Integration of Fly Baits, Traps, and Cords to Kill House Flies (Diptera: Muscidae) and Reduce Annoyance

Abstract

Combinations of commercial fly baits, traps, and cords were evaluated for integration into a fly management system. Imidacloprid granular and sprayable baits caused house fly, Musca domestica L., mortality at a faster rate than methomyl granular fly bait; however, the methomyl granular bait had the highest overall mortality at 24 h. Commercial fly traps had a variety of designs that resulted in differences in efficiency for retaining house flies. Among 6 commercial traps tested, the Trap n' Toss™ (Farnam Companies, Inc., Phoenix, AZ) captured the most flies, and the design was selected for our field cage studies. These cage studies with flies (~300) determined that without treated cord or attractant, fly traps captured and killed 5% of the fly population; whereas, fly traps with attractant captured and killed only 14% of the population in the first 24 h. A 46-cm cord (6 mm diam.) dipped in 2.5% imidacloprid was looped around a fly trap (identical to the Trap n' Toss), and the trap was baited with commercial fly attractant. The addition of the bait-treated cord killed 60 - 70% of flies at 24 h and 84 - 90% at 48 h. However, bait-treated fly cords used alone killed 70% of flies at 24 h and 94% at 48 h and demonstrated the relatively poor efficiency of commercial fly traps. Fly annoyance was eliminated by the high fly mortality resulting from the use of bait-treated cords. Bait-treated cords can be used to improve the efficiency of fly management programs, either in conjunction with commercial fly traps or alone.