Got Flies? 5 Questions to Ask Your Pest Control Provider

There’s more to fly control than you think. Inspection, exclusion, sanitation and mechanical control should make up the full package to help keep flies out of your facility. That’s why it’s important to work with your pest management provider to come up with a comprehensive plan for helping manage – and prevent – this filthy pest. (Download our free Comprehensive Guide to Flies & Fly Control Strategy to learn about the most common flies and where to find them).

Here are some key questions to ask your pest control provider to make sure you are attacking flies at the source:

Which pest spreads the most disease?

Contrary to popular belief, flies – not cockroaches – are the filthiest pests. Flies have only two wings, so they aren’t as good at flying as other four-winged insects. This means they land frequently, giving them more opportunities to pick up and transmit disease. Your pest management provider should know that flies are the dirtiest pest.

What is the severity of your facility’s fly problem?

Some flies are worse than others, and your pest management provider should be able to identify the type of fly you are dealing with. For example, the house fly is more likely to spread disease than the fruit fly because of their eating and breeding preferences. Asking this question can help you prioritize as you develop a fly control plan.

Have you found the source of the problem?

Remember, fly sightings likely indicate a sanitation or maintenance issue, so simply eliminating the adult flies is not going to solve your problem. Flies have separate breeding and eating sites, so fly larvae live and eat in a different location than the adults. Finding the breeding site is critical to treating a fly problem.

What are you doing now and in the long term?

Flies can enter a building in many ways, so your pest management provider should do more than rely only on traditional treatments. Exclusion methods help keep new flies out, and mechanical controls trap flies that are already inside. In the long term, your pest management provider should work with you to develop a plan for preventing fly infestations with improved sanitation and maintenance practices. Pest management techniques change over time, so also ask your pest management professional about new technology they could be using.

Can you provide employee training?

The best way to keep flies away from your facility is to remove the food sources and odors that attract them in the first place. To do this, you need your employees to know the sanitation techniques that keep flies at bay. With employee turnover in mind, your pest management provider should schedule regular, ongoing trainings to keep your staff up-to-date on best practices for keeping pests out of your facility — especially if you’re in a business that relies on food safety protocols.

Integrated Pest Management programs that use exclusion, mechanical and sanitation techniques are more effective in treating flies than traditional remediation alone. Knowing what questions to ask is the first step toward developing a successful fly control strategy. To learn more about treatment options and find out why flies are the dirtiest pest (and a threat to your business), download our free Comprehensive Guide to Flies & Fly Control Strategy.