A Really Gross Question About Flies!

Get several fly traps.
It attracts the flies. They go into it. And can't get out and die in that solution in the bag.
Place it outside at key points.
Places like Home Depot will have it.

The sudden influx of flies, could be due to anything, or something at a neighbor's house/yard.
Or if there are animals around and a pile of poop somewhere, all those maggots and flies hatching from it.

If the woman at terminix actually said that, please call another exterminator. Or let them know that their receptionist doesn't know enought about insects to have conversations with potential customers.

Flies lay eggs, which turn to maggots, which hatch into flies. They DO like decomposing things (garbage, dead stuff, etc.), but they don't COME FROM the dead stuff - the eggs are laid in it.

There is no autogenesis of flies deriving from a carcass. There is a single fly that laid eggs somewhere - perhaps in the carcass of a rodent, perhaps in the main drain in the basement. We had a perpetual problem with the main drain getting sludgy. A fly would get into the house, be attracted to the main drain, lay eggs, and suddenly our basement is filled with flies! We learned to cover the drain in the summer. No more problems.

Oddly, the only time I have problems now is when I cook meats in the crock pot in the summer - if I leave the back door open, there is a gap in the screen door that allows flies in. But they only come in if the crock pot is on.

I'll be curious what Terminix can do about it.

A fly lays eggs, the eggs hatch into maggots, the maggots mature into flys. That's the life cycle. Flys prefer to lay their eggs in areas of decomposition, like carcasses, sewers, garbage.
If you have a sudden fly infestation, you're most likely killing a batch of newly transformed maggots and some kind of something rotting somewhere.

I am seconding the receptionist is an idiot!

Chances are there is something outside producing them that has now been finished off by scavengers and you are wasting your money having the exterminator come out.

When did your trash service come last?

Never had this problem but just google it, you're not the only one!

http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/13667/where-could-...

I have not experienced this before, but I am having a hard time believing it is a dead rodent. Wouldn't that stink to high heaven? I'm pretty sure it would. I suspect some sort of migration, but that's only a guess. I would call a couple of other companies and get an opinion. Try Alpha Pest.

In the meantime why not do a google search on something like "sudden fly infestation."

One more thing...... are you sure they are flies? Do you know what termites look like?

Good Luck!

Never had that problem in the house and never as a result of a dead rodent.
To produce that many flies I'd think it would have to be something larger than a rat that died and you'd smell it if that was the case.
Several years ago we had a power outage and I had to trow out spoiled meat from the freezer.
Garbage pick up was delayed and in spite of double bagging the meat in plastic trash bags the flies found the rotting meat and swarmed.
The trash can was covered in maggots.
Even after trash pickup resumed I had to hose out the can several times, dump in a few boxes of baking soda and hose it out again before the smell and maggots were gone.
It was beyond disgusting.

A few years ago, we had a dead squirrel that had fallen down our chimney and died on top of the closed flue of our fireplace. It was summer and there was a terrible smell so I knew something had died in there. A chimney sweep came and got rid of it but a few days later we had the plague of flied that had hatched (ewwww) and come out the vents on the sides of the fireplace walls. Spent a few days killing them and then there was what I think was a second hatching with even bigger flies. I think Terminix is right but you have to find the dead thing first. Sorry.

Ugh, right?! We've recently moved to Idaho and the flies are the worst I've EVER seen! I just discovered a slightly bent frame to one of my window screens, so I believe that this may be one way for them to enter. Have you checked all your screens? They are able to get into the tiniest of spaces. In a way, it would be awesome if some rodent up and keeled over in your house.. at least then you could be rid of it and hopefully all the flies at the same time! Do your neighbors have the same problem? I've learned that the flies are worse this year than normal, so I know it's not something like that. Good luck with the Terminix folks.

Be very very careful with terminex. They will say and do anything to get your money. We had them to treat sugar ants. Paid them a fortune and they made the problem worse. Then I freaked out I thought I had a swarm of termites in my house. I captured a few and killed them called terminex over to which they told me they were indeed termites. I set up for tx which would cost me 5k. The day before they were to come install some underground thing I saw the same bugs flying all around the neighborhood to when I asked my neighbor what they were he said just bugs from all the heat. He said termites would never be flying all over the neighborhood. Needless to say I was pretty upset that terminex was about to take 5k from me knowing damn well those were not termites. I would call another company. Good luck.

I had a horrible problem one year. There were literally flies everywhere! I even had hubby "guarding" me while I cooked! It lasted a couple of days and stopped as suddenly as it started. I did not smell the smell of a dead rodent (I AM familiar with that smell) so I don't know what caused mine either. It was sooooo gross! I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie!

I had a problem like this in my basement earlier this year. My bug guy (not a terminix rep) told me that it doesn't really do any good to spray for them, since the root cause is probably a dead rodent or garbage or something like that somewhere. I couldn't smell anything, but that must have been our problem as they cleared up in a couple of weeks. I did put up some sticky fly strips where I saw them most, and that caught quite a few. I don't think I'd let terminix spray.

As to the possibility of a dead rodent. There could be one and you not be able to smell it. We had an infestation of rats in the basement a few years back and still sometimes find a carcas when we move boxes. We never smelled them.

I suggest, tho, that the flies were more likely there because of one of the reasons listed by Katrina. Flies come inside on the fall as the weather cools. I would cancel the Terminex appointment for now. Your problem may be G.one