Carrion Flies

[tjeeper 0]

Last week, I battled a hatch of carrion flies in my fly tying office/tv room/den. For a while, I was hoping a mouse got in and died. While hoping it was a mouse, I made a trip to the super and picked up a box of mothballs and jumbo ziplock bags. I bagged every natural "thing" in my fly tying bins, with a mothball (wrapped in a paper towel). That was mid-last week.

 

A couple days later, the hatch seems to have ended. Meanwhile, my den/office/fly tying/rod building room smells a bit like mothballs.

 

I have not had to use mothballs and double-ziplock storage for a few years. I am wondering how this hatch got started? I have bought a few new materials, mostly all new synthetics. I kept all my deertails bagged, those were a problem in the past. I had a lot of deerhair patches (died and natural) unbagged, but those are all old and inert? Nothing there new. The only thing I can think of... last winter I picked up some Whiting Farms bug feathers at a fly tying shop and misc other non-organic things from a garage sale (hooks, threads, flosses).

 

Anyway, the hatch has ended. I inspected all the bags, and did not see any evidence of larva, dead flies, moths, or any other insect. I have used mothballs in the past, years ago, for the same problem... carrion flies. I have never observed an invasion of moths or beetles which I read about searching this forum.

 

Now what? The wife will not tolerate putting materials in our freezers or microwave. I guess I will have to live with the smell of mothballs. Any ideas on how to get back to a non-mothball fly tying den?

 

[FlaFly 0]

You can buy a cheap microwave of your own. Cheap ones are simple (On and Off) and small, but you don't need to roast a turkey.

[Cannonx4 0]

_{Same thing with a freezer, my daughter has one in her room that will only fit a 6 pack of drinks. That would make a good small freezer to keep in a tying room. It's only about 12" square.}

[JSzymczyk 0]

Carrion flies (Diptera) are not any threat to your materials. It's the bane of using common names for insects... you are calling them carrion flies but what are they actually? Carrion flies look somewhat like overgrown house flies. They find dead meat to place ova on and the larvae (maggots) eat the decaying meat. No worries for fly tying materials.

[FlaFly 0]

You only have to worry about where the dead meat is hidden in your tying room.

[JSzymczyk 0]

You only have to worry about where the dead meat is hidden in your tying room.

 

the nose knows.

[add147 0]

You can buy a cheap microwave of your own. Cheap ones are simple (On and Off) and small, but you don't need to roast a turkey.

That's what I did...I found a GE Digital Microwave for $10 at garage sale.

[tjeeper 0]

I looked up "carrion fly" on the internet, and the photo of the fly and the size of the fly looked like what I was swatting. And, its correct, I am not seeing damage to materials. It's just an annoying hatch of flies in my tying room.

 

I think the "dead meat" might be deer tails, that is where the nose leads. I have a lot of dyed deer tails that I use to make large streamers, buck tails for big pike spinners, and tails for popping bugs. I also have several whole grouse skins, pheasant, and of course, Metz and Whiting necks & saddles. Those dont seem to smell much.

 

I guess I could do the microwave thing, but like someone said, it might have been a fly that got into my material put down some eggs, and then I had a hatch. Not sure microwaving deer tails will do much more than make them smell worse, freezing on the other hand will help.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Unless you have raw, unprocessed, decomposing deer tails laying about, I doubt it.

 

Probably a better chance that you had a mouse or a squirrel or something die inside one of your walls, might not have smelled it, and the flies came from there.

[tjeeper 0]

JSzymczyk. I could very well have had a mouse die in the wall of my tying room/office. However, the problem with flies ended shortly after I double bagged all my natural materials, adding a mothball. I have since inspected the bags, and did not see any evidence of maggot larvae or flies. So, I cannot confirm what happened either way.

 

We do get a influx of mice this time of year, looking for a warmer place to winter. Most find the Dcon and either leave, or die and dry up quickly.

[vicrider 0]

My first thought when you said carrion flies was those pesky little buggers we have a lot of when wife brings in the plants for the winter. Then I looked it up and found it is the Bluebottle fly and those things get huge. I think I'd hunt them down with my shotgun if we had a batch hatch. Hope you have it under control with no further problems. I don't like house flies but really hate the big bluebottles.