Flies, Flies, Flies!

Having animals and, despite cleaning their cages now two times a week in an effort to keep the flies away, we still get close to 200 from may to september. We bought a fly zapper (one of those UV lights that zaps them) and we turn it on at night but it never seems to catch more than two overnight. Swatting them is impossible when you have ten in one room.

I've tried more natural methods because of the animals and because both me and my parents have asthma, so things like fly sprays and scents make us coke and cough. Fly paper never seems to do the trick either, although it does catch the odd few. I recently put citronella drops on cotton wool on each windowsill and at the front and back doors but it's too soon to see if it's working.

I'd heard that hanging bags of water at doorways confuses the eyes when they come in as it has a negative effect on their eyes and I'd also heard that they hate the smell of basil and will fly away from it which would be perfect if I put it at windows and doors.

Does anyone else have any natural tricks for stopping flies getting in the house?

When I was young my mom used to take care of those in the house at night especially if they were on the ceiling she would use hot water with a little bit of soap or Clorox but I can't clearly remember which one it was and get underneath the fly and slowly raise it up with the fly in the middle and encasing it. Then the fly would be overcome with the heat and whatever and fall into the water.

But my old adage that we still use today is the trusty old fly swatter but this link may also help too...
http://www.ehow.com/how_5137321_kill-house-flies-using-chemicals.html

Ouza

I actually read that catnip is effective in repelling certain insects—mosquitos, cockroaches, and flies all being mentioned. However, it seems that the flies that catnip repels are STABLE flies; I don't know if HOUSE flies would be affected, but catnip may be worth a try. By the way, it's an oil that can he distilled from catnip that works as the repellent; it's apparently even more effective than an equivalent amount of DEET! For example, it's TEN TIMES more effective than DEET (which is normally used in insect repellents) against mosquitoes.

Link (read some of the footnotes/footnoted links too xP): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepeta_cataria

you know, i have never heard about the catnip trick! however, i can vouch for the basil. i used to work at a diner, back when i was about 16, and they grew fresh herbs like basil and lemongrass in their backyard, and now that i think about it, there never were many flies back there. maybe the smell is just too potent, and it ends up confusing them and driving them away?

either way, having windowboxes full of basil might do the trick!

http://eartheasy.com/live_natpest_control.htm#f

Here's another one I found to possibly give you more ideas but elsewhere it said that the only flies for catnip would be for white flies.

Ouza