First, there you must know that until the moment we speak, scientists have discovered approximately 120,000 species of flies. All these species are divided into families, depending on their habits and style of breeding in filth or feeding. There are biting and non-biting flies. Biting flies, like mosquitoes, usually suck the blood out of their “victims” using a needle-like proboscis while non-biting flies, throw saliva on their food, dissolve it and consume it right away.
Right, extremely gross. Most common flies, the ones that lay on you and bother you no matter how much you shush them away, are house flies. House flies are incredibly annoying and unsanitary. They feed and lay eggs in feces, trash, or decaying material, but they don’t bite — neither you, your food, or anything else.
So, what do flies do when they land on you? They land on us to absorb nutrients found on our skin like protein, carbohydrate, sweat, sugar, salt etc. They also consider us the perfect place to lay eggs especially if you have open wound, fly will sit around that area and will try to lay their eggs.
How And What Do Flies Eat, Though?
Flies don’t bite as they don’t have the necessary teeth to do it. Unlike mammals, flies don’t have mouths. They have a spongy mouth part, kind of a trunk-like nose that allows them only to soak up their food without chewing. When a fly lands on something edible, it immediately regurgitates saliva on it to liquefy and drink it.In order to digest food, the fly spits out enzymes on to the suspected food to begin the digesting process before soaking it up.
Try to visualize it as the process of mopping your floor. You pour detergent on the floor before, the chemical substances will break down the dirt, and all you will have to do is to wash the surface without investing too much energy.
Does A Fly Consider You As An Edible Product?
Flies feast on pretty nasty things like feces, rotting meat, trash, dead animals, and infested fruits and vegetables,which can be teeming with harmful, infectious bacteria which in the end, get on and, in the fly, and on our food and bodies After all. You would say that there is nothing they can taste from your body. Well, that’s not so true, and we will dig in a little bit later.
How Do Flies Recognize Whether You Are Something Edible Or Not?
The fly’s feet have little hairs that act not only as an adhering surface to allow them to climb shiny surfaces like windows or ceiling, but they have chemoreceptors integrated too. Meaning that when a fly comes upon something that might be a delicious treat, it walks on it reflexively sticks out its labella. It presses them against the potential food and investigates it with its feet. If the chemoreceptors recognize the surface as food, the fly automatically drools saliva on it and quickly draws up the liquid through its feeding channel. If it lands on a neutral surface such as a door or a leaf, it gets no sense from that of anything edible, and it does not secrete saliva at all.
Does This Mean That Flies Don’t Find Anything To Eat On Our Bodies?
Not at all. Most of the time, houseflies are hungry and on a constant hunt. They are excellent hunters with a great sense of smell and huge eyes that allow them to scan everything around them and find the perfect spot to land.
Why don’t they prefer animals and choose to spend so much energy to come back no matter how many times we hit and scare them away?
The answer is that they genuinely like us.
Since the common housefly has a very soft and fleshy mouth, it certainly doesn’t land on you to bite you. But it will suck you up. Precisely, flies land on our bodies to suck up the secretions present on the skin. The human body is one of their favorite food sources.
Why Do Flies Do When They Sit On Us, Though?
- They land on us because they can find lots of good things on our skin. Sweat, proteins, carbohydrates, salts, sugars, pieces of dead skin -you name it, and the fly will eat it off you.
- Another reason why flies sit on us is because they love to collect the nutrients found around our eyes. Compared to humans, animals are pretty hairy around their eyes; it makes receiving those nutrients a hard job to do.
- Another nasty thing flies do when they land on you is to find a nice place to lay eggs. As gross as it sounds, flies consider our bodies the perfect warm place to lay eggs.
- Flies lay on our skin to feed themselves on dead cells and open wounds. No matter how reduced the injury is, the fly will try to land and spit on it and consume it or lay eggs on it.
The wounds are generally composed of dead and infected tissue, which is exceptionally yummy for the flies and super dangerous for human beings. The fly’s saliva can also carry and spread several diseases and bacteria.
After walking through infested areas and feeding themselves with animal fecal material and rotting carcasses, flies pick up pathogens that end up being easily transferred to your food or your body. Flies are known to carry over 100 dangerous diseases, including cholera, typhoid to tuberculosis,and anthrax.
- Flies often land on you because they tend to quickly get thirsty to death and get pretty nervous about it. That’s why they get agitated and desperately insist on trying to hydrate themselves by sucking up your eye’s liquids.
- Flies feed on hair oil. Precisely, every time a housefly is buzzing around your head, it seeks to droll on your head and soak up the oil from it. Oily hair is one of the essential foods for flies, so keep your hair as clean as possible and keep the annoying flies away.
- Another thing flies do when they lay on you is to suck your sweat.You don’t have to work out for hours to attract flies, just more than a chill day, and they will all land on you.Once a fly seeks moisture and salts on your skin, it will be on you.
Now that you know all the horrible things a fly does when it lands on you, a good idea will be to prevent them from doing it.
To catch a fly is one of the hardest things to do and keeping them away would be less energy-consuming.
We have many tips and tricks on how to keep flies away, we will discuss them all in another post, but until them, you can start slowly by keeping your house dry and chill. Flies love warm and humid atmosphere, so don’t make it cozy for them. Use flies repellent essential oils such as lemongrass and citronella. Don’t use fruit-scented hair products as it will attract flies and encourage them to buzz and to enjoy your hair oils and take showers after experiencing sweat.
The most important tip is if a fly lands on you or your food, don’t eat it and wash properly.
Welcome to my blog. I have been doing pest control for years since my house, garden and pets were always attacked by various kinds of pests and as a result I had to know proper pest control techniques that works. In this blog I share all the tips and tricks that I know and I hope you’ll find it helpful.