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Exterminating & Pest Prevention
Greater Glasgow and Ayrshire
Flies and moths
Common house fly, lesser house fly and blowflies
Musca domestica, Fannia canicularis, and Calliphora vicina and Calliphora vomitoria
The most prolific large flies in Great Britain are also found throughout Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, and Ayrshire. These flies are all known for disease transmission, spoilage of food and nuisance. Adults are good fliers and are mobile, able to travel distances. They breed mainly in rotting vegetables, faeces and carcasses.
Appearance, size, and life cycle of common house flies, lesser house flies and blow flies
The average length of an adult house fly is 6 millimetres, with a wing span of 10 millimetres; greyish in colour with pale stripes on the thorax and pale-yellow on the underside of the abdomen and large red eyes. Lesser house flies are slightly smaller, and they have only 3 stripes along the grey thorax and yellow patches on the otherwise grey or black abdomen. Blowflies further divide into bluebottles and greenbottle flies. The length of adult blowflies is about 11 millimetres, and their wingspan is 25 millimetres. Blowflies are blue or green in colour, with large red eyes. Common house fly and lesser house fly appearances, behaviours and lifecycles are similar. In breeding, these large flies have the full metamorphosis - i.e. egg-larva-pupa-adult. Eggs hatch in 1-2 days; legless larvae (maggots) develop in 1-2 weeks on average; pupae also develop in 1-2 weeks. In the warm temperatures during the summertime in Scotland, it may only take 2 weeks for an egg to become an adult fly.
How we control house and blow flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Most often, our technicians apply residual sprays (enhanced to attract them) onto the areas where the adult flies are landing and/or resting. The insecticidal spraying is external and internal.
How much it costs to exterminate blowflies, house flies and lesser house flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Our insecticidal treatments for these flies may vary by the degree and extent of infestation. The prices of treatments are by the size of the property to be treated, or of its affected part to be treated.
£87 any 1 room except for the kitchen
£95 kitchen only
£99 1-bed flat, studio
£121 2-bed flat or house
£135 3-bedroom flat or house
£150 4-bedroom flat or house
£37 Add insecticidal fogging of a small loft (over 1-2 bedroom house)
£47 Add insecticidal fogging of a bigger loft (over 3-4 bedroom house)
Identification of house flies and blowflies, and survey
You may need our help with identification of the flies or you might prefer a separate visit for insect identification and survey done before the treatment. A separate visit to survey only isn't usually necessary before a treatment for these insect pests can take place. We can help you identify them online or you can book a visit for their identification and survey only. You are welcome to use our pest identification aid on a dedicated page of the website, or take a close up photograph of your insect pest and email it to us requesting identification of the insect. We always do a survey before any insect treatment; however, you may request a survey and (optional) monitoring with insect traps to be done on a separate visit (prior to our visit for treatment) which would cost you extra £50. A follow-up visit to inspect our insect monitors would bear no additional cost. We can also identify your insect pest/s on the (optional) surveying visit. If you arrange for an insecticidal treatment within 1 month of the survey (that was done on a separate visit other than the treatment), and no monitoring with traps and a separate follow-up check were involved, you are eligible for a £20 discount off the insecticidal treatment.
How to prepare your house before our treatment for house flies and blowflies.
Remove or cover all food in the internal areas to be treated. If you have pets, you will need to make arrangements for them to be out of the house for the time when we administer our treatment (it takes usually up to 1 hour) and for 2-3 hours after. For health and safety reasons, we advise you and your family to also keep out of your house during and after our insecticidal treatment for the same length of time.
What else we advise for house flies and blowflies
Reduction in breeding can be done by removing or covering the larval food materials and good hygiene.
Cluster fly
Pollenia rudis
Adult cluster flies live and breed harmlessly outdoors but they do enter buildings in the autumn to hibernate and overwinter, usually choosing roof spaces and lofts. A prolific flying insect pest in rural and suburban areas of Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire but also encountered in the Glasgow town centre. Cluster flies do not cause any damage indoors but can be a big nuisance when in large numbers. Potential disease transmission and nuisance.
Appearance, size, and life cycle of cluster flies in Scotland
Same as with house flies, the average length of an adult house fly is 6 millimetres, with a wing span of 10 millimetres.
