How to kill a fly

What is the power of a fly?

The fly is the best flyer among insects. Musca domestica (house fly) has a powerful “motor” hidden in its chest, which allows it to take off from a standing position. Wings that beat 200-300 times per second provide the insect with maneuverable, fast flight and an annoying buzzing sound.

Thanks to all the above advantages, the fly turns into a fighter jet. However, if you reduce a real plane to the size of an insect, then it will not have the slightest chance of defeating an annoying fly in a dogfight. So chasing an insect with a rolled up magazine, towel, or newspaper is like trying to shoot down a fighter jet with a medieval catapult. To kill a fly, you need to act thoughtfully, according to a carefully developed plan.

Besides:

The size and body structure of this pest provide the house fly with rare vitality. You can often observe how, a second after you swatted it with your hand, the fly, as if nothing had happened, flies away unharmed. Mystic? - Not at all.
The complex compound eyes of the insect consist of hexagonal ocelli - ommatidia, which have their own lenses and receptors. As a result, each eye detects objects appearing and disappearing in the field of view. Flies notice the slightest movement. Therefore, when it seems to you that you are acting like a super-fast “superman”, for a fly you remain a barely crawling “snail”.
A fly recognizes odors much better than we do, so it immediately smells spoiled food. Following the smell, the insect flies along an incomprehensible, bizarre trajectory that confuses us, and this prevents us from killing the fly on the fly.

Description of appearance

This amazing creature resembles a flea, louse, tick, and fly. At a certain stage of development, there is a pair of transparent wings on the back, which reach a length of 6 mm. The insect uses them only to move upward, a short distance. Outwardly it looks like a fly, but after it gets on the host’s body, it sheds its wings and is more like a flea or tick.

The body is elongated, up to 3.5 mm in size. Shiny dark cover, flattened shape. A clearly visible head with pronounced large eyes. In addition to them, there are 3 more simple eyes on the head.

The body is flat with a durable chitinous cover. In a hungry state, the insect is very difficult to crush. As food arrives, as well as during pregnancy, the abdomen greatly increases in size.

The mouthparts of the moose fly are piercing-sucking, reminiscent of the structure of a burner fly. The proboscis has a row of hard chitinous bristles that act as teeth and help gnaw through the skin of warm-blooded animals. A photo of a moose fly is shown below. You can clearly see an amazing creature with different names.

moose fly

What is the fly's weakness?

Flies are incapable of learning and gaining practical experience of their defeats. Therefore, they can spend hours fighting against a closed window until they die, instead of finding an open space and flying out. This can be used very profitably to finally deal with the villains.

Insects are attracted to anything edible, including our food, rotting remains and excrement. Females look for suitable places to lay eggs, and for this they again select food and excrement. Of course, leaving a trash can open to kill a fly is far from the most pleasant experience, but all means are good in the fight against an annoying pest. The main thing is to strictly adhere to the goal.

Flies fly into the light: during the day into windows, and at night into lamps and fire. Therefore, by strategically manipulating the switch, you can lure the enemy into a trap.

First aid

Each person is individual, so everyone reacts differently to the consequences of a bite. When an insect drinks blood, it injects its saliva. In some cases, the first symptom is an allergic reaction.

If a person is bitten by a blood-sucking fly, it is necessary:

apply a cold compress to the bite site;
for severe itching, use soda lotions;
it is mandatory to treat with antiseptic drugs;
To avoid an allergic reaction, use antihistamines.

Important: to avoid serious consequences, it is recommended to consult a doctor

How to kill a fly - general rules

Based on the listed features of the insect and relying on the work of Professor Michael Dickenson, who studies the aerodynamics of the flight of flies, we formulate the basic rules for insect hunters:

Don't try to kill a fly in flight, as it can change course in 30 thousandths of a second.
Approach the insect slowly, since it is slow movements that the fly does not notice.
Approach the enemy from behind, as the insect's field of view does not reach 360 degrees.
Choose a fly swatter to match the color of the walls so that it is less noticeable against their background.
Guess the direction of the insect's flight and hit it slightly forward in the direction of movement.

Prevention

Many people do not pay attention to the danger posed by flies. But they are carriers of dangerous diseases. Insects lay eggs in foods, so a person who eats them has a risk of getting sick. Therefore, it is important to carry out prevention using the following recommendations:

It is necessary to carry out wet cleaning regularly, since insects like dirt. It is necessary to throw out garbage in a timely manner, and put fresh vegetables and fruits in the refrigerator.
All windows need to be covered with nets.
You can plant bird cherry or elderberry near the house. Insects do not like the smell of walnut or wormwood. Geraniums should be placed on the windowsills.

Thus, any of these means can be used. It’s even better to take preventive measures to ensure that there are never such pests in your home.

Kill a fly - 5 most effective ways

The house fly or Musca domestica gets tired very quickly. Therefore, to defeat the enemy, you can chase him until he is exhausted. Although, it's not solid.

Method number 1. Improved newspaper method

Use the following method:

Sneak up silently. Shadow and sudden movements will scare away the fly, so approach slowly, smoothly, facing the light, with your chosen weapon in your hands.
Attack suddenly and mercilessly. The blow must be delivered at “supersonic” speed so that the shock wave crushes the body of the fly, even if it is not located on a hard surface. The most merciless and destructive weapon is a wet towel. Like a whip, the end of the towel reaches incredible speed and also creates a shock wave that kills the insect in mid-flight.

Here are a few more ways to fight the enemy.

Method number 2. We use any sprayer

To kill a fly this way, almost anything will do:

"Mister Muscle".
Furniture polish.
Air freshener.
Hair fixation spray.
Window cleaner.
Any aerosols from your cosmetics.

