Musca domestica
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About
The Common House Fly (German: Stubenfliege) is not as common as you may think. There are many flies who like to hang out in apartments, such as the very large Calliphora vicina. The Common House Fly is only around 7mm in length, has a beige to yellow abdomen, red eyes and very few hair on its body. If the fly you are trying to identify is completely black, blue or dark green or very furry, it is not a Common House Fly.
Much like other flies of its family, Musca domestica feeds on all sorts of food scraps. Once it lays its up to 100 eggs on food sources such as cat and dog food, uncovered meats or fish, it takes the larvae about one day to hatch and another two to five days to pupate. The adult fly hatches after about one week and lives for about one and up to two weeks, repeating the life cycle. In that way, uncovered foods and cadavers can cause a fly infestation within two weeks. This is the point where this fly becomes very common in your household.
Having one or two of those flies in your apartment is not a problem and not a sign of an unclean home. Don't stress yourself out about flies. They are attracted by the smell of frying meats and fish and uncovered food scraps. Once you ate your meal or have the scraps removed or stored in the fridge, the flies will leave, without being able to lay eggs, through the next open window.
William Blake
"The Fly"
Little Fly
Thy summers play,
My thoughtless hand
Has brush'd away.
Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?
For I dance
And drink & sing:
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life
And strength & breath:
And the want
Of thought is death;
Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.
"Songs of Experience" (1794)[1]
