Hobbies And Interests
Pheromones and Scents
Without an attractive scent to lure flies to it, fly paper would be no more effective than double-sided tape. Manufacturers impregnate the material with pheromones that flies find appealing or with scents that suggest dinner to the insects. Some fly papers have no detectable scent to humans, while others have a sweet or somewhat rotten odor. Flies have sophisticated sensory organs that can detect these scents even when they're faint or nonexistent to human noses, so fly paper manufacturers only add a little scent to the products to make them effective.
Adhesive
A long-lasting adhesive that stays tacky for weeks makes fly paper effective. The insects fly close to investigate the attractive scent, land on the strip of paper and become stuck in the layer of adhesive. Although their wings can easily launch the fly's body weight into the air, they aren't powerful enough to lift the creature from the sticky strip of paper. The more the fly struggles, the more securely it sticks itself to the adhesive.
Poisons
While some fly paper relies solely on its adhesive properties to take flies out of commission, other types also employ poisons to kill the flies more quickly. At one time, arsenic provided the poisonous component of fly papers; it was even a murder weapon in at least one high-profile case of the 1920s when Lyda Southard extracted the toxin from fly paper and used it on four husbands. Today, fly paper contains either no toxic chemicals or relatively mild insecticides. If you choose a fly paper with insecticide, hang it well away from animals or food storage areas to avoid contamination.
Using Fly Paper
Follow the fly paper manufacturer's directions for using their product. Fly paper works best if you hang it where flies most like to congregate such as near windows or close to trash receptacles. If the paper becomes dusty, it loses its efficacy, so try to place the paper somewhere that it will remain largely dust-free. Change the paper more frