How to catch a fly in an apartment

Why is it difficult to kill a fly

It is difficult to catch the insect by surprise and swat it because of the insect’s unique vision: there are 5 eyes on the fly’s head: 2 main and 3 simple.
Large volumetric eyes consist of 4 thousand facets and provide a 360-degree view. The fly sees all objects in front and behind, above and below, to the right and left with three-dimensional eyes, so it will not be possible to sneak up from behind. With simple eyes, a fly examines objects close up, distinguishes small and medium-sized things well, and ignores large ones.

The insect processes 100 images per second at a speed 6 times faster than a human. The critical flicker frequency—the number of frames a fly sees per second—is 250 Hz. In humans, this indicator is only 60 Hz. Therefore, lightning-fast hand movements that people feel are seen by flies as a slow change of frames.

The only skill that a fly cannot master is the ability to distinguish the infrared spectrum. In the dark, the pest prefers to sleep in a secluded place where nothing threatens it.

This vision device saves insects from any danger, including the threat of physical harm from humans.

Why is it difficult to kill a fly?

However, often trying to swat this annoying creature, a person is faced with the fact that the fly is very difficult to catch. This raises the question of why flies are fast and how they sense the approach of danger.

After conducting a lot of research, experts were able to establish that a person cannot quickly kill a fly because of its excellent vision. This is explained by the fact that all living beings with visual organs perceive the world around them in the form of a continuous stream of visual images.

Hunting for a fly

Individual images that the retina catches are fed to the brain and processed by it at a certain speed, called the critical flicker fusion frequency (CFFR). This indicator is individual for each living creature:

• in turtles it is 15 Hz;
• in humans 60 Hz;
• in dogs – 80 Hz;
• in flies - 250 Hz.

Interesting!

Some representatives of the fly family have receptors that can react up to 400 times per second (almost 6 times faster than the human eye). This means that the latter process visual information much faster than humans. That is why the reaction of a fly and a person is different.

This fact is explained by the structure of the fly's eye. Complex, facet-type insect eyes consist of hexagonal ocelli (ommatidia), which have their own receptors and lenses. This makes it possible for each eye to independently record appearing and disappearing objects in the field of view. Having a high reaction speed, flies are able to notice the slightest movement. Therefore, when it seems to us that we are moving at lightning speed, for annoying pests we remain a crawling turtle.

How and with what to kill a fly

It is easy to get rid of insects by using chemicals or folk methods. However, the most popular method of removing flies is the mechanical method.

Duct tape

This method of getting rid of annoying insects is accessible and has a simple principle of operation. The device is a strip of paper or silicone, which is coated with a special sticky composition that has an aroma that is attractive to flies. When insects touch the sticky surface, they die.

Insect control methods

Fumigator

A device that allows you to kill insects indoors much more effectively. It is enough to use a special plate or liquid for this. When the fumigator is plugged into the outlet, it begins to heat the element, causing the repellent composition to evaporate. The aroma repels not only flies, but also mosquitoes, midges and other harmful insects.

Fly swatter

An old proven way to kill flies is a fly swatter. It is a long cane with a piece of soft rubber or silicone attached to the end. A towel or a newspaper folded several times can also replace such a device. The disadvantage of this method is the difficulty in hitting the target. If the goal is achieved, it becomes necessary to clean up traces of the crushed insect.

To hit the target and properly kill a fly at home, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

• An attempt to attack an insect during flight will not give the desired results, since the annoying pest is capable of changing the direction of its movement with lightning speed.
• It is better to approach an uninvited guest as slowly as possible. Speed ​​in this case is not the best option. This fact is explained by the fact that insects notice smooth movements much worse.
• To destroy a pest, it is advisable to approach it from behind, because its field of vision is less than 360 degrees.
• When choosing a fly swatter, you should give preference to devices in lighter colors. Such a “weapon of battle” will be less noticeable against the background of the wallpaper.
• A blow with a fly swatter will be accurate if it is applied not directly at the target, but slightly forward in the direction of the individual’s movement. The structure of the fly's body does not allow it to move backwards.

