House invaded by Tiny Flies

[The Critic]

Last night, the north side of my house was suddenly invaded by thousands of these tiny flies. They appeared to be entering thru gaps in the windows and various other openings.

I think I traced their origin to the retaining wall in my backyard, which is near open space.

Does anyone know what these are and why they’d suddenly invade?

It was an unusually warm October evening for us (85+).

In the interim, I have treated the exterior window frames with Scion Insecticide and applied Alpine Fly Bait on the inside of the window frames and also around the recessed lighting (on the ceiling). This has the situation mostly under control, but I’m still a bit concerned on next steps.

 

[bdcardinal]

We have those down here too.

Unrelated: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

 

[Passport1]

Fruit flies?

Happy b-day to you and me too!

 

[Soft Cars]

What I'll do with flies is I'll close all the doors and take the window screen off one window. Usually they will all fly out eventually.

If the flies are stubborn and still don't want to leave the house, I'll escalate the situation to more drastic measures:

Amazon

 

[JohnnyG]

Blame it on climate change like the rest of CA

 

[The Critic]

Blame it on climate change like the rest of CA

I tried, but my “household manager” demanded a better answer.

 

[JohnnyG]

Bug ZAPPER!

 

[SHOZ]

be dead in a week from natural causes....

 

[levi]

Got 'em here in Central Indiana, too. My theory is highly specialized CIA drones...

 

[vavavroom]

They look like circle flies to me. Abandon ship!

 

[MasterSolenoid]

What I'll do with flies is I'll close all the doors and take the window screen off one window. Usually they will all fly out eventually.

Amazon

What would work also is if you put a bright light outside (turn off inside lights).
That should get them to move outside.

This also works if you can't catch a fly in the house.
By turning lights OFF and other lights ON, you can move the fly from room to room, eventually outside.
I'm not a fly lover .... I do own a fly-swatter.

 

[E150GT]

we have them in texas. I wouldnt say by the thousands but we got this little blue light that plugs in the wall and it has a sticky trap on it. Works pretty good.

 

[vavavroom]

be dead in a week from natural causes....

Is there anything we can do to prolong your suffering?

 

[Passport1]

Get yourself one of these and improve your marksmanship. I have one and it's great fun.

 

[JHZR2]

Are you sure they’re flies? Seem long and skinny.

Id suspect they’re some kind of fruit flies, maybe came from something rotting outside? We get a few fruit flies if we don’t empty our compost collection can often enough.

Ive never run any insecticide in my home. Because of the basements and relatively high water table, homes here are a few steps up off the ground, and this helps a ton with keeping any kinds of bugs out. When we get the fruit flies from the compost bin, I use some apple cider vinegar, soap, and water in a bowl, cover it with saran wrap, pierce it with a few holes, and have a fly trap. It works great.

 

[bbhero]

Last night, the north side of my house was suddenly invaded by thousands of these tiny flies. They appeared to be entering thru gaps in the windows and various other openings.

I think I traced their origin to the retaining wall in my backyard, which is near open space.

Does anyone know what these are and why they’d suddenly invade?

It was an unusually warm October evening for us (85+).

In the interim, I have treated the exterior window frames with Scion Insecticide and applied Alpine Fly Bait on the inside of the window frames and also around the recessed lighting (on the ceiling). This has the situation mostly under control, but I’m still a bit concerned on next steps.

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These are your Happy Birthday flies…

Hope you are having a good day today on your birthday buddy.

And my non seeing self first thought your thread title was about FLEAS… I was like holy cow… Then I saw it was just flies.

Trust me I have had a bad, bad flea problem at an apartment long ago… It was rough.

 

[Chris142]

Whenever we buy organic food we get small flys. We spent most of the summer trying to get them out of the ice maker in the refrigerator.

 

[97prizm]

Zevo non toxic spray works well

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

Did you bring in any potted plants recently? If so, a non-toxic soil treatment might help. Also, clean all your drains.

Edit: took a closer look… never seen anything like these before. Weird.

 

[Kruse]

If you are sitting outside, do they have a mild bite? In other words, do they bite humans? A local farm and garden radio show called them pirate flies. And, yes, Mother Nature will take care of them soon.