Whack: The Disgusting Disease Carrying Fly

The common fly is more than just an annoying pest. It is a carrier of many types of diseases. Here are some ideas to keep your family healthy before you have this unwanted visitor at your summer picnic.

The common fly is more than just an annoying pest. It is a carrier of many types of diseases. Here are some ideas to keep your family healthy before you have this unwanted visitor at your summer picnic.

The common fly is such a pesky pest. But did you know that it carries over 1 million different bacteria on its body? Flies eat puke basically. They vomit on whatever it is that they want to eat and then suck it up with their tongue. You see flies don’t have teeth and they vomit their stomach liquid on whatever they want to eat. The stomach fluid then liquefies the solid portion and the fly laps it up.

Flies also have Velcro feet that they use for hanging upside-down and claws that they use on level ground. A fly has an adhesive solution that it shoots out of its claws to walk upside-down. As it walks hanging upside down the gunk solution attracts germ critters that hang on to the gunk and get a free ride.

The common housefly uses the hair on its legs and feet like people use their tongues. The hairs tell the fly if wherever they land is good for a meal. Then the fly pukes on the area it wants to liquefy and slurps it up with its tongue.

The fly sees the world as a great big buffet restaurant and it is constantly retching, and licking it all up.

Anatomy of a Housefly

Flies can carry all kinds of terrible diseases such as Salmonella, typhoid, dysentery, cholera, and anthrax and worm parasites. So here are some tips to keep you and your family healthy:

  1. Keep your dog’s yard area free of poop. Flies love any kind of poop and you will have a fly festival rather quickly if you don’t pick it up regularly.
  2. Always cover any picnic food that is outside. I have seen some little food umbrellas that look attractive and cover food. But plastic wrap or foil does the job too.
  3. You need screens on your doors and windows as they act as an additional barrier to keep the pests outside
  4. You can buy fly bags to hang in you yard too. The fly lands on the bag and its hairy feet tell it that its dinner again. Only this time the fly gets trapped in the bag.and eventually dies.
  5. You have to take the take the kitchen trash out at least once a day and dispose it in an outdoor trashcan with a lid.
  6. Always throw out the part of the food where the fly landed. Those one million germs are all over it!
  7. If a fly gets into your house use a fly swatter to whack it! Then use a disinfectant cleaner to wipe up the fly trail and the fly swatter.
  8. A friend who owned a horse stable swore by her own homemade concoction ofone cup of Avon’s “Skin So Soft” lotion, one cup of white vinegar and 12 drops
  9. of eucalyptus oil. She not only used this recipe on her horses, but on herself and
  10. her kids as well. ( Note: I do not sell Avon products, but I have used this
  11. particular lotion as a bug repellent.)

The season of picnics and outdoor eating is almost upon us. So stay healthy and avoid these disease carrying pests that thrive in the summer heat.

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