Fly Killer

Maybe clean or replace the garbage can.

http://www.getridoffliesguide.com/

I will try the dry ice method. This is a plastic trash can furnished y the city. The lid is a loose fit. Now, I've got find a source of dry ice.

Dry ice is available at a lot of grocery stores.

If nothing else, the trashy odors may be somewhat subdued. It does not matter much about a tight fitting lid, CO2 is heavier than air and will probably stick around for quite a while, maybe even several days.

Oh that made me smile this morning.

Its nice to know that in todays day and age of cell phones and computer entertainment someone still has to warn their kids not to play in the trash can.

Ortho has a line of off the shelf products that kill flies and most any other unwanted insects too. Have a look at your local stores pest control section and read some labels.

I was rather fond of the 'Home Defense" insect spray line for some time, if it flew or crawled it died, being one good house spraying lasted 4 - 6 months but they changed their formula or ratios a few years ago and now it's only good for 1 - 2 months at best.

When it's fresh it's very effective for a few weeks but it seems to drop off pretty fast from there.

Is it made by burning tires and catching the condensate?

No. I use that stuff for homemade napalm.

It's the only thing that will knock down our North Dakota ring tailed mosquitos.

"It's the only thing that will knock down our North Dakota ring tailed mosquitos."

I was in North Dakota once. Baseball bats work pretty well. North Dakota and Idaho are the only places where I have seen mosquitoes so large that they have to have FAA registration numbers painted on the side of them.

Don't you have issues with the hypodermic on those sticking in the baseball bat?

Mosquitos??? Big whoop. Try taking on our swarms of black flies sometime. A mosquito makes a small itchy spot you don't even notice until the critter is long gone. You KNOW right away when a black fly has bitten you. I've been known to wear long sleeved shirts and pants, and a winter weight under helmet cap for riding mountain bike on 85 deg days, because I don't went to spend every minute checking for black flies on me. Nothing worse than a bite just before a technical corner on a down hill trail. You can't outrun them buggers.

You just need more lizards....

....or you can catch them by the bucketful and sell to the local pet store, or fish farm....

https://www.planetnatural.com/product/outdoor-fly-trap/

This is a great approach, however beneficial predators are incompatible with poisoning approaches. The predators either find poisoned insects unpalatable and leave, or don't find poisoned insects unpalatable and fail to thrive.

If a decision has been made to abstain from spreading poisons within your own dwelling, an important factor in the success of any alternative plan is likely to depend upon the ability t o get neighbors to also abstain from poisoning themselves.

We don't use poisons, or rarely do, depending on the situation. Too many cats and dogs. We do also have South American geckos here that were accidentally on purpose imported by our predecessor in this house who used to work in the oil fields in South America, Brazil I think, yes they actually do have some oil wells.

Now if we could just the cats (and dogs) to quit targeting the geckos. Every once in a while we retrieve one from a cat after the tail is lost, maybe another appendage. Usually, the little fellows don't make it, shame.

These ones are not green, but are a dark brown, and almost fade into the bricks when they are on a wall. In the grass, they are goners.

I remember having that problem with our trash can when I was a kid. I seem to recall that pouring a small amount of gasoline on the trash, then closing the lid, killed 'em pretty dead.

I think I'll try that. I just hope no one from the street throws a lighted cigarette into it. Since the lid will be closed, the probability of that happening is very remote.

So now you are going to pollute the landfill with even more hydrocarbons. There are already enough landfills in Texas where pipelines have leaked into them, people have disposed of all manner of automotive solutions containing light hydrocarbons, and polluted ground water infiltration.

Not to mention this could be a really serious fire hazard, as already pointed out.

You're joking, right? A few drops of gasoline isn't worth a fly speck (so to speak... ) in a landfill that is already loaded with oily rags and other hydrocarbon refuse. Nor, once the fumes dissipate - which is pretty quick - would those few drops of gasoline make the garbage any more flammable than the hydrocarbon vapors that attracted the flies in the first place.

Who am I to forbid it? Go ahead, by all means, use gasoline, moth balls, whatever gives you a measure of happiness or satisfaction. Right that some of the smells coming out of garbage could kill at 50 paces.

Would that I could come with a device (that anyone affording a garbage can could afford) that would convert garbage to energy and a small cube of inert, mostly inorganic matter. One could engrave the small cubes and gift the less fortunate (homeless) with a brick to build themselves shelter. Not quite there are we? I don't know.

might teach them not to do that!

• Reduce the size and manage the content of meal servings so that rather less in the way of organic material is thrown in the trash; if small enough, flush it instead.
• Rather than throw uncooked vegetal stuff in the trash, consider adding it to the compost heap instead.
• Many public authorities collect "food waste", though noted the USA has never had to suffer food rationing due to armed conflict, unlike some other countries.

