Nowadays, many private house owners have a pool. If you are that lucky person, you likely wait for sunny days to enjoy water fun with family or friends. Unfortunately, some uncalled guests also dream about opening the bathing season. We say about horse flies or breeze flies.
These unpleasant creatures adore standing water and might spoil holidays with their intrusive presence and painful hazard bites. How to get rid of horse flies around a pool? You might get acquainted with your enemy closer to learn its weaknesses and choose powerful fight tactics.
- Get to know how to prevent horse flies around a pool and follow these recommendations.
- Consult with specialists and apply suitable horsefly repellent for pools if insects appear.
- Call an exterminator if horse fly control around pools does not work correctly.
Horse Flies? Let’s Get To Know Better!
These flies, rightly nicknamed vampires, belong to the Tabanidae family. You may effortlessly distinguish them from common flies. First, their body is larger — from 0.5 to 1.25 inches. Secondly, they have big wide-set eyes, large wings, and thick proboscis.
You should not hope these monsters pester only cloven-hoofed. Their victims might become warm-blooded mammals. If you did not notice horse flies around a pool and feel a bite, you will find out that this insect was due to specific sharp pain. The bite site is deep, swells, and itches for a long time for its saliva into the wound.
Moreover, some species might transmit infectious diseases, particularly tularemia. The silver line is that only female breeze flies bite. They suck blood to get protein for laying eggs. Males are vegetarians and eat flower nectar and pollen.
Resting next to the water, you might see deer flies around a swimming pool. This insect from the Tabanidae family is less in size but is harmful and hazardous. It stands out with big bright eyes and wings with black stripes. They got such a name probably due to their crowding in marshy areas, where deer live.
Where Horse Fly Meets
These bloodsuckers might meet on all continents but Antarctica. They are warm-loved and usually appear after the 15th of May, when the air temperature is up to 66 °F, and leave active for the end of September. The hotter day, the faster breeze flies to hunt. Most often, you may see them at the following places:
- Stables and farms with cattle;
- Long wet grass;
- Slow flows and rivers;
- Ponds and pools.
However, why do they choose these moist locations? Read on to know the answer.
What Can Entice a Horse Fly
These pests have such large eyes for reasons. Being visual hunters, they briskly react to 3 things:
- Movement;
- Big dark items;
- CO2, which mammals release during exhalation.
That signifies to them that nutrition is nearby. Sure, you can’t stop breathing to defend yourself from these micro vampires’ attacks. But it would be helpful for your safety to keep horse flies away from a swimming pool by putting on a lighter beach outfit.
Love to the water element
Horse flies around a pool is not a pleasant picture at all. There are some reasons why these insects love water spaces:
Shining surface
A gleam of the sun on the water extremely lures these voracious predators. That might turn your pool into their recreation zone.
Course of moistness
Because of high activity, they rapidly dehydrate. Swimming places might be valuable for breeze flies to recover water balance.
Relaxing from heat
During the warmest times, they might look for highly moist grass for a break which usually grows around water.
A place for laying eggs
Adult insects live anywhere and can cover considerable distances to reach their victims. At the same time, females choose locations by water for laying eggs.
How to Prevent Horse Flies Around Pool
Before the summer, you might prepare a recreation zone to make bloodsuckers think it is better not to visit you.
4 simple methods to keep horse flies away from a swimming pool:
1. “Hiding” the pool
It would be best not to forget to close the water place on warm days when you do not use it.
2. Maintaining cleanliness
Like all flies, these adore land on food and garbage. It may be helpful not to leave treats and repeatedly tidy up near the pool.
3. Lighting citronella candles
The citrus odor might repel and disorient insects. As a result, they have difficulty finding victims.
4. Lawn and garden care
Horse flies around a pool and on the grass nearby are not what you want to observe, are you? Routinely mowing the lawn and weeding the garden may deprive uninvited guests of desired locations.
Horse Fly Control Around Pools
Preventive methods might seem ineffective. However, it does not mean you should forget about sunbathing. Let’s consider how to rid yourself of annoying insects.
Physical non-toxic traps
You might apply different options, from trivial flytraps to electric devices:
- Glue paper might lure and immobilize flies;
- A plastic bag with an attractant that lures pests inside with the possibility to go out;
- Lamps that draw flies using ultraviolet light into a metal container where the flies are electrocuted;
- Constructions with moving parts entice insects into containers where they die from the sun.
- Purchasing it or doing a trap on your own is up to you.
Chemical remedies
Treatments with Deet and Off (N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) can be efficient against these pests. You might treat grass, bushes, and the recreation zone with a horsefly repellent for pools, which are safe for people and pets. But it should bear in mind that these insects quickly develop resistance to active substances.
Homemade repellents
In the fight against hated insects, people use many home remedies. Beeze flies are expected to hate the following odors:
- White vinegar;
- Eucalyptus;
- Tea tree;
- Cedar;
- Citronella;
- Lavender;
- Peppermint;
- Carnation;
- Rosemary;
- Basil;
- Lemon tree.
You might prepare mixes using these ingredients and disperse them to keep horse flies away from the swimming pool. For instance, you may combine white vinegar, eucalyptus, and bath oil.
People, as warm-blooded mammals, are a great target for these predators. You might ensure a good rest without these bothersome monsters by using various treatments.
FAQ About Horse Flies Control Around Pools
Despite their small sizes, horse flies cause much damage and make us find answers to puzzle questions.
What will keep horse flies away?
You might try to keep horse flies away from the swimming pool using different methods — from mechanical traps to homemade repellents. But you should remember that pests quickly become tolerant to poison.
What scent do horse flies hate?
It is believed that the scents of oils (cedarwood, tea tree, etc.), spices (clove, basil), and white vinegar can repel horse flies.
Does vinegar repel horse flies?
White vinegar is called an effective remedy for horse fly control around pools. It is advised to use a blend including other repellents for making aerosol.
What is the difference between a horsefly and a gadfly?
A gadfly can not bite. It does not even have a mouth. They live thanks to stock saving during the larva stage and damage parasitizing into mammals’ bodies.
How to Spend the Summer Without Horse Flies
This summer, an invasion of breeze flies was recorded due to the increase in the temperature. Many people who wanted to rest in the deck chair googled, “How to get rid of horse flies around the pool?” You are free to experiment with any methods to reach this aim. The main thing is to apply safe strategies for other live creatures and the environment. You may ask experts or call a professional disinfector.
Have you encountered horseflies? What approach to combating them was beneficial to you? Tell your story below!
Also read:
- How to Get Rid of Flies in Garage: Causes, Traps, and Prevention
- How to Trap a Gopher: A Humane and Effective Method
- How to Collapse Gopher Tunnels: A Guide to Control & Prevention
- What Is the Difference Between a Gopher and a Groundhog: A Guide to Their Key Differences
- What Gopher Eat: Complete List of Herbs That Can Be Eaten
References:
- Horse and Deer Flies (Entomology Department at Purdue University) https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/publichealth/insects/tabanid.html
- How to Get Rid of Horse Flies (wikiHow)
https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Horse-Flies - Horse Flies and Deer Flies (Lee Townsend, Extension Entomologist University of Kentucky College of Agriculture)
https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef511
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