Fly control - Page 1

Could i get some ideas of the best safest fly control used by breeders. of course i have my own methods i would like other ideas.

In the kennels i use old fashioned fly papers, nothing toxic for the dogs to get at or come into contact with food, water etc. My petshop sells them and they're quite cheap

for the small biting flies that eat the edges of dog's ears, I use a horse fly ointment called SWAT - it comes in pink ,and clear (use the clear) - works very well applied to the ears. or just plain vaseline is better than nothing. molly

The absolute safe way to get rid of those flies is to get yourself tons of Venus Fly Traps.. That way you're not spraying chemicals.. no worries of dumping the dead flies bodies away ( bunch of decomposing flies inside of a bottle smells awful!) you just leave it up to mother nature :D

This year, I bought some fly traps...they are disposable plastic bags that have a one-way entry hole in the top. I put raw meat in it along with the mixture it came with to kill them. I've had it hung about 20 feet from the outside runs for not quite 2 weeks and the bag is about 1/2 FULL already! YUCK! Sure glad they're disposable! But that's about a bizillion flies that aren't going after my dogs!

I use Super Sheen a horse spray safe for dogs and other pets, that is made from oils from several types of flowers. It also repels ticks and fleas. I spray my dogs down weekly and use a damp rag of it around their muzzles and eyes. It is safe and leaves no residue. I don't use any other flea/tick control and its so far the best i have found for house flys, horse flys and pesky sweat bees. It comes in roll on too, but the spray is quicker and seems more effective. Kari

If you can get it, buy Avon skin so soft and mix it with water so you don't end up with a greasy dog. Leaves them smelling pretty good also. Just don't put to much in the water. I've used this for years and also on horses.

I have used SWAT and other similier types. The horse spray is very good also, I use Permethrin 10% which is a livestock spray which lasts up to 28 days. You can get it at feed stores or if you have a local Ranch Coop store.

I guess that I am "old school" on this subject, but just as ZernoGSD I still use a roll of flypaper in each kennel run. But, I think the idea by soothersmaylive sounds fine. I suppose that it is determined by the type of flies. The source of mine is the cattle farm across the road. These are relatively large as is a housefly and easily snared by the flypaper. Bob-O

There's another way to fight the fly issue. While visiting Hawaii on vacation many years ago, I ran across a woman who had horses out there. Not a fly to be seen anywhere near the horse corral or on the horses! I asked her what her secret was, and to my surprise, she told me. She uses diatomacious earth AKA "D.E." (or ground up crustaceans, to us lay-people) which cuts up the exo-skeleton of flies and any other bugs with this type of exoskeleton. It is fed in the dog's food at the rate of 2 tbsp per meal for an adult, half that for pups, and you can also dust the dog's coat directly with approx. 1/4 cup. It works great, and even keeps the flies out of the feces as well, because any that hatch, subsequently die. You can also spread it on the ground in the areas where the dogs are most often, and it keeps the area generally fly free! This can typically be ordered by your local farm supply/feed store company for a reasonably cheap amount of about $40 per 50 pound bag, or also swimming pool companies (yes, this is the same substance used in swimming pools!) for a bit more money. Seems to work better than the sticky fly traps or the ones where they fly into the trap and die. It also doesn't smell bad or look disgusting! Hope this helps. :)