Homeowners across the United States are familiar with pest flies. Two species seem to spend the most time buzzing around people and their homes: the house fly and the fruit fly. While the life expectancy of a fly is short, their ability to reproduce quickly makes them difficult to control.
The life expectancy of a fly has some bearing on how much damage the pest can do. Their rate of reproduction also marks the severity of an infestation.
An average house fly lives about a month. In that time, females can lay five to six batches of eggs. Although they’re more active in the summer, house flies reproduce year-round.
The lifespan of a fly can also depend on the species. For example, fruit flies live a little longer than house flies. These insects die after about 40 to 50 days. Like house flies, they can yield several generations during this time. Just one female fruit fly can produce up to 500 offspring.
In addition to overwhelming homeowners with numbers, house flies spread disease and fruit flies spoil food. Instead of wondering how long flies live and hoping the problem goes away, residents can act to prevent and limit issues. Repairing window screens so flies don’t get inside, cleaning trash and garbage containers and regularly cleaning sink drains helps with exclusion.
Credit : Orkin
Picture Credit : Google