"Recycle - the possibilities are endless" - Anon

You make good points, but the last comment about the USA never having food rationing is not correct. See http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/food-rationing-in-wartime-America

Overall, though, the USA has done well by deciding to exist far, far away from many potential and actual enemies.

Damn the flies in Mexico must be massive given the size of the stick pictured!

Flies in Mexico evolved to pick up and fly with stones almost that size. Once, at a Dixie Chics concert in El Paso, TX at the Sun Bowl Stadium, we were enjoying the concert when a sand storm came up from the south west (Mexican side of the border).

We were being pelted with grains of sand at least 10 times larger than ones local to El Paso.

I am sure it was: "The Revenge of the Flies". - I don't think that book has been written, but I can see a parallel to Hitchcock in that title.

replace the stone with a lemon and follow these steps:

1. Wet the wrist with the lemon

2. put salt on the wet spot

3. Lick the salt

4. Drink the Tequila

5. bite into the lemon

6. beat the fly with the stick

If you do 6 before 1 you might see why all the other steps are necessary.

And I suppose you actually expect the flies to stand still during the beating....

Flies in Texas are smart flies engineered by Raytheon. They can spot a stick, wire, fly swatter, rag, towel, hand, or any other solid, liquid, or gas being directed at them, and instantaneously move five feet away. Then you can hear them snickering in a high-pitched voice: "You missed me....you missed me..."

If I miss the fly then I just have an extra shot of Tequila. Until I do not miss anymore.

The other option is to invite the fly for a shot and try again.

Texas flies do drink, right?

Just the bar flies.

Yes, most excellent! This should at least be light entertainment for all the cucarachas smoking cigarettes nearby.

I can't wait until one of those guys lights off papa doc's barrage can with gasoline soaked paper trash in it!

We had a cat that would chase down, catch files, and eat them. I'm not sure how this would work for your garbage can.

We had a cat that would chase down, catch files, and eat them. I'm not sure how this would work for your garbage can. You might end up with a fat cat sitting on the lid.

That can't possibly work in Mexico because the flies there predate cats. Why else would there be flat cats everywhere, covered in flies?

Other ideas:

1) High voltage insect zapper near garbage can. These were popular 10-20 years ago. Nothing like 20KV to warm up the heart of that little fly.

2) I haven't seen these in about 20 years. They require maintenance so nobody wants them. There was some sort of a fan and tapered tube arrangement that would gently pull in insects at the large end of the taper. As the tube narrowed the air speed would increase and the insects were helpless to escape. At the bottom of the tube was a tray (or pan or bowl) of water with soap in it. The air flow would fling the insects into the water. The soapy water would both break the surface tension so the insects couldn't walk-on-water and break the surface tension so the insect's little noses (air holes or whatever) would get plugged. Go out every few days to dump the dead bug soup and add fresh soapy water.

I was told that oil worked well too. Olive oil or cooking oil should be environmentally friendly.

Neither solution does exactly what you want but if you kill the flies near the top of the garbage can you will greatly reduce the number of eggs inside the garbage can. A few dead mosquitoes are just an added benefit.

Camphor repells insects. Throw a couple of moth balls in the can.

Camphor is not moth balls here in Texas, it is naphthalene, and is the starting point for napalm. Recipe: moth balls, palmoic acid, sodium salt (soap), and gasoline. Vary the ratio so it just sticks to the fly, and does not produce a heady foam when stirred, not shaken.

The only thing missing from the scenario in the morning is the smell of burning cordite.

Naphthalene is a potent environmental toxin, and should not be disposed of in the landfill.

Moth balls should still do the trick. Rosemary oil is 10 to 20 percent camphor.

Try cleaning out the bin and then leave a little bleach in it, that'll kill any maggots.

About 10 years ago I purchased an electric flying insect killer at True Value, it cost $20.00 then. It works very well & there is no need for soap,oil, or cleaning up.

Stinger model UV 15

Dejay Corp. Holbrook, Ma 02343

The unit operates on 117vac & uses a 100 watt # B1515 uv lamp

Did you forget to mention it also will give or has given you cataracts?

Sorry for bumping this, but I had a similar insect killer from True Value. I wanted to buy a new one but can't really find anything similar in my area. How do you think would any of these zappers be as effective as this one? I'm looking for a fairly cheap one. Thanks.

I just plug it in and let it do its job, I don't stare at the darn thing like it's a form of entertainment.

Although seeing and hearing those little buggers getting zapped is kinda fun.

True, I just like to joke around, but do be safe.

A very meaningful event, I hope everything will go well candy crush soda