Get as close to the annoying enemy as possible with the spray bottle open and spray the fly until it drowns in the toxic sea. Discard the insect and clean the surface behind you so that the product you use does not leave a mark on the wall or anywhere else.

Important! If you use an air freshener as a weapon, you will also give the room a pleasant aroma.

Method No. 3. Using an elastic band

You can use any elastic band: underwear or panty elastic. Proceed as follows:

Pinch one end of the rubber band between your index finger and thumb.
Pull the other end of the elastic with the same fingers of your other hand.
Lure the fly to the location that is easiest for you to target.
Sneak closer and aim from a distance of 30-50 cm.
Pull the elastic band in front of you towards the victim, and with your other hand pull the elastic band towards you.
Release the rubber band from your fingers.
Repeat the hunt if the enemy is not defeated.

Method number 4. With a water gun

Use a water gun or spray bottle for flowers. Get closer to the enemy and wet the fly so that it cannot fly and falls. Kill the fly with any object at hand: a slipper, a book, a keyboard, a foot (not necessarily your own), etc.

Method No. 5. Fly tape

Buy a special fly tape at any store and hang it in the kitchen and other places occupied by flies. But be careful not to fall into this trap yourself. Otherwise, you will have to think about how to remove dead insects from your hair along with the tightly stuck tape. And this is also not an easy question.

Helpful Tips:

A weapon such as a rolled up magazine will throw away the fly without harming it. Perforated fly swatters are much more effective, since part of the air passes through the striking surface, as a result of which the air flow is divided, and it is much more difficult to dodge it.
You can try to suck up the fly with a vacuum cleaner.
Good remedies for flies are essential oils: Cinnamon.
Nutmeg.
Orange.
Carnations.

But in the latter case, you will have to wait a long time until the insects become stupefied and fall into euphoria.

Traps

To make protection more effective, traps are used. This method is considered one of the most reliable and effective, partly because the result is extremely clear.

Jars with sugar syrup are used as traps, inside which a cone or a lid made of a plastic bag with several holes is installed. It is this principle that is used in most traps: insects get inside, driven by the sweet smell of sugar, but cannot get out.

Trap tapes are also considered a fairly effective method, although for home use it is better to use homemade rather than professional products. To create such a trap, cardboard strips are covered with thick sugar syrup and hung in places where insects accumulate. Products should be replaced as they become filled with adherent insects.

The harmfulness of the parasite

In temperate regions, the Wohlfarth fly is a seasonal pest. The peak of its activity occurs in the summer months, and in the cold season it disappears. The main objects of parasitism are sheep and goats. After cutting the animals' fur, scratches and cuts remain on their bodies, which are used by pests to enter the body. Other livestock get sick less often, but cases of wolfartiasis occur in cows, horses, and camels. Females lay larvae not only in wounds, but also on the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, ears, eyes, and genitals. Fly larvae, developing in the host's body, cause myiasis. Having penetrated the wound, they, with the help of secreted enzymes, decompose the tissue to the bones. For the first 4-5 days they feed on the surface, then they go deep into the body and become invisible during external examination. Mechanical eating of flesh causes severe pain, necrosis and gangrenous processes appear. Infected cattle noticeably lose weight, and swelling forms at the site of parasite penetration. Without treatment, death is inevitable.

The Wohlfarth fly threatens the health of not only animals, but also people. They attack patients with purulent wounds and infants sleeping in the open air. Females lay larvae in human natural openings, where they develop on mucous membranes. Parasites affect the gums, eyes, maxillary cavity, and ears. The patient experiences severe pain, inflammation, discharge of pus and blood. It is especially dangerous to make passages in the tissues before the larva emerges.

Attention. The consequences of the penetration of larvae into the mucous membranes of the ears and eyes are blindness and deafness.

Preparing for the battle with Elephant Snort

Go visit Gizmo. Along the way, the task will change - you need to break open the door of the depot. Go to the objective marker, you will find a huge rocket. After interacting with her, the hero will saddle her and crash into the nearest wall - the path is open.

After taking the elevator down, talk to Gizmo. Its construction requires materials, which you must collect. Go to the Dead Zone for scrap metal.

Be careful - the Dead Zone has low oxygen levels, so you have to act quickly. You need to find three components. All of them are marked with a marker, but getting to them is not so easy.

The first container is on the truck. You can get there by following a rope that stretches from the house where you initially end up. It is impossible to miss this moment - you have only one way.

Having picked up the material on the truck, quickly jump over the pieces of asphalt to another house. The large drawer in the center is what you need. Take everything and return back to Gizmo. However, following the same path will not work. Climb onto the container, and from it jump onto the yellow-lit piece of the wall. The hero will be able to cling on. Climb to the very top, and from there go down the rope to the inventor.

The robot is ready, but it lacks a special live ammunition - murbels. You need to find out about them from Mug, who still lives there in the Dead Zone. Now you can control the robot. While you are inside the cabin, oxygen does not decrease. Note that sometimes you will need to suck up oil to move forward.

Moog will indicate the location of the murbels. You should go there.

Go into the grotto and deal with the opponents. Oil creatures throw cans of gasoline at the robot - dodge. Get to the room with the door and get out of the cabin - the robot will not go any further.

Take the elevator down. Beware of contaminated water. You need to climb onto the fuel tanker and fill the room with gasoline to increase the overall liquid level in the room.

Now you can get to the upper floors, where the mursquirrels live. You need five in total. Here you will also find a new weapon - an analogue of a submachine gun. Solve the familiar puzzle in the electrical panel to start the elevator. As soon as you rise, you will find a new two-handed weapon.

Now Gizmo is ready to let you fight the Elephant Snort, so move towards the objective marker.