  single year if they all lived, let us reduce those numbers.

Here is a Best Management Practices PDF on Flies and their control: