Where do flies come from in apartments and houses in winter?

22.04.2020

In the summer, flies are pretty annoying for everyone. We are desperately looking for any way to get rid of them. But in the fall the situation changes dramatically - this is due to the fact that they enter diapause or hibernation. The appearance of an insect in a house in the middle of winter is an unexpected and unpleasant occurrence. For this reason, various signs and superstitions are associated with it.

Where do flies go in winter?
Why do flies appear in the house in winter?
Signs associated with flies
How to prevent flies from entering your home

Where do flies go in winter?

In Russia, the most common housefly is the small housefly or Drosophila. They go through several stages of development. The insect remains in the egg stage for 8 to 50 hours, then a larva or maggot hatches from the egg. The larval stage, which lasts from 3 to 25 days, undergoes three molts, after which the larva pupates. The pupal stage lasts about 4-6 days. The adult stage is the longest and lasts about a month. The duration of development and life depends greatly on conditions. Under favorable conditions (high temperature, humidity, dirt, accumulation of garbage, unwashed dishes and uncleaned food), the reproduction rate and life expectancy increase. One female can lay over 100 eggs a day!

Fly larva

Several generations are replaced during the season. Most of them live their lives in summer or early autumn, but there are individuals that are born in late autumn. Then the question arises: why do flies disappear in winter? Do they all really die when the cold weather arrives?

When the first frosts arrive, synanthropes activate a protective mechanism that helps them survive at low temperatures - the insects enter diapause. All processes in the body slow down. They do not require food during this period. Moreover, both adult individuals and larvae and pupae remain for the winter. Before leaving for the winter, flies become aggressive and pestering.

It is noteworthy that only fertilized females “fall asleep” in winter; males die with the onset of the first cold weather!

Even in the fall, individuals begin to look for a suitable shelter. Typically, this is close to a warm human habitat. They hide in door or window cracks, cracks in the floor and walls, in doorposts and other secluded places. On farms, they live near barns where livestock are kept. In addition, there is manure on farms, where conditions are favorable for overwintering larvae and pupae.

Flies in the house

With the arrival of spring and rising air temperatures, fruit flies “come to life”, crawl out of their secluded shelters and return to their normal lifestyle.

general information

It would seem that such a short life should have led to the complete disappearance of flies. However, these flying insects are able to reproduce quite quickly. During her short life, the female lays about two thousand eggs. After about two weeks, they turn into sexually mature adults.

Another feature that allows flies to survive in critical situations is the ability to fall into a state of suspended animation. For example, this happens when the temperature drops. Under certain circumstances, insects are able to survive the entire winter like this.

Flies also have other distinctive characteristics:

Weight . Many people are interested in how much a fly weighs. Thus, during practical experiments it was revealed that 70 adult individuals weigh only 1 gram. Thus, the weight of each fly is about 14.29 mg. If the flies are left undisturbed and allowed to reproduce in favorable conditions, each female will be able to produce offspring weighing a total of 75 tons.
Nutrition . Flies feed on almost all organic foods. However, sweets are their favorite treat. Insects love liquid food. But if you come across hard food, flies soften it with their saliva. After this, soft food is absorbed by a thin proboscis. To taste food, all a fly has to do is crawl on it. After all, taste buds are located on the paws.
Limbs . Flies have six legs. You can often see insects rubbing them. This is how they clean their paws from various debris that sticks to them. After crawling through sewage and garbage bins, the fly flies to the food, having first cleaned its limbs. The flies also use their paws to clean their wings and head. Many are sure that insects have small hooks on their legs that allow them to firmly hold on to the smallest protrusions on vertical surfaces. However, this is not true, because flies sit on perfectly smooth glass without any problems. The thing is that there are capillaries on the paws that secrete a sticky liquid. That is why the fly even sits on the ceiling without any problems.
Brain . Even though it is a small insect, it has a brain. Although there are no more than 300 thousand neurons here, this is enough to carry out active activity.
Eyes . The normal whites and pupils of a fly are not visible. The eye of a fly is covered with a kind of mesh, which divides it into a large number of sectors. Each of them is designed to view a specific area of space. Then the brain connects everything seen by each sector into one single picture. Thanks to this feature, the fly sees a color picture at 360 degrees. This is due to the fact that it is quite difficult to slam it.
Heart . As for the heart, the fly does not have one. But there is a special organ here that is responsible for moving blood through a single artery. This is due to the fact that in flies oxygen is not delivered to the organs through the blood. Flies do not breathe through their lungs, but through their skin.
Dream . Pesky flies bother people not only during the day, but also at night. It seems that these insects never sleep at all. However, like any other living organism, the body of flies needs rest, regardless of how the brain works. Scientists have found that “old” individuals sleep very little. They only need a couple of hours to rest. As for young flies that have just hatched, they sleep much longer and more soundly. Studies have also shown that flies that drank coffee get a boost of vigor and energy. The antihistamine properties of this drink affect flies in the same way as they do for humans.