They have fat-like body, stripy abdomen and large red eyes. Fruit flies are very common outdoors and may also come indoors to breed. They are rapid breeders, with one generation of fruit flies only taking just over 1 week at temperature of 30°C. Larvae migrate away from the food sources to drier areas nearby to pupate.
How we control cluster flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Insecticidal fogging of lofts, roof spaces and voids and residual pyrethroids sprayed on landing and resting areas where the flies have been seen.
How much it is to exterminate cluster flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Our insecticidal treatments for these flies may vary by the degree and extent of infestation. The prices of treatments are by the size of the property to be treated, or of its affected part to be treated.
Our price of insecticidal treatment to control cluster flies is £99 for a chalet or log cabin + 37 for a loft and/or £143 for an average-size 3 - 4-bed house to include upstairs, downstairs (only if the flies are present) and the loft.
Identification of cluster flies and survey
You might need our help with identification of these flies. A separate visit to survey only isn't usually necessary before a treatment for these insect pests can take place. We can help you identify them online or you can still book a visit for their identification and survey only. You are welcome to use our pest identification aid on a dedicated page of the website, or take a close up photograph of your insect pest and email it to us requesting identification of the insect. We always do a survey before any insect treatment; however, you may request a survey and (optional) monitoring with insect traps to be done on a separate visit (prior to our visit for treatment) which would cost you extra £50. A follow-up visit to inspect our insect monitors would bear no additional cost. We can also identify your insect pest/s on the (optional) surveying visit. If you arrange for an insecticidal treatment within 1 month of the survey (that was done on a separate visit other than the treatment), and no monitoring with traps and a separate follow-up check were involved, you are eligible for a £20 discount off the insecticidal treatment.
How to prepare your house before our treatment for cluster flies
Make sure your loft spaces are accessible to our technician. If you have pets, you will need to make arrangements for them to be out of the house for the time when we administer our treatment (it takes usually up to 1 hour) and for 2-3 hours after. For health and safety reasons, we advise you and your family to also keep out of your house during and after our insecticidal treatment for the same length of time.
What else we advise for cluster flies
Apart from our insecticidal treatments in the autumn and the spring, repairing and sealing entry points can help.
Fruit fly
Drosphila spp.
Naturally, fruit flies live and breed outdoors. These small flies readily infest kitchens and pantries and are a common flying insect pest in Glasgow, Ayrshire, and across Scotland. Apart from to ripe fruit (as the name of this insect suggests) and vegetables, these flies are also attracted to certain food and drink (such a fermented or mouldy bread, sour milk, beer, cider, vinegar etc.)
Appearance, size, and life cycle of fruit flies in Scotland
The average length of an adult fruit fly is 2 millimetres, with a wing span of 3-4 millimetres; tessellated as if chequered pattern on the abdomen and large red eyes, overall blackish appearance Other unrelated fly species may hibernate and cluster together. Cluster flies only breed outdoors by adult flies laying eggs into the soil. Their larvae parasitise on earthworms. They have 2 generations per year. Depending on outdoor temperatures each year, usually, cluster flies come into buildings in the autumn and leave the buildings in the spring,
How we control fruit flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Insecticidal fogging or misting with nock-down pyrethroids or pyrethrins and surface residual sprays with synthetic pyrethroids.
How much it is to exterminate fruit flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Our price of insecticidal treatment to control fruit flies in an average-size kitchen plus pantry is £91, alternatively £80 in 1 room
or
£103 for the whole 2-bed flat or house
£120 for the whole 3-bed flat or house
£135 for the whole 4-bed flat or house
Identification of fruit flies and survey
Fruit flies are small and you might need our help with identification of these flies. A separate visit to survey only isn't usually necessary before a treatment for these insect pests can take place. We can help you identify them online or you can still book a visit for their identification and survey only. You are welcome to use our pest identification aid on a dedicated page of the website, or take a close up photograph of your insect pest and email it to us requesting identification of the insect. We always do a survey before any insect treatment; however, you may request a survey and (optional) monitoring with insect traps to be done on a separate visit (prior to our visit for treatment) which would cost you extra £50. A follow-up visit to inspect our insect monitors would bear no additional cost. We can also identify your insect pest/s on the (optional) surveying visit. If you arrange for an insecticidal treatment within 1 month of the survey (that was done on a separate visit other than the treatment), and no monitoring with traps and a separate follow-up check were involved, you are eligible for a £20 discount off the insecticidal treatment.