Cleaning fly breeding sites

These flying insects enter a person’s home in search of food and favorable conditions for reproduction. Flies are attracted by the smell of food, rotting, spoiling food. On these products, the females will lay eggs, and the emerging larvae will fully develop.

Therefore, when starting the fight against annoying insects, you must initially eliminate all possible places of their reproduction.

Wet cleaning

To do this you need:

• do wet cleaning in the house;
• wash dirty dishes;
• take out the trash can and rinse it;
• limit access to products, hide them in the refrigerator;
• Clean pet cages and feeders.

All these actions will help reduce the number of flies in the house, but to get rid of them completely you need to take more radical measures.

Fly vs fly

The video footage shows that at first the killer fly sits motionless. But as soon as the housefly flies about seven centimeters above her, the hunter makes a lightning-fast throw, and then both end up at the bottom of the chamber.

Only after watching slow-motion footage on a computer does it become clear what happened: the killer fly took off, flew around the victim three times, trying to grab it several times before it managed to do it with its front paws, knock it to the floor and bite into the prey.

The entire episode from takeoff to landing took one second. In our eyes this is a moment. And vice versa - in the eyes of a fly, a human hand moves at the speed of a snail.

Such an incredible speed of behavior of the killer fly is provided by mitochondria - biological cells, of which this predator has much more in its eyes than other types of flies.

These cells produce the energy needed by the light receptors of the eye. Fast vision uses more energy than slow vision, and the killer fly's carnivorous diet provides fuel for energy-hungry cells.

But even if a person had the same number of mitochondria in their eyes, we would not have such a high speed of vision, because the light-sensitive cells of flies are very different in design from those of humans.

The process of evolution led to these structural differences. The development of eyes in arthropods and vertebrates took completely different paths around 700-750 million years ago.

Homemade traps - manufacturing options

Homemade fly traps
For home-made catching devices, improvised means are used. They attract pests by smell, light, and heat.

Plastic bottle

You will need an empty carbonated drink container, preferably mineral water.

1. Cut off the top part. To do this, first make a hole with a knife, then carefully thread the scissors and cut off the neck.
2. Turn the cut part over and insert it inside the bottle. Secure the edges with a stapler, tape, electrical tape or Moment glue.
3. Place the trap in any convenient place or hang it from a chandelier or ceiling.

Sugar syrup is used as bait. Pour 5 tbsp. spoons of sugar into a saucepan, pour a little water so that the liquid lightly covers the grains of the main ingredient. Bring to a boil over low heat. Stir until completely dissolved, allow to cool slightly, pour into a bottle, coat the edges.

On a note!

To make your homemade device more effective, you should periodically breathe into the bottle. In this way, carbon dioxide accumulates inside, which attracts flies better than any other bait. You can catch pests in a few days.

Can

It is convenient to catch flies with an ordinary tin can of pet food or canned food. Peel off the paper sticker, rinse the jar, and dry it. Cover the outer part of the jar with adhesive tape, electrical tape, and press well with your fingers. After a few minutes they peel it off. The surface of the jar became sticky.

If the trap is used in the dark, place a small flashlight in the jar and cover with a lid. Install the structure in any convenient place where it is necessary to catch pests.

On a note!

Instead of adhesive tape, you can use double-sided tape, which does not need to be removed from the can. To attract insects, you can drop honey or liquid jam onto the surface.

Glass jar

Glass jar fly trap
You can catch flies using small jars.

1. They should be washed and dried.
2. Apple cider vinegar is poured inside.
3. Instead of a lid, use cling film. It needs to be pressed tightly to the edges, secured with electrical tape or tape. Carefully make holes with a toothpick or a sharp knife so that the fly can get inside.

The trap will attract insects with the smell of sour apple cider vinegar. Once inside, the pest will not be able to get out. You can catch a huge number of flies this way. Reusable containers should be periodically emptied, washed, and the whole operation repeated. Pests will be caught as long as the scent that is attractive to them comes from the trap.