Many people are sure that with the onset of autumn, flies become more aggressive and begin to bite people. However, this is a misconception. On the contrary, flies, preparing for hibernation, become more lethargic and “sleepy.” A person is bitten by another species. Externally, these insects are very similar to ordinary flies. That is why people often confuse them.

( Video : “Fly”)

Why do flies appear in the house in winter?

The appearance of fruit flies in the house is always unpleasant. They ruin our lives with their importunity. In addition, the smells of spoiled and rotten food, leftover food, crumbs and drops of drinks on tables attract them. Food thrown in the trash is a real treat for them. However, under such unsanitary conditions, a huge amount of pathogenic bacteria accumulates on their paws and bodies, thanks to which they carry dangerous infectious diseases, such as dysentery, typhoid, tuberculosis and others. On the body, the bacteria remain tenacious for several days, and in the body of an individual they can persist for several weeks, during which the bacteria spread throughout the apartment. Therefore, when they see these buzzing insects, many try to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

Fly

Drosophila are extremely agile and fast creatures. They can enter the house in several ways:

with products. From the market, along with vegetables and fruits, you can bring larvae and eggs into the house. In favorable conditions in the house, they actively reproduce, filling the entire house.
from the street. Even mosquito nets do not always save you from the ubiquitous flies. These insects are very nimble and sneaky. They can sneak in at the moment when a person opens the door, entering the house. Sometimes they enter an apartment through cracks in windows, holes in mosquito nets, cracks and crevices in the floor or walls.
from ventilation. If there are no grilles with mesh on the ventilation openings, then the likelihood of flies and other insects getting into the apartment increases.
be born already in the apartment. Before wintering, fruit flies try to protect their offspring by laying eggs in warm places, for example, in cracks in walls or floors, in slopes and other secluded places. You may not even suspect that there is an entire “kindergarten” right under your nose. But with the arrival of spring and rising air temperatures, the offspring actively develop and grow, turning into larvae, and then into adults.

Fly on food

As we already know, when it gets cold, flies hibernate, so its appearance indoors in winter is puzzling. Where could she have appeared in the apartment in winter? Don’t be scared, most likely the individual hid in your house for the winter, perhaps in the cracks of wooden windows, or in the boards in the floor, or in the garbage chute. When favorable conditions arose, she simply came out of hibernation. Most likely, the house is too hot due to heating; perhaps the place where the individual spends the winter has been heated by the warm sun. Flies can also hide in the wood you use to light the fireplace. In any case, the main reason for the appearance of fruit flies in winter is the atypically high temperature in the place where they hibernate for the winter. If an insect has come out of hibernation, it is very easy to catch it even with your hands. Simply eliminating a single individual will be enough. In winter they will not fill the house.

