House flies arising from the dead.

Forums › Off topic › House flies arising from the dead.

JaseNZ

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#193709 21-Mar-2016 16:31

Did anybody else catch the section on house flies on fair go last week. Basically they had something like 19 flies and they got sprayed with fly spray and all hit the deck. They were put into a container and after some time they all but one were back up and flying around.

This stems from another guy who has been testing all brands of spray at home with pretty much the same results. The spray companies all pretty much fobbed him off.

Is this a case of flies becoming resistant to common fly sprays so we now have super flies. I cannot stand these things with a passion and I dread the thought of not being able to kill these things.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

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#1517047 21-Mar-2016 16:36

Next thing we will mix it with a lighter, or drown it in half a can like whitetails!

God forsaking summer dumb flies. Fly in squares and just smash into stuff like your head or screen or tv just to annoy you

Poll

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#1517058 21-Mar-2016 16:49

I'm a fan of the electric fly swatters, fry them all!

oxnsox

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#1517059 21-Mar-2016 16:51

The Zombie apocalypse is not real, now matter how much you spend on your preparations.

But 'Fair go' showed that zombie flies could be.
Probably cheaper and easier to prepare for this.

robjg63

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#1517063 21-Mar-2016 17:09

For that "what makes you feel old thread"....

When I was a kid you sprayed a few seconds of flyspray in a room and shut the door for 5 minutes.

When you came back - they were dead - and stayed dead!

God knows what toxic cr*p the spray had in it - but it did kill flies!

I think that flyspray is now just some nice sleepy time gas for bugs.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

jmh

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#1517064 21-Mar-2016 17:09

I have thought recently that my flyspray seems a bit pathetic. It doesn't seem to knock em dead like they used to. I wonder if it's like the modern-day cold and flu remedies. I couldn't understand why none of them worked until I was told that the active ingredient (which is readily available in the UK) has been banned and the OTC remedies are reformulated. So now they don't work. Apparently some naughty people were making drugs out of it, so now the entire population has to do without an effective cold treatment.

Fred99

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#1517074 21-Mar-2016 17:30

I think it could well be two things going on here.

House flies probably developing resistance to synthetic pyrethroids, combined with the major multinationals quietly removing a chemical - Piperonyl Butoxide - from formulations as there's some question marks over the effect of exposure. It is a synergist - not specifically a pesticide but increases efficacy of synthetic pyrethroids. So we've probably got flies more resistant to the pesticides which aren't as effective as they used to be anyway.

If you check product labels in supermarkets, then you'll probably find that Piperonyl Butoxide is still listed for product sold under some house brands, but the risk-averse US based multinationals reformulated away from it over the past few years. Piperonyl Butoxide might be safe - but it's one of those things where if it wasn't, and as it'd been suggested to cause developmental harm in babies/children, then if it did blow up as a real issue it will get massive publicity and would be extremely commercially damaging.

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MikeB4

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#1517075 21-Mar-2016 17:32

If they are not deceased then I would think that the manufacturers of the sprays have "watered" them down as opposed to the flies being resistant

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Fred99

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#1517091 21-Mar-2016 17:43

MikeB4:

If they are not deceased then I would think that the manufacturers of the sprays have "watered" them down as opposed to the flies being resistant

Well they do get resistant - that's been long known, and the effect of removing the synergist is a kind of watering down of the rest of the active ingredients - as they're less effective. Any resistance probably not noticed so much until they did remove the Piperonyl Butoxide, as the mechanism for how that works is to inhibit the ability of the fly's system to quickly break down the (pyrethroid) toxin. So if they aren't killed outright, it makes sense that they can get up and going again. The spray without piperonyl butoxide seems to be good on other flying insects, but useless on flies - if they have developed resistance, then perhaps it didn't happen in homes, but in agricultural use (chicken farms etc) and perhaps the commercial insecticides they use still contain piperonyl butoxide.

mattwnz

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#1517093 21-Mar-2016 17:47

At a guess I would think it is more a case of them having removed the chemicals which were known problems to human. Personally I never use them, as hardly ever have any in the house. The ultra violet plug in things which emit a purple light, are supposed to be effective, you see them in restaurant kitchens. Quite cheap too from bunnings.

CYaBro

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#1517115 21-Mar-2016 18:09

Hmmm I just sprayed a massive wasp nest this morning, before sunrise, with Mortein.
They appeared to die but perhaps when I get home they will have awoken and doubled in size and are now extra angry??!!

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

timmmay

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#1517117 21-Mar-2016 18:12

Kill them with fire.

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jmh

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#1517118 21-Mar-2016 18:12

I do use fly screens and try to minimise using them, but when I do use them I expect them to work. And sometimes if you use a weaker version you end up using more of it. E.g. people who smoke 'lite' cigarettes tend to smoke more.

Brumfondl

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#1517120 21-Mar-2016 18:15

CYaBro:

Hmmm I just sprayed a massive wasp nest this morning, before sunrise, with Mortein.
They appeared to die but perhaps when I get home they will have awoken and doubled in size and are now extra angry??!!

It is possible. From other discussions in this thread it is also possible that they will be buzzing the wasp equivalent of 'Brainssss'...

Fred99

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#1517126 21-Mar-2016 18:34

Arm yourself for the zombie fly apocalypse.

vexxxboy

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#1517134 21-Mar-2016 18:50

timmmay:

Kill them with fire.

bit dangerous ,, Petrol works especially if they are underground . A couple of litres down the opening and seal. all dead and hive useless in 2-3 days . Gets the adrenaline going i tell you .

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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