Lures

Flies feed on the juices of plants, rotting vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish. They are attracted by the smell of sour and the taste of sweet. The following is used as bait for homemade traps:

• sugar syrup;
• a piece of refined sugar;
• apples, pears;
• raw meat;
• honey;
• Apple vinegar;
• fruit juice.

What attracts flies most is the rotten smell. If the trap is set on the street, you can lure it with missing meat, salad, borscht, beer, and kvass.

To exterminate small flies and ordinary house flies, it is recommended to use several control methods. We should not forget about prevention - mosquito nets on windows and doors. Until mid-summer, house flies only buzz, irritating the nervous system with their presence; in August they are replaced by buzzers, which begin to bite painfully and cause an allergic reaction.

Guest of the President

In the dashing 90s, in addition to culture, I was involved in a fairly large business related to the promotion of one type of product to the Muslim market. For this purpose, I flew to Azerbaijan on a guest visa. My friend arranged a meeting with the president. The presidential assistant met me in Baku and took me to the hotel. About one o'clock someone called me and said that the meeting with the president would take place at fifteen o'clock and therefore they would pick me up at two o'clock. At two I went out and got into the car. The car rushed along long stone fences, then, unexpectedly turning, slipped through some open gate. I was pushed out of the car. A bearded, angry man stood in the yard.

-Where is the president? – I was surprised.

They poked me in the side with a pistol. It became clear that there would be no president. The bearded man asked me in a low, authoritative and tired voice:

- Tell me, darling, who can pay money for you?

- What money? – I choked. – You obviously confused me with someone.

“We never confuse anything, dear,” and he nodded to his nukers. They put me on a log. The man in the black mask raised an ax. And, looking bloodthirsty at me, he began to rock it from side to side.

Goosebumps ran through my body. Opposite there was a tripod with a video camera. The bearded man said:

- Ask, dear, to be paid for you. Ask well.

- Whom should I ask? – I didn’t understand. And looked around.

The gloomy people around me did not express any desire to pay anything for me. Quite the contrary.

- Ask for the cell. To the camera, dear.

I turned to the camera. Then to the bearded man.

- Sorry, I still don’t understand what to ask and from whom.

The bearded man moved his finger. Someone hit me in the ear from behind, and I fell head over heels from the log. The nukers ran up and started kicking me furiously. After breaking half of my ribs, they stopped and again sat me on a log in front of the camera. Now everything became clear to me. I opened my eyes and began to ask. When he fell silent, the Bearded Man moved his finger again. I wish I wouldn't shut up. The one in the mask with an ax grabbed my right hand, and before I could blink an eye, he chopped off my index finger. It was so unexpected that I didn’t even understand anything at first.

And only when the finger fell to the ground in the dust, the pain reached my consciousness. This is where I howled, this is where I started to spin. This is where the tears and blood come. This is where they filmed me.

I imagine what the ending of this short film was like. After some time, without even bandaging me, they dragged me into the chicken coop. There, they moved the trough and threw it into the zindan. From pain and uncertainty, after some time, I became sleepy and forgot myself in this stinking hole. A terrible noise upstairs woke me up. It crashed several times. Then shots rang out. Then there was another roar and everything went quiet. Then someone moved the trough and opened the hatch.

A flashlight beam slid into my stinking home. They called me by name. They extended their hands. When I left the chicken coop into the yard, a terrible picture appeared before my eyes.

My kidnappers were lying around the yard, scattered by an invisible force, in different poses. Judging by their bloody bodies, they were not entirely alive. And for some reason their bearded commander was lying without legs. The legs lay nearby, near a small but deep crater. Among the many people in camouflage uniforms moving excitedly around the courtyard, I noticed a presidential representative meeting me at the Baku airport. He walked towards me, smiling, with his arms spread wide.

- Daragoy. Alive Healthy. Glory be to Allah.

Glory is not glory, but I immediately showed him what was left of my index finger. He clicked his tongue and assured that their brilliant doctors would sew another one, “the new one will be better than the old one.” When we were already driving in the Mercedes, I shared my thoughts with my liberator.