It turns out that sleep disturbance can cause many diseases and make a person’s life very problematic, but few people think about it: just think, insomnia!.. The head of the Somnology Center of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia, Doctor of Medical Sciences Yakov LEVIN, categorically disagrees with such a disrespectful attitude towards one’s own sleep. Sleep is genetically determined - Half of the human population is dissatisfied with their sleep - says Professor Ya. Levin. – This figure has been present since the 70s of the last century, it is not growing, but it is not decreasing in any way. But sleep has a special set of functions that are difficult to implement while awake. Sleep is necessary, firstly, in order to replenish expended energy, and secondly, in sleep, our internal organs report to the cerebral cortex about their condition. In a dream, we process information received while awake, and not only process it - we compare it with genetic information and create a behavior program. Research conducted by scientists at the Somnology Center has shown that if a young healthy person is deprived of sleep for just one night, then all tests where it is necessary to predict the probabilistic course of events are performed extremely poorly. A young man's short-term memory deteriorates and it is much more difficult for him to maintain attention. Another study showed that due to one sleepless night, many biochemical changes occur in our body, including hormonal ones. And in order to eliminate such a situation, two full nights of sleep are needed, according to the principle “for one beaten, they give two unbeaten.” Sometimes a person thinks: okay, I didn’t sleep at night, I’ll get some sleep during the day. Nothing like this! The day is a period of active life, well, you sleep for 3-4 hours, but you can’t fill the gap. Our sleep is genetically determined. Scientists cannot name a single gene that determines sleep, but a set of several genes is known, the pathology of which leads to sleep disturbances, which has also been proven by scientific works. More surprising were other studies that showed that sleep is not just a privilege for people. It turns out that flies sleep too! And when scientists bred a special cohort of flies, they came to the conclusion that they have a lot of problems associated with sleep disorders, exactly the same as in humans, no matter how paradoxical and funny it may sound. Some foreign researchers suggest shortening sleep, thereby intensifying processes that, say, are completed in 5-6 hours, but could be done in 4 hours. The idea did not seem crazy or incorrect, but so far there are no serious approaches to intensifying the sleep process in the world. When the morning is wiser than the evening Everyone knows that we often experience stressful situations. As a rule, a person reacts to stress in two ways: worsening sleep (insomnic reaction) and increasing it (hypersomnic reaction). In the second case, people usually say: I’ll sleep with my problem, and the morning of the evening will be wiser, it will tell you what to do. This turns out to be more correct, since in a dream information is processed and an adequate program of behavior is created. “But I often get asked questions about other things, for example, about prophetic dreams, although it is not yet possible to fully reveal the nature of such states,” says Ya. Levin. – Yes, they exist, but there is no need to see anything mythical here. It’s just that certain people have very good analytical and synthetic capabilities, and in the REM sleep phase a behavior program is created that is very close to reality. We are all different, for example, someone can run a hundred meters in seconds, while others can barely complete it in half an hour. So it is here. And therefore, the nature of prophetic dreams can be explained today by the high personal capabilities of a particular person. But in general, the staff of our center work mainly with dreams that disrupt the patient’s social adaptation. These are dreams with bad content, causing serious autonomic disorders. But dreams are very realistic! About hygiene Sleep hygiene, it turns out, also exists. This is what the professor calls respect for your sleep. In our society, a similar attitude towards one’s own body is already being formed, a person knows that there are certain weight categories that should not be exceeded, there are motor categories that are necessary to avoid physical inactivity... Someday society will come to an understanding of sleep hygiene. At its core, it is very simple: before going into the arms of Morpheus, you need to remove all excesses. First of all, from the food and drinking sphere, as well as negatively emotional ones. All this needs to be left for the day. You shouldn’t solve problems before going to bed; sorting things out is not productive. It would seem that there is another elementary thing - to go to bed and get up at the same time, everyone also knows this, but for some reason no one does it. It is clear that man is a biosocial being and his needs can influence his biology. Let's say, you need to change your rhythm of life for various reasons (children, work), but how to do this smoothly, without harm to your health? There are “larks” and “night owls,” and it happens that at some point any category can put emphasis in the other direction. For example, a young woman is a typical early riser, but when her baby is born, this mother sleeps very lightly or hardly sleeps because she needs to feed the baby at night. Motivation - momentary, strategic - can change our chronobiology, but it is still determined genetically. But there is no point in fighting genetics. Therefore, you need to listen to yourself very well. If you are a worker in the first half of the day, try to socially organize your life so that maximum activity occurs during this time. After all, it’s obvious: if you put a lark to work on the night shift, it means you’ll ruin both the job and the lark himself. In principle, it is possible to change your chronobiology - from an “owl” to a “lark” or vice versa, but such efforts will require from several months to several years. And for what? When one’s chronobiology is “broken”, a person becomes very stressed, susceptible to various diseases, gets into accidents more often... Of course, there are states when someone voraciously writes a book, working around the clock, but such a state is temporary, depending on inspiration that comes and goes . When working at night, people more often turn to their inner world, and in this sense, sleep is very interesting as a set of states in which external messages do not affect a person. In our dreams, we communicate with the best people - with ourselves. But it is precisely in REM sleep, when the task of the brain is to work with different areas within the brain itself. This is how Mendeleev’s periodic table was born, but it was he who dreamed about it. And the theory of relativity came to Einstein, and not to anyone else. It was like the final chord of the entire journey of thinking that brilliant people have done. Sleeping pills are a crutch We live in amazing times. In the sense that you have to be surprised at every step. For example, the fact that any medications, including sleeping pills, can be bought without a prescription. Yes, society sleeps poorly - stress, anxiety, anxiety and other reasons force a person to take sleeping pills at night in order to get a good night's sleep. And if a person is healthy, does he need to use them? You know, for example, that tomorrow you will have a problem day, and you know your peculiarity - the insomnia reaction to stress, which tells you: you won’t fall asleep! What should I do? Should you drink the usual medicine that you already depend on, pour cognac over the coming difficult day, or convince yourself that you are strong and will survive everything? “Hypnotics should not become everyday consumption, this is an axiom,” emphasizes Ya. Levin. – I compare them to a crutch that a person needs when he breaks his leg. If such a support is not discarded in time, the so-called crutch psychology will form, and a person will no longer be able to walk without a crutch, although his legs work well. Now, fortunately, a new generation of drugs has appeared that are used according to needs and are designed specifically for healthy people. But even if they are taken day after day, one thing is clear: such a person needs to consult a psychotherapist. By the way, in the treatment of insomnia, psychotherapy occupies a leading place throughout the world as the most adequate, long-term method. In general, you listen to scientists and think: what does a person not do with his sleep: artificially induce it with the help of drugs, sleep in spa salons with music and a soothing massage, thereby breaking up his sleep into pieces... Well, he doesn’t want to fully realize it at night! But it turns out that everything is very simple: how you feel comfortable, so you sleep and stay awake! In other words, within the framework of health, a person can choose everything that is socially acceptable and specifically suits him. In childhood, we sleep multiphasically - in infants, sleep lasts 16-18 hours a day, in adulthood we sleep monophasically - in one period of time. Then comes the period of involution - and again we surrender to Morpheus both day and night, using polyphasic sleep... Five days - and you will fall . Man has learned how to fall asleep. But how to feel cheerful after one or more sleepless nights? Drink coffee, douse yourself with cold water, slap yourself on the cheeks? Alas. Our body is so smart that all attempts to rape it are stopped very well by itself. Real states without sleep are possible for up to 5 days. After this, no matter what is done to the person, “walking sleep” will occur, or falling asleep with open eyes. That is, this creature will formally walk and even nod its head in response to questions. And if scientists put electrodes on his head, they will see that the second stage of sleep has arrived. The motivation to sleep is a biological instinct, a very tough motivation, much tougher than the motivation to eat and drink. Rats die after 5 days of sleep deprivation, although these animals can almost survive a nuclear strike. The brain reduces its activity, functionality and the best thing, after sleepless nights, is just to get a good night's sleep. According to statistics, people who work night shifts once a week for a year are subsequently 5 times more likely to have psychosomatic diseases - arterial hypertension, diabetes, stomach ulcers... Seasonal hours This is what scientists sometimes call melatonin, one of the main actions which is the regulation of sleep. This substance exists in two structures of the nervous system (epiphysis and retina), as well as in the gastrointestinal tract. Melatonin, indeed, is produced maximally at night, but with age its amount decreases. The activity of the pineal gland decreases, a person’s sleep becomes superficial and restless. The work of scientists has shown that melatonin is the main agent that synchronizes our brain and our activities with the level of external light. This is why it is considered correct to sleep with dark curtains tightly closed. The less light there is, the more active melatonin will be produced, which will indirectly improve sleep. But it is not the only thing that allows a person to sleep well. Scientists call the 21st century the century of melatonin mimetics, that is, substances similar to it. There is melatonin itself, and there are substances that act on its receptors. Melatonin helps eliminate insomnia, prevents disruption of the body's daily routine and biorhythm. But more importantly, it also has proven antioxidant, anti-stress and even anti-tumor effects. There are very effective antidepressants and sleeping pills based on melatonin mimetics, which are so far registered only in the USA and Japan. But the fact that new melatonin substances will appear in the near future, perhaps here in Russia, is already a reality. This is not feng shui! And one last thing. There are people who are very concerned about how to sleep correctly, which way to put their head, where to put the bed. By and large, this is not important. Other problems associated with sleep positions are much more serious. Men who snore, sleep on their backs and make incredible noises may experience sleep apnea. And the man dies. Now scientists have found a non-drug solution: in such situations, a tennis ball is sewn into the patient’s pajamas, in the back, and there are no problems. The trouble is that children also stop breathing during sleep. Most often this is associated with ENT pathology. Such children, as has already been confirmed by research, do not do well in school, are not assiduous, and do not remember well. They are punished instead of being taken to an otolaryngologist, diagnosed and operated on. If the child is not helped, he will remain a failure in life. - Everything else is trifles. Sleep in a way that is comfortable for you, put your head to the window, door, center of the room, wherever you want, says Professor Ya. Levin. – The main thing is that a person gets up after sleep healthy, cheerful and happy with life. Tatiana KUZIV, corr. "MG". PS While preparing the material for publication, sad news came: Professor Yakov Iosifovich Levin died.
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Signs associated with flies

Flies have been annoying people for many centuries. In turn, man not only looked for ways to get rid of them, but also carefully observed them, trying to find patterns connecting the behavior of synanthropes and the events taking place. This is how signs and superstitions appeared.

Many centuries ago, it was difficult for simple poor families to find food or earn money for it, so if in such a family an insect got into a person’s food, throwing it away was wasteful. To console himself, the man came up with a sign: if you find a fly in your food, you will receive a gift. This is far from the only superstition associated with these annoying insects.

A sadder omen is that the appearance of a fly in the house in winter foretells the imminent death of a family member. Superstition says that the fruit fly that appears in winter is a harbinger of death. As they say: the dead comes to life, and the living dies. To prevent sad events, you need to quietly knock on the glass and say: “Every time has its hour, and this misfortune is not about us.” If the next day the individual disappeared, then the technique worked.

There is a belief that if synanthropes have overcome you, you need to bury one individual. It seems funny and strange, but some peoples organized an entire funeral ceremony to get rid of the fellows of the dead insect.

There are many other signs and superstitions:

A fly in the glass you are going to drink from is a sign of success.
Flies greatly annoy people and bite - this means rain and bad weather.
There are a lot of flies in the house - to the wealth of the owners.
Flies are buzzing - to a quarrel.
Flies rise early and disturb everyone with their buzzing - for warm and sunny weather.

Whether to believe in omens or not is up to everyone to decide for themselves. But do not forget that behind every sign there is some kind of scientific explanation.

frozen fly

Flies are untidy and dangerous

There are more than 4,000 species of flies in the world, in Russia there are about 1,000 of them, called real flies in biology. Almost all species, even non-dangerous species, are annoying. Synanthropic flies are the most dangerous for humans and animals, as they are ecologically connected with humans and their homes.

All flies move very quickly, can fly at altitudes of up to 2 kilometers, and are extremely fertile, most of them lay eggs. For example, a species of housefly can lay up to two thousand eggs in three months.

25 million microorganisms live in the intestines of flies, which remain active for several days. The blood-sucking autumn zhigalka can infect animals and humans, in addition to sepsis, anthrax and yellow fever. At temperatures up to 20°C and high humidity, the infection inside the flies can persist for up to 9 days.

The untidiness of flies is beneficial for nature; with their help, the decomposition of organic substances is accelerated

Another important thing for a person is to prevent the possibility of infections and protect the territory of houses from fly attacks.

How to prevent flies from entering your home

There are a huge number of different chemical and folk remedies, but their use is not always justified. It is easier to prevent their appearance and spread than to get rid of them later. To avoid the appearance of flies in the house, especially in winter, it is enough to take simple measures.

maintaining cleanliness. In order not to create favorable conditions for reproduction and living, regularly clean your apartment, remove leftover food from the table, wash dishes immediately after eating, and throw out garbage in a timely manner.
ventilation. Fresh cool air that periodically enters the apartment is unpleasant for insects; they will quickly leave the room.
no cracks. Installing good double-glazed windows, eliminating cracks and crevices in walls and floors, installing good mosquito nets, and installing nets on ventilation holes will help prevent synanthropes from appearing from the street.
setting traps. Buy traps, such as sticky tape, from a hardware store and hang them around the house. They will not get rid of eggs, larvae and pupae, but will help you cope with adult individuals.

If prevention does not help, you can resort to folk or chemical remedies. When applying insecticides, be sure to read the instructions and follow them strictly. Folk methods can also help, but it is important not to miss the moment when it is clear that folk remedies are of no use, and heavy artillery is needed.