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Welcome to another episode of Peskies Pest Control podcast here in Birmingham Alabama with Michael and Travis. We do this podcast as a community service for Birmingham, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, Helena, Alabaster, Pelham and all other surrounding areas!
Michael Wienecke:
Hey, so today I want to talk about what I would consider the most annoying pest on the planet inside a home.
Travis McGowin:
That’s a bold statement.
Michael Wienecke:
For me, for me anyway, because there’s nothing worse than when you are trying to wash dishes or make food or you know, I’ve got a four year old trying to make a sandwich the other Housefly flying all over the food, just driving me nuts.
Travis McGowin:
Or what about what about your backyard barbecue because you can walk outside on your porch and be fine. But the moment that you light the grill, here they come.
Michael Wienecke:
Oh, I know it. I know it. And then if you have dogs, which I do have dogs and they poop in the yard or sometimes the really smart one likes to poop on the deck and then we get flies all over the poop. So as soon as someone’s opening and closing the door, we’ve got flies in there and it’s just I’m almost ready for winter because we won’t have so many flies.
Travis McGowin:
I don’t know. Well, here in Alabama, you know, winter can be so iffy and questionable. So I have seen it, you know, 28 degrees and freezing on Christmas Day. And then I’ve also seen it 75 degrees humid and raining on Christmas Day too. So you know, we’re so wishy washy were so back and forth. Hopefully we get a winner that will kill some of these pests. Yeah, I’m very surprised that flies are up there with mosquitoes on the on the hatred scale, I think, in terms of pests. I really like you said, they’ll go and they’ll land on something nasty outside, whether it be, you know, animal droppings. And then they want to come and land on you and your food while you’re eating and then transmit those transmit those germs to whatever it is that you’re eating. And it’s just not a good situation.
Michael Wienecke:
No, I agree. And I will say I am fortunate enough to be able to treat it myself. So we do get rid of the flies. But in the process before getting rid of the flies, it’s very annoying when you’re trying to do something, they’re flying around. And then the one, you know, the other day, I was chasing them all throughout the house and he was smart. I mean, he would not land on a single thing. He was going through the bedrooms. He was going back into the kitchen. He would disappear for 20 minutes and then my son would yell and be like, oh, he’s back in the living room. And it just drove me nuts.
Travis McGowin:
It never fails when you go to when you go to try to swat them or kill them, they’re going to take off. I have a lot of customers that ask me about that. Is there anything you can do for flies? Is there anything you can do? Is there anything we can do to prevent them? And I want to be like, well, never open your doors and eat inside.
Michael Wienecke:
Close the doors, close the windows, close your garage and just seal everything up in your house
Travis McGowin:
And never leave. But we all know life’s not that simple. So like Michael said, we have our ways and our methods. But a lot of it, prevention can be helpful, too. So there’s some there’s some conducive conditions. There’s going to be some things that homeowners can’t control. I live out in a very rural area. Right down from me is some fenced off areas with cows and horses. I am just realistic about my situation and my customers that are near me will never completely get rid of them. As long as you have animals, dogs, cats, if you have livestock close by or in your There’s always going to be some form of attractant that’s going to draw them in. And that’s the unfortunate part. So you’re never ever going to completely get rid of them. And, you know, add on the fact that they fly. They’re a flying insect. So they can come from one space way away and come an invader. So but Michael, what are some things that we can do around our house, maybe around our back porch inside our house that helps us deter flies from wanting to come in or things that we can do to get rid of them?
Michael Wienecke:
Well, I’m not an infomercial guy, but the the the magnetized click lock. What do they call it? Screen door.
Travis McGowin:
Oh, yeah. You’re talking about the little screen mesh that you can hang up at your door and it kind of snaps back when you walk through it down the center.
Michael Wienecke:
Right. But I’m just kidding. That’s that’s I would I would use one of those. Now, the best way to get rid of them or to help prevent is just, you know, keeping keeping your the bush line around your house. So like your your rosebud or rose bushes, your bushes around, just keeping that kind of trim nicely, keeping any water sources away. If you have a big bucket, say you were, you know, doing something like the other day, I was doing something with concrete. I left a bucket by the house that’s causing another fly issue. We’ve corrected that. Trash. If you’ve got your trash cans right up against your house. I know a lot of HOA’s require you to put which blows my mind, requires you to put your trash can in your garage. I’ve never understood that. It causes a lot of other pest issues besides flies. But that’s a no no, in my opinion. So if if you do have an HOA, roll it around, put it behind the fence and and you’ll be good away from the house. Don’t put it right up against the house. But sometimes we’ll see where, you know, people put trash bags on the front of the porch, the back porch, your barbecue grill. And, you know, you filled all that old food or whatever. And you’re you put it on the back porch. And then there’s flies, you know, hundreds of flies and 20, I’d say 20 percent are going to get in your house. So just keeping everything nice and neat, clean up. Don’t leave a bunch of junk around.
Travis McGowin:
Yeah. And, you know, I mean, you’re talking about trash. I like that because, I mean, I don’t know. We keep our garbage cans close to the road away from our house. Occasionally, I go out there and use our treatment. And I may treat the lids of the garbage can, too, just because it is such an attractant for for flies. There are sometimes that all open those garbage can lids to put trash in. And there’s fly larva climbing around all inside the garbage can. Of course, you know, I mean, it’s nasty there. You know, they’re maggots. I hate to say it. That’s gross. It’s a gross word. Nobody likes it, but they’re maggots. So trying to eliminate a breeding site of garbage is definitely going to be helpful, too. You can only do so much if you live in a neighborhood. I like how you mentioned HOAs. But if you live in a neighborhood, you can’t control your neighbor. It’s the same for flies. It’s the same for mosquitoes. If they’ve got a water site, a breeding site there that’s stagnant, you can’t control your neighbors. But I promise you, as a homeowner, doing those little bitty things that we’re talking about, getting rid of trash and keeping your house and the outside and the inside properly picked up are definitely going to help make a difference in the fly population around your home.
Michael Wienecke:
100 percent. Also, I’ll say another thing with trash cans. Clean your trash cans out. You know.
Travis McGowin:
Actually they have services now that come around and do that. In some cities or some companies, they have a truck. And for X amount of dollars a week or a month, I don’t know what the cost would be. But there are some services now that will come and actually wash your trash can for you right there at the side of the road.
Michael Wienecke:
There’s a business for everything.
Travis McGowin:
There sure is.
Michael Wienecke:
I actually haven’t seen any in my neighborhood, but that that’s pretty cool. So yeah, like I said, if if you wanted to do it yourself, I would do it on a on a, you know, two weeks schedule. That should help out a lot.
