Bluebottles / Greenbottles (Calliphora spp)
Appearance
Bluebottle flies measure up to 10-14mm long. They are shiny, metallic blue or green (Greenbottles).
Habits
Bottle Flies or Blow Flies are one of the first insects to reach a dead animal. The sudden appearance of dozens of them within a building signals a dead rodent, bird or other animal in the wall, ceiling, attic or crawl space.
They are commonly found on windows and their presence is usually evident by their loud, buzzing sounds.
Bluebottles breed in garbage containers, dumpsters and decaying vegetation. They are attracted to buildings by food odours and also warm or cool air currents coming through cracks around doors and windows.
Threats
Due to their habitation, Bluebottles carry pathogenic micro-organism from sewage, garbage and dumpsites, animal and human excrement, dead and infected carcases etc.
This micro-organism can be transferred to humans when blowflies infect or make contact with human food source. The diseases carried by the blow flies are very similar to those of the house flies. Some are better-known including Endamoeba coli and Shigella dysenteriae, which cause diarrhoea, and Vibrio comma which causes cholera.
Bluebottle Prevention
Bluebottle breeding sites must be identified and eradicated. These sites may be some distance from where the adult flies are a nuisance. Keep doors and windows closed unless they are equipped with a tight-fitting fly screen.
If you are seeing a sudden increase of bluebottles indoors, particularly concentrated on the ground floor or around kitchen units, it can sometimes indicate the presence of a dead rodent in a floor void or cavity.
Bluebottles are attracted to decaying organic matter, and in many recurring rat cases this can mean a rat has died under the floor following baiting, or that there is ongoing rat activity linked to a drain defect beneath the property.
In situations like this, it is important not just to remove the flies, but to identify and resolve the source of the problem. You can read a real example of how we traced rats under a kitchen floor to a hidden drain issue Here, or learn more about our CCTV drain surveys and repairs here:
Contact Owl Pest Control Dublin if you need help on how to get rid of Bluebottles or to arrange a professional blow fly treatment.
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DIY Bluebottle Treatments - Get Rid of Blubottles
Want to treat bluebottles by yourself?
Click on the links below for more details or to buy DIY bluebottle killing products online.
Contact Owl Pest Control
Do you have a bluebottle problem or greenbottle issue and need to talk to an expert?
Contact Owl Pest Control today!
Unit 19, Tallaght Business Centre, Whitestown Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24. D24 TD42