How to prepare your house before our treatment for fruit flies
Clear away or properly cover any food and drink might be present. If you have pets, you will need to make arrangements for them to be out of the house for the time when we administer our treatment (it takes usually up to 1 hour) and for 2-3 hours after. For health and safety reasons, we advise you and your family to also keep out of your house during and after our insecticidal treatment for the same length of time. If we treat only the kitchen or any other part of your home, you and your pests do not have to be out during and after our insecticidal treatment as long as they keep out of the treated areas for the same length of time as advised above.
What else we advise for fruit flies
Finding and removing the food sources such as rotting vegetables and fruits, and open drinks such as soured milk, beer, cider, vine, vinegar, etc. Clearing food and cleaning drink spillages as soon as they occur.
Drain fly, aka sewage or filter fly
Psychoda spp.
These tiny flies that can irritate by flying into your eyes, mouth and nose. Potential disease transmission and nuisance. Often present around sewage works. Presence of drain flies indoors (in domestic situations) is an indication of either a blocked drain or a leak responsible for a stagnant water that enables them to breed as their larvae are aquatic.
Appearance, size, and life cycle of drain flies in Scotland
Adult drain flies are about 2 millimetres long, wings are almond-shaped with hairy edges, overall black appearance. Drain flies are slow breeders and have complete metamorphosis -e.g. egg-larva-pupa-adult. Female drain flies lay eggs around the stagnated water. Their larvae develop in water where they feed on algae, fungi, bacteria and sludge. The total life cycle of drain flies ranges by the temperature from 16 to 140 days and does not complete in temperatures below 6°C
How we control drain (sewage) flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Control of drain flies is difficult as we can normally only target the adult flies. We use residual sprays applied on the insect landing areas and space sprays to nock down the adult flies.
How much it is to control drain flies in Glasgow and Ayrshire
Our price of insecticidal treatment to control (adult) drain flies are:
£80 any 1 room except for the kitchen
£80 bathroom only
£87 kitchen only
£95 DEAL for bathroom and kitchen only
£103 for the whole 2-bed flat or house
£120 for the whole 3-bed flat or house
£135 for the whole 4-bed flat or house
Identification of drain flies and survey
Fruit flies are tiny and you might need our help with identification of these flies. A separate visit to survey only isn't usually necessary before a treatment for these insect pests can take place. We can help you identify them online or you can still book a visit for their identification and survey only. You are welcome to use our pest identification aid on a dedicated page of the website, or take a close up photograph of your insect pest and email it to us requesting identification of the insect. We always do a survey before any insect treatment; however, you may request a survey and (optional) monitoring with insect traps to be done on a separate visit (prior to our visit for treatment) which would cost you extra £50. A follow-up visit to inspect our insect monitors would bear no additional cost. We can also identify your insect pest/s on the (optional) surveying visit. If you arrange for an insecticidal treatment within 1 month of the survey (that was done on a separate visit other than the treatment), and no monitoring with traps and a separate follow-up check were involved, you are eligible for a £20 discount off the insecticidal treatment.
How to prepare your house before our treatment for fruit flies
Clear away or properly cover any food and drink might be present if we treat your kitchen. If you have pets, you will need to make arrangements for them to be out of the house for the time when we administer our treatment (it takes usually up to 1 hour) and for 2-3 hours after. For health and safety reasons, we advise you and your family to also keep out of your house during and after our insecticidal treatment for the same length of time. If we treat only the kitchen or any other part of your home, you and your pests do not have to be out during and after our insecticidal treatment as long as they keep out of the treated areas for the same length of time as advised above.
What else we advise for drain flies (aka sewage or filter flies)
Outbreaks of drain flies (aka sewage or filter flies) indoors are usually down to stagnant water inside blocked drains or in paddles from leaking pipes, occasionally from flood water in the cellars or basements of buildings. We recommend hiring plumbers and builders to remedy before calling in pest control.
Contact our insect control expert for advice, insect ID, and/or to confirm the cost of the pest control service you require. Book a callout.
All about wasps, bees, ants, and our treatments (e.g. wasp nest removal) to control them, including prices.
All about bed bugs, fleas and mites, and our treatments to control them, including prices.
l about German and Oriental cockroaches and our treatments to control them, including prices.