– You see, Mamed, after my finger was cut off, I already thought that I was finished.

- How can you say that, dear? – my interlocutor was genuinely indignant. – You are not just a guest in our country. You are the President's guest. When you did not arrive for an audience at the palace, the President called the Minister of the KGB, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of the Armed Forces, the head of the presidential guard, the head of his security and asked them: “Where is my guest?” And when they remained silent, he asked again: “Where is your President’s guest?” After that, he gave them twenty-four hours so that you would be with him alive and well. So now we’ll treat you, wash you, shave you - we still have four hours - and go to the President. He's waiting for you.

Mamed smiled at me and added:

- That's it, my dear, you are the President's guest.

Everything is relative

Swedish scientists from Uppsala University have discovered that the flycatcher can detect light that flashes on and off 146 times per second.

This figure is approximately twice that of a human, although not as high as that of the average fly.

But the evolutionary “arms race” never ends. Flies that are chased by birds with fast vision also develop reaction speed, and so on.

In general, next time after an unsuccessful attempt to hit a fly, do not be discouraged. The fact that your movements are so slow and clumsy is due to hundreds of millions of years of natural selection, which taught flies to slowly watch you.

The speed at which these images are processed by the brain is called the “flicker fusion rate.” As a rule, the smaller the species, the higher the speed of light pulses, and therefore flies constantly leave a person with his nose.

Professor Roger Hardy from the University of Cambridge demonstrates how the fly's eye works.

“The flicker fusion rate is simply the speed at which light must turn on and off before it can be seen or perceived as a continuous image,” says Professor Hardy.

The photoreceptors respond to each LED flash with electrical impulses that are displayed on the computer screen.

Tests show that in some flies, the receptors clearly respond to blinking up to 400 times per second, more than six times faster than the human eye.

The record holder is the killer fly, a tiny predatory insect found in Europe that preys on other flies. And it catches victims right in flight.

Illustration copyright OTHER

Image caption

Killer fly eyes contain many more mitochondria than the eyes of other types of flies.

Something happens in the camera, and Paloma presses the button to stop recording.

Image caption

Dr. Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido demonstrates the super-fast reaction of a killer fly

“Our reaction time is so slow that if we want to stop recording at the moment of an event, it turns out that the event has already happened,” says the doctor.

Household substances

Household products not intended for such purposes are also suitable for fighting flies. Among them:

1. Glass cleaning liquid. To kill a fly, it is enough to spray a product containing ammonia on the fly from a spray bottle 5-10 times. This number of sprays is enough to kill a single adult.
2. Hair fixation spray. The same principle of spraying is applied, but most often 1-2 clicks on the bottle spray are enough to hit the target.
3. Dishwashing liquid and vinegar. The mixture of these substances is poured into a jar, the neck of which is covered with cling film. Pests fly into the small hole left, but they can no longer get out and drown in the composition.

The category of household appliances with special purposes includes fly repellers using ultrasound. The devices operate on mains power and emit ultrasonic waves that are not perceptible to human hearing, but are unbearable for flies.

The opposite effect is used in electron traps that emit ultraviolet light. The flies fly to the source and end up on the grid, where they die from the current. For humans, such a device is harmless (current-carrying elements are isolated), but for flies and other flying insects it is fatal.

Using your hands

You can try catching flies with your hands. If you don’t have the necessary materials in your house, you can use your own hands as a trap. This method is quite slow, but once you get used to it, it is quite feasible. Your hands will get a little exercise. To catch a fly at home with your hands, you need to do the following:

• bend your fingers so that your palm forms a cup - a kind of trap;
• make a few movements as a workout: quickly clench your palm, bending your fingers towards the base;
• leave a small space inside the clenched palm;
• as soon as the fly lands on the surface, you should approach it carefully (do not make sudden movements that will scare away the insect);
• now you need to wave your cupped palm two cm from the fly;
• clench your palm, bending your fingers towards the base;

The insect, sensing movement, will fly upward and end up inside the trap.

Catch a fly with your hands

On a note!

In order not to crush the fly, you should not squeeze your fingers very hard, otherwise it can be crushed.

