Fly infestation in door seal

Thanks everyone for the extremely useful suggestions and info. I will grab an insecticide pen and get to work. Good to hear though that they aren’t harmful to humans. The thought of them in the fridge is grim!
 
Thanks everyone for the extremely useful suggestions and info. I will grab an insecticide pen and get to work. Good to hear though that they aren’t harmful to humans. The thought of them in the fridge is grim!
Fresh meat me lad.
 
Thanks everyone for the extremely useful suggestions and info. I will grab an insecticide pen and get to work. Good to hear though that they aren’t harmful to humans. The thought of them in the fridge is grim!
They didn't get into my fridge even though I'd left the door open to prevent mould. They got through the fridge vents into the void behind the fridge and the kitchen cabinets. When the fridge started up on 12v, the warmth must have woken them up and, as previously described, the result wasn't pretty :(
 
We taste like chicken, apparently…🤣
Remember this.
chicken.png
 
I opened my motorhome driver’s door on Saturday to go out for the weekend and was greeted by a swarm of houseflies which had been residing in the door seal! Probably around 30 and fortunately only a small number actually got into the van. I only came back from a week away in it two weeks ago! Has anyone else had this problem and how can I prevent it happening again? It was not at all pleasant and it certainly freaked the wife out!
Open all inside cupboards doors and draws, give a good spray of fly killer, all around the van, and then sweep up the next morning,
 
Open all inside cupboards doors and draws, give a good spray of fly killer, all around the van, and then sweep up the next morning,
That probably won't be sufficient. Cluster flies give off a pheromone when they hibernate and that pheromone attracts other cluster flies -- thus they get to huddle together during hibernation. It also helps them return to successful hibernation sites the following year. As the 'clustering season' is almost over, just spraying might solve the problem for this year. However, the pheromone lingers and will attract them next year. It's necessary to thoroughly treat their cluster sites to remove the pheromone and then take steps to deny them entry the following year. FWIW, I washed down everywhere they'd been with disinfectant -- even behind the fridge etc., then treated the areas around the door seals with a Rentokil stick and taped up the fridge vents.
 
I just get a smack on the back of the head from the wife shouting what the feck are you hocking in there for.
 
That probably won't be sufficient. Cluster flies give off a pheromone when they hibernate and that pheromone attracts other cluster flies -- thus they get to huddle together during hibernation. It also helps them return to successful hibernation sites the following year. As the 'clustering season' is almost over, just spraying might solve the problem for this year. However, the pheromone lingers and will attract them next year. It's necessary to thoroughly treat their cluster sites to remove the pheromone and then take steps to deny them entry the following year. FWIW, I washed down everywhere they'd been with disinfectant -- even behind the fridge etc., then treated the areas around the door seals with a Rentokil stick and taped up the fridge vents.
It was early this month when we had the odd dead fly in the van, we never saw any flying, but my wife gave everywhere a good spray, and continued to do so for a few days, counting how many we brushed up each day, the total count was over hundred, we could hardly believe it, just no idea where they came from, we do not know if they were Cluster flies, just large black flies, dead on the floor, horrible.
 
We've had cluster flies in the house. Every time the sun comes out so do they. Every sunny day you need to open up, spray & then go back and sweep up.
That's in addition to Geoff's advice re preventing them coming back next year.
 

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