I know an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don’t know why she swallowed the fly
Perhaps she’ll die
I am not quite sure what they were thinking, or perhaps, smoking, when they busted out this weird little ditty about a woman eating a fly, and then a bunch of other things, but for some strange reason it was catchy enough to span decades, and kids have been singing about the fly-eating lady for years.
Given that house flies are the most common insect on the planet, it is no surprise that they made their way into the old lady’s house and ultimately into the song. Measuring between 4 and 7 1/2 millimeters, house flies are gray-colored with stripes on the thorax. They are covered in small hairs and have compound eyes that allow them to see in all directions. Their small size doesn’t do justice to how big of a nuisance they are when they are buzzing around your house. Perhaps the old lady got so frustrated that she just up and ate it. She’ll show the fly who is boss.
House Fly Lifecycle
Or maybe not. Flies are pretty filthy. Where there is filth and feces and foul food and a bunch of other f words, there will be flies. They feed and breed in the grossest things. Once they locate something that is exceptionally disgusting, it’s baby time. At one time, mama flies can lay up to 500 pale-colored eggs that resemble grains of rice. Five hundred eggs. One mama fly. And since she can do this five to six times in her lifetime, according to my stellar math skills, this one mama fly can single-handedly lay 2,500 – 3,000 eggs. That is a hard no for this bug blogger.
After the eggs are deposited in whatever nasty filth the mama deems perfect for her litter of egg babies, the eggs become maggots within the first 24 hours. The maggots then go through the pupa stage and then finally reach adulthood. The entire life cycle, from egg to adult takes place within seven to 10 days. What this boils down to is the simple common core math fact that in no time flat, you can have a house filled with flies.
Since adult flies can live around 20 to 25 days, with the fittest flies celebrating a 30-day birthday, it is best to rid your home of any possible breeding grounds. Trash, feces, rotting organic materials, and spoiled food are just a few potential labor and delivery wards for the house fly.
Do House Flies Transmit Diseases?
Besides the fact that they are a big, fat, buzzing, pain in your ear, house flies can transmit diseases that are harmful to both humans and pets. Since they like to go clubbing on dead animals, rotten food, manure, and take part in a bunch of other filthy fly festivities, they pick up pathogens that they spread to food and water which can then lead to food poisoning, dysentery, and even tuberculosis. This is where a fly infestation can really do some serious harm, and it is important to get rid of them as soon as possible.
How To Get Rid of House Flies
While fly eating to rid your home of flies is always an option, I would not recommend it. In fact, I am thinking that since the old lady swallowed a spider to catch the fly, she must have realized the error of her ways. Instead, how about if you let HowToPest.com solve all of your fly needs? No fly eating, no spider eating, just straight up, high-quality products to free your home of those filthy house flies.
