OT Making a better fly trap

My step mother swears that a baggy filled with water hanging from a window or porch keeps them out.

Make a cone out of screen with about a 1/2" dia hole in the small end, large end to fit the neck of the mayo jar. Put some water and a bit of meat in the jar. When the meat starts to stink a little, the jar will quickly fill with flies -- and the captured flies sustain the bait. This is not speculation, these simple traps really work.

Note: it is best to place these things to attract flies away from where you don't want them.

Don, will the top from a plastic bottle work as well? If so, then that's what I will do, exactly, take a jar, put some meat as you suggested, and put that bottle top in it upside down.

if not, I will use screen. It seems to be a good idea.

thanks

Here in central NY we have flies, but they're cluster-flies, instead of house-flies. They do not seem to be motivated by normal fly things (stinky stuff, sweet stuff).

The cluster flies only want to get out of the house.

maybe you have 'em, or something similar?

Dave

Hard to say, but they look like regular house flies.

--In an enclosed space (you *have* closed the screen doors, yes?) you can't beat a vacuum cleaner. Sounds silly but works extremely well.

You use vacuum cleaner to catch flies (by trying to find them and vacuum them in), or do you just turn it on hoping that it would suck all flies after a while?

I will try Don't bottle suggestion first. My shop vac is a little too unwieldy.

Blatant plug:

Or, for fans of TinyURLs...

A practical variant on mine as shown at

Last summer while traveling through Amish country I picked up something called "Sticky Roll" that works quite well. The manufacturers web address is

In an outdoor setting the cone suggestion works and is hard to beat--for a feedlot operation there are chemicals that also do the trick--but you probably don't want either in your home.:-))

Good luck

Tut

looks very nice!

I have made a fly trap already, from a plastic bottle, we'll see if it works. If it does, I will post some pictures. I use some sausage and juice for the bait.

we have a very effective fly trap design used in australia. one I built last year I watched for a while and it was trapping a fly every 3 seconds for over 5 minutes. what amazed me is that flys that escaped came back time and time again until they died in the trap.

it works on two principles. that flies are attracted to some smells. a trapped fly will fly toward the brightest light to escape.

take a two litre plastic coca cola bottle cut the threaded part and the flange off just below the flange. melt a hole in the bottom and put the flange, threaded part and cap there to make a method of topping up the trap.seal up the join. cut the bottle in half. turn the conical neck part over and insert it into base of the bottle. seal it up. I use a soldering iron and just heat melt the parts together to get a water tight seal. what you've got is a container with a cone extending into it. you hang the cone so that it is under the bottom of the trap.

you fill the trap partially with some dog poo and water. let it brew in the sun for a day or two. It'll get ripe :-) the flies will be attracted to the poo smell like you wouldnt believe. they fly up into the underside cone, crawl into the ripe smell and then try to escape by flying up into the top of the coke bottle. they buz around for a while then drop down into the water and poo soup and drown.

you may find that it gets too pongy after about 4 days in the sun and the smell changes and is no longer as effective. just wash it out and start it again. I found that Jack russel terrier dog poo made the best and cheapest bait.

The wife eventually begged me to get rid of the smells but only after I'd despatched about a thousand flies :-)

it works and it costs nothing but some time to make it. Stealth Pilot

Fly tape? We get that at K-mart or the .99c stores. Its a regular shopping list item in this part of the country.

Gunner

The aim of untold millions is to be free to do exactly as they choose and for someone else to pay when things go wrong.

In the past few decades, a peculiar and distinctive psychology has emerged in England. Gone are the civility, sturdy independence, and admirable stoicism that carried the English through the war years . It has been replaced by a constant whine of excuses, complaints, and special pleading. The collapse of the British character has been as swift and complete as the collapse of British power.

Theodore Dalrymple,

Stop using logic. That's too easy.

I meant no disrespect by my previous comment, Ig. Flies like brand new sandwiches, sodas, coffee, and other things, too.

-- Heard of the Frisbee Religion? They believe that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and you can't get it down. ----

Yes, I did not see any disrespect in your earlier comment.