Review

I tried using this method. It turned out to be quite difficult for me. But it worked once - I caught this annoying fly. I prefer to use other methods - Velcro, fly swatter, jar trap.

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Alexandra, Vladimir

How to kill a fly

This fly annoyed me so much that I decided to kill it.

I bought a pistol and started aiming at her.

It just seems that the fly is stupid, that it crawls for a long time and sits for a long time on some drop of jam, without thinking or understanding anything.

In fact, a fly is a smart creature. She immediately senses when she is about to be killed.

So she crawled across the table, even turning her back to me. She doesn’t seem to suspect that I’m aiming at her. As if he wasn’t paying attention that I squinted my left eye and caught her hairy body in the sight slit with my right.

But just as I held my breath, just as I was about to pull the trigger, she—zip! - flew away.

I managed to shoot, but didn’t hit. The bullet ricocheted off the tabletop, smashed the vase into pieces and got stuck in the wall.

The fly flew for a long time. I tried to catch her with a fly, but nothing. She made such turns and somersaults that I was amazed.

It is clear that all this aerobatics was for the sake of making fun of me.

As soon as I lowered the gun, she - one! – sat down on the TV antenna, at the very tip.

I raised the pistol again and took aim.

The fly sat with its side turned to me and stroked its head with its paws, as if saying: “Aim, aim, I don’t mind. You can even shoot. You see, I’m washing my face.”

I smoothly pressed the trigger, felt the firing pin take off and rush towards the capsule. And at that very moment the fly took off. But you can't stop the shot. There was a crash and the bullet, knocking off the antenna antenna, crashed into the window frame.

The fly, as if it had not been shot at, again began to scamper around the room.

Beside myself from such disgusting behavior, I tried to shoot her down on the fly. But the shots only destroyed two lampshades on the chandelier.

And the fly realized that I was not in the mood to joke. She flew for a long, long time and, tired, finally sat down on the photograph of my mother-in-law that adorned the wall.

My heart ached sweetly. Will you really be lucky enough to kill a fly with one shot and shoot through the portrait of your dearly beloved mother-in-law? One shot - two pleasures! But it was not to be: a cunning fly crawled from my mother-in-law’s forehead onto my eye and, as soon as I pulled the trigger with a sweet feeling, flew over to my grandfather’s portrait. She sat on his nose.

I couldn't shoot my grandfather. I always loved and respected him. But, as luck would have it, she didn’t fly away. She crawled back and forth across the photograph, back and forth, even leaving her claws in several places. She probably realized that this place was holy and inviolable, and settled there for a long time. I even managed to take a nap.

When I woke up, the fly was sitting on my nose. I almost suffocated from such impudence. He swung his hand to drive her away, but suddenly thought: “This is where I’ll outwit you.” And he stood up quietly.

And the fly felt right at home; crawled from the nose to the forehead. I felt it on my skin, but, of course, I couldn’t see it. And she was sure that I would never see her. But I’m not such a fool - there is a mirror in the house. I quietly approached him. The fly calmly crawled across my forehead, reasonably believing that it was out of reach. She had no idea that I saw everything in the best possible way.

Finally she slid down to her right temple and, tangled in her hair, paused.

That’s when I quickly raised my pistol and instantly fired.

Pow!

And there is no fly...

Fly killers

These devices allow you to eliminate insects in other ways. The machines contain UV lamps that produce heat and attract pests. Some devices have propellers that pull insects inside the container. There are lamps that shock flies with a discharge of current, eliminating them instantly when they fall on a special grid.

The advantages of shredders include:

1. No insecticides - ideal for rooms where there are children and animals.
2. Excellent efficiency.

The only disadvantage is the high cost. For small spaces, the compact SWU-15 shredder from SWISSINNO is suitable. The device will allow you to remove flies, mosquitoes, horseflies, and midges from the room in a short time.