Beetles, booklice, and woodworm
All about the pest beetles commonly encountered in Glasgow and Ayrshire and our treatments to control them, including prices.
Millipedes, centipedes, woodlice, springtails, silverfish, and spiders
Information about millipedes, centipedes, woodlice, springtails, silverfish, spiders, how we control them, and the prices of our insecticidal treatments
Common clothes moth and brown house moth
Tineola bisselliella and Hofmannophila pseudospretella
In the areas of Scotland (Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire and Glasgow) that we cover with our insect control service, Common clothes moths are more common than house brown moths. Brown moths can be indicative of poor hygiene conditions in the infested building. Clothes moths can attack and damage textiles, especially made of organic fibres such as woollen carpets or clothes made of or containing natural wool. Both, clothes moths and brown moths may attack furs and leather items. Brown moths can infest birds' nests. Damages from moths are only caused by their larvae.
Appearance, size, and life cycle of common clothes moth and brown house moth
The average length of an adult clothes moth is 4-7 millimetres, with a wing span about the same; wings usually held along the body when at rest. The wings have ochre-straw colour and are shiny. Larvae are whitish caterpillars. Brown moths are bigger in size, averaging 8 millimetres in adults. The colour of adult brown (house) moths is brownish-golden with speckles. Same as with the clothes moth, brown moths have wings held along the body when at rest. Both moth species display complete metamorphosis (egg-larva-pupa-adult) when breeding. By the temperature and food availability, it takes them both 3-6 months from an egg to reach maturity. They only live 1-4 weeks as adults. Damage to textiles and household fabrics is caused by the moth larvae and not by the adults
How we control moths in Glasgow and Ayrshire
We spray photo-stable residual pyrethroids on to and around the areas where the moths feed and breed to control their larvae and space spray or ULV applications to knock down the adults in the rest of the moth infested property. In some specific situations (e.g. in museums), we may also involve pheromone traps.
How much it costs to control and exterminate moths
Our insecticidal treatments to control moths may vary by the degree and extent of infestation. The prices of treatments are by the size of the property to be treated, or of its affected part to be treated.
£159 4-bedroom flat or 3-bed house over 2 levels
£142 3-bedroom flat
£127 2-bedroom flat
£111 1-bedroom flat or studio
£99 1 room only
We recommend to add a loft (for cold insecticidal fogging) if you have infestation of brown house moths and have a loft space.
£37 a small loft over 1-2 bedroom flat or house
£47 a bigger loft over 3-4 bedroom house
To eradicate a heavy infestations of moths, a repeat treatment may be required. A 20% discount is available to our customers for repeat treatments.
Identification of common clothes moths, brown house moth, and survey
You may need our help with identification of the moths or you might prefer a separate visit for insect identification and survey done before the treatment. A separate visit to survey only isn't usually necessary before a treatment for these insect pests can take place. We can help you identify them online or you can book a visit for their identification and survey only. You are welcome to use our pest identification aid on a dedicated page of the website, or take a close up photograph of your insect pest and email it to us requesting identification of the insect. A survey/inspection carried out on the same visit before our insecticidal treatment is for free; however, you may request a survey (optional) to be done on a separate visit (prior to our visit for treatment) which would cost you extra £50. If you arrange for an insecticidal treatment within 1 month of such survey (that was done on a separate visit), you will be granted a £30 discount off the cost of our insecticidal treatment that follows.
How to prepare your house before our treatment for moths
Pulling furniture 1 ft away from the wall where possible and vacuuming before our insecticidal treatment would be helpful as you will be advised not to vacuum for a couple of weeks after the treatment to maintain the residual effect of the treatment. If you have pets, you will need to make arrangements for them to be out of the house for the time when we administer our treatment (it takes usually up to 1 hour) and for 2-3 hours after. For health and safety reasons, we advise you and your family to also keep out of your house during and after our insecticidal treatment for the same length of time.
What else we advise for moths
Disposal of the moth infested clothing and household fabrics, regular vacuuming of carpets and good hygiene.
Payments
Payments are due on completion of each job. Where a job consists of a number of visits, the quoted sum is due on completion of the first visit, unless agreed otherwise or if it is a survey. We accept cash, and cards, or can use QR code or payment links. More information on how to make your payment can be accessed here.
Page last updated on 02/03/2025