We have all heard of the Aussie salute. This is an expression that has been born from the necessity to use our hands to remove flies from our face. The most common fly in Australia is the Australian bush fly. That is its common name; however, its proper name is Musca Vetustissima. This pesky little Australian icon has been around for thousands of years and has annoyed animals and humans alike, including the Aboriginals who were the first human inhabitants in Australia. It needs dung to reproduce and since the advent of animal husbandry into Australia its numbers have increased immeasurably. The reason they invade our faces is their delight in their favourite form of protein-rich moisture from our eyes, nose, ears and mouth. They have an incredible sense of smell and can appear in massive numbers once they have detected these delicacies. Once the bush fly lands on you it goes to work immediately, sucking up like a sponge all of the secretions that are found on the human skin. They are not known to bite; however, they are extremely good at quickly removing any form of sweat, proteins, salts and also any carbohydrates or sugars they may find on your bodily parts. The thought that, prior to them landing in the corner of your lips to have a little suck on your saliva, they may have been sitting on top of a cow patty is not very appetising, to say the least.
There are over 20,000 species of flies found in Australia but none more prolific or friendly than the common Australian bush fly. You can land in the middle of Australia in a light aircraft where there is absolutely no vegetation or water and within several minutes of your arrival you can be absolutely inundated with these over-friendly and very hungry creatures. If a fly finds something within your body, or perhaps the food you are eating is not liquid, they do not have mouths or teeth to chew it up so they will vomit on it then swallow it after which they will regurgitate it so as to turn it into a liquid they can consume.
Australian Bush Flies are not flies that like to be entrapped in an environment such as a house and so will try to escape as quickly as possible. Some flies such as the common house fly and the numerous forms of blowfly are very content to be inside your home and will readily contaminate your food and use anything they can that is decaying to use for the purpose of reproduction.
The obvious way to protect yourself from Australian bush flies during daylight hours, as they are not a species that will be active once the sun has gone down, is to use some form of protection to stop them settling on your skin. There are many personal repellents on the market that work in various levels. You can also use a hat net or you perhaps could use the old swagman's trick of hanging corks from your hat to minimise the effects. This, however, can be more irritating than the bush flies themselves.
In your home protection is simply a matter of ensuring that you have adequate insect screens or security screens as well as good-quality insect screen doors or security screen doors fitted correctly to your home. Also you may have all of these installed, but they may be in a state of disrepair and either need renewal or re-meshing. Australia is a land of many insects and good-quality insect screens or security screens can alleviate a great degree of the stress that can be incurred by having these friendly little insects in our homes.
For more information please contact us at http://www.seconline.com.au/ Phone: 1300 735 405 Email info@seconline.com.au