Kill light flies in a dream

Light flies are white or of unknown light shades. Killing them in a dream means that gossipers will bite their tongues and stop talking heresy about you. A dream about such insects can warn of attempts to rob you. To remedy the situation, start monitoring your personal belongings more closely. This is especially true in transport, in crowded places and where a person is able to get distracted. By the way, if you dream about dead white flies, try not to walk through parks and squares alone.

If in a vision the sleeper kills light flies, in real life let him be more attentive when concluding any transactions and signing contracts.

How to catch a fly in an apartment?

There are different ways to exterminate these annoying insects. Which one to choose depends on the number of flies.

Mechanical ways to swat a fly

This method of struggle is used quite often due to its safety for the person himself. Its essence lies in the use of both a special fly swatter and replacing it with a newspaper or a slipper in order to quickly kill a fly that catches your eye by simply swatting it. This method is especially effective when there is a massive accumulation of insects in one place.

To catch a fly in a room and destroy it, you need to adhere to certain tactics. Otherwise, all attempts to swat the insect will be unsuccessful.

Electric fly swatter

Basic recommendations:

1. When striking, it is necessary to hit a little in front of the fly, since in any case it will have time to take off before the firecracker hits it. And since the insect does not know how to back away, this will increase the chances of success.
2. You should not try to kill a fly in flight, it is impossible.
3. You need to approach the insect slowly, without attracting its attention.
4. It is better to choose a light-colored flycatcher so that it does not stand out particularly against the background of other objects around.

Folk remedies

You can also get rid of flies in your home using folk remedies. Their use is especially important in apartments where there are small children, which makes the use of chemicals impossible.

Effective ways to catch flies in a room or destroy them:

1. Mix 1 g of saccharin and 10 g of honey. Soak paper with this mixture and place it on windowsills where insects usually accumulate. After this, you need to moisten it with a little water. This composition can kill flies, as they cannot tolerate saccharin.
2. Combine milk (3 tbsp) (1/2 tsp) and add soda (5 tsp) . Pour the product into small saucers and place them in places where insects accumulate, but out of reach of children. Change the composition as necessary every 3 days until all flies are destroyed.
3. Prepare sugar syrup using 100 ml of water and 50 g of sugar. Add 1 tsp to it after cooling. black pepper, mix. Pour the resulting product into small saucers and place them around the house, in places where flies most often appear.

Sticky tapes and traps

One of the ways to kill a fly is sticky tape. It is a silicone or paper strip that is impregnated with a sticky compound that attracts the attention of insects. Such a trap should be hung in the kitchen, near an open window, at the entrance or next to a lighting fixture. This method is quite effective, but the appearance of the fly-covered tape is unsightly, which is its disadvantage.

You can catch a fly, as well as destroy it, using a homemade trap. To do this, you need to take a small glass jar, pour a little vinegar and dishwashing detergent into it. The neck of the container should be covered with cling film, securing it. You need to make several small holes in the “lid”. As a result, insects, attracted by the sour smell, will fly inside the jar and will not be able to get out.

Duct tape

Special insecticidal lamp traps also help get rid of flies. Household appliances are produced in the form of sconces and operate from the mains. Insects are attracted to the ultraviolet rays that the lamp emits. Flying closer to the device, the fly dies from the current discharge. Moreover, such a device is completely safe for humans.

Chemicals

This method allows you to quickly kill flies at home during their mass reproduction. Chemicals can be purchased at any hardware store. But when using them, you need to take precautions, as they contain toxic substances.

Effective means:

1. Aerosols (Dichlorvos, Reid, Raptor, Chlorophos). Before processing, you need to close windows and doors. Shake the can and spray the product in places where flies accumulate from a distance of 30 cm. After this, leave the room closed for half an hour, and then ventilate it and carry out wet cleaning.
2. Fumigators (Raptor, Off, Moskitol). These devices operate from the mains. They contain a special solution or plate inside, which, when heated, has a detrimental effect on insects, but is safe for humans.
3. Chalk pencil. (Mashenka, Brownie Proshka, Global). To kill flies indoors, it is necessary to draw stripes at least 3 cm wide in places where flies accumulate. The drug acts upon contact with insects and causes paralysis and then death.