flies
Location: St. Louis, MO
June 22, 2011 10:55 am
Recently my family and I have noticed flies in our kitchen. (They look bigger
than normal houseflies, and are showing up in great numbers.) We don’t know
where they are coming from or what type they are. The flies have red eyes, red
head, and a hairy body.
-The Fogarty Family
Signature: The Fogarty Family

Flesh Fly

Dear Fogarty Family,
You have Flesh Flies.  Some species breed in rotting meat and others breed in other types of rotting organic matter.  In our Glassell Park studio in the 1980s, we had a horrible infestation of Flesh Flies that bred in the rotting potatoes under the kitchen sink.  Take out the garbage more frequently especially when the weather is especially warm.

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Attack of the flies!
Location: Pleasanton, CA
June 20, 2011 3:45 pm
Before this morning, I haven’t seen more than 2 flies in my home at one time. Last night the coast was clear and then this morning I woke up to my hallway covered in these suckers. They look like house flies but gray and probably like 5 times bigger. At first none of them were flying, only crawling around like a spider would but then when it started to get warmer during the day they flew all over. I took to the internet and tried to identify the best I could and the closest I saw was a stable fly. Um, how and why?! Orkin man came later on in the day and sprayed and said that I had nothing to worry about that it’s not what I think it is. He told me that it’s just a bigger version of a green house fly. I was comforted until he said that because it looks nothing like that! These things are resilient too. I sprayed one with Windex and Pinsol and then stomped on it and it was still squirming!
These are the best pictures that I could get since all the other ones I killed have all their guts smashed out and markings are not quite visible any longer.
Please tell me I’m wrong in thinking that this is a stable fly. I would love to be wrong. And/or tell me that I’m overreacting to the dangers. I keep thinking that I’ll go to sleep tonight just to wake up to welts from bites and have more of these suckers on the wall and everywhere around me!
Signature: Scared and paranoid

Flesh Fly

Dear Scared and paranoid,
We hope we are able to comfort you by telling you that this is NOT a Stable Fly, though our actual identification might send you over the edge.  This is a Flesh Fly in the family Sarcophagidae.  We also don’t believe the Orkin Man solved your problem, though we are certain he had no problems separating you from your money.  All he could succeed in doing was to kill the living Flesh Flies that had emerged in your home, but he could do nothing to prevent future occurrences.  Flesh Flies do not bite and the adults do not pose any threat to you.  Flesh Flies breed in decaying organic matter, including decomposing animals.  Perhaps there was a dead animal in the walls which resulted in your Flesh Fly invasion.  When the weather is warm, Flesh Flies may breed very quickly in decaying food like meat bones and fat or fish carcasses in the garbage can that has not been properly emptied.  Once, we had some rotten potatoes under the sink and that proved to be a breeding ground for Flesh Flies.  You need to locate the source of the invasion, though Flesh Flies will not continue to breed in a carcass once it has passed a certain stage of decomposition.  Generally, once the original infestation has occurred, you do not need to worry about subsequent invasions.  See BugGuide for additional information on Flesh Flies.

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