Fly traps and toxicant treated cord for control of house flies

House flies are an important filth breeding pest in both rural and urban areas. Commercial baited fly traps are commonly used to attract flies by vision and odor, but typically they capture and kill just a small percentage of the fly population. To improve trap performance, a 46 cm wool cord (6 mm diameter) was dipped in 2.5% imidacloprid fly bait and looped around a Farnam Musca-Doom Disposable Fly Trap baited with commercial fly attractant. Flies (~300) were released into screened cages with sugar water, water, and fly medium as nutrient sources. Traps were hung and fly mortality counts inside and outside of traps were recorded over 48 hours. Without treated cord or attractant, fly traps captured and killed ~9% flies of the population, whereas, fly traps with attractant but no cord captured and killed ~26% flies of the population. When treated cord was wrapped around the no attractant trap, ~99% flies were killed. A trap with attractant and a treated cord killed, ~98% of the flies. A treated cord loop hung alone killed ~281 flies in the fly population. Treated fly cords can be used to enhance the performance of commercial baited fly traps or could be used alone for control of flies.