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Does flypaper work?
Given the fact you’ve arrived at this blog, we’re assuming you’re looking for answer to the question of ‘does flypaper work?’. However, you may also be here because you’re currently experimenting with different fly catching methods and you’d like to know which works best. Either way, you’re in a great position. The simple fact you’re reading educational material highlights to us that you’re aware of your fly problem and you’re searching for the best way to remove it. Believe it or not, many homeowners leave fly problems unattended in the hope they will go away naturally. Unfortunately for them, this never happens.
Before we cover flypaper and its effectiveness, let’s determine who the enemy is and other methods of capture too.
The two most common type of flies you’re likely to be battling at home are fruit or houseflies. Both are slightly different in terms of their preferences and how they behave, but they’re equally annoying and distressing if left unattended. Fruit flies prefer sweet and sticky substances, whereas houseflies are attracted to almost anything if its smelly or fermenting. Although neither will directly bite or hurt you, they do cause devastation in other ways.
For example, flies reproduce at rapid rates, laying eggs wherever they can. Female flies in particular have the potential to cause serious harm if they aren’t stopped in the early stages of breeding. Once a fly infestation is in full flow, they begin to spread disease and germs, depositing bacteria on work surfaces and food. This makes it incredibly important to stop them as fast as possible.
Using flypaper to kill flies
Okay, so you’ve now determined the flies you’re facing, now it’s time to capture and kill the pesky guests. From past experience, many people have seen great results with flypaper. Its relatively cheap to assemble and can often be created yourself. This means you can begin to capture flies in a relatively short space of time.
There are various types of flypaper, and it’s important to consider which type to choose. However, although there are different variations of this fly-catching method, fly strips seem to work best.
Fly strips tend to work best with fruit flies, due to the fact they have sticky residue on the paper. This attracts the flies to the paper, before capturing them once they set foot on the material.
Given the fact the fly paper will trap them instantly, it then begins to have a compounding effect. The more flies the paper attracts, the more subsequent flies will then visit to see what all the fuss is about. This is amazing from a fly-catching perspective, but less so from a homeowner’s standpoint. The paper can become very unsightly and begin to smell in a short space of time.
The aim should be to find a perfect spot to hang the fly paper within your home. The paper should be hung in an area where the flies like to operate, but you should bear in mind that the area should be away from where you usually operate on a day-day basis.
Formulas for flypaper
Interestingly, you’ll only need a few household items to create your own flypaper. Take a brown paper bag and cut into strips. Then, proceed to make your sticky residue that will attract and capture the flies.
We find a mixture of corn syrup, sugar and water work well. Simply heat up in a pan, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Then, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Afterwards, take your strip of fly paper and submerge into your mixture, ensuring all the paper gets an equal coating of the formula. Then, remove the strips carefully and allow to dry on a drying rack.
Finally, hang your DIY fly strips in your chosen area and you’re ready to go!
Toxic fly papers
We thought you should also be aware of toxic flypapers. You will find toxic options on the market that will kill flies much quicker. However, if you can capture and kill them with the homemade recipe above, then there’s no need to purchase anything toxic.
This reduces any risk of hurting children in the home or consuming some accidentally. Trust us, it can happen.
Other methods
By all means, try fly paper and see what results you can achieve. However, make sure to do other research to see what else you can create at home to stop those unwanted guests.
For example, other DIY traps work incredibly well. Most notably, the dish soap trap. Take a standard kitchen dish and fill with equal parts apple cider vinegar and dish soap. Then, place on a work surface where you know the flies like to land. The flies will land on the dish to take a sip of the apple cider vinegar, before sinking into the mixture, unable to escape. This is effective as the dish soap cuts the surface tension of the liquid, causing the flies to drown.
You could also try a prevention method, using natural oils like citronella. Try making some citronella oil candles and place them around your home, this will create a natural barrier in entrance points around your property, minimizing any unwanted arrivals.
The Ranch Fly Trap
Alternatively, if the fly problem doesn’t seem to go away, then it could be time to take things up a notch. Believe us, we’re not against trying DIY methods and attempting to defeat the flies, we actually respect the hustle. However, sometimes you need to step up your fly game, that’s where we come in.
The Ranch Fly Trap offers a number of products that are proven to eliminate flies from homes, farms and ranches. Regardless of the fly or size of property, our products have been designed to carry out pure domination on the enemy.
Years of product testing and customer feedback have led to us here. Thousands of properties now trust us to protect their homes and livestock from harmful flies. The mission is far from over, but we’re making a real impact on the happiness of people all over the globe.
For more information on flies and other educational resources, read our blog. Alternatively, to get started on a path to fly domination, shop our traps today.