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Will Fly Predators leave and go to my neighbors?
Fly Predators are very tiny insects, so it's hard for them to travel very far. They are designed to search substrates for fly pupae and are poor fliers. Because of this, Fly Predators will only travel about 150ft from where they are released.
Why do I have to get repeated shipments of Fly Predators?
When fly populations start to drop, Fly Predators will begin actively leaving some fly pupae to ensure the next generation of their own offspring won’t starve. It’s one of the ways nature keeps everything in balance. Nature happy fly control doesn’t quite match up with human happy fly control though, so we use the augmentative releases to force the predator population to remain high, even as fly numbers begin to drop. Also, female Fly Predators only produce about 100 eggs in their lifetime compared to over 1,000 produced by female flies. Because of this, regular releases of Fly Predators are necessary to keep up with the faster production of pest flies.
What species make up Fly Predators?
Fly Predators are made up of a mix of 3 species of parasitic insects in the family Pteromalidae. These include Muscidifurax zaraptor, Muscidifurax raptorellus, and Spalangia endius (occasionally exchanged for Spalangia cameroni). By sending you a mix of these species, we ensure the widest range of coverage for fly control on your farm. How so? Muscidifurax species like to search along the surface of fly breeding habitats, do better in cooler temperatures, and are very efficient against house flies. Spalangia species have been found to seek out fly pupae at deeper depths, do better in warmer temperatures, and are more efficient against biting stable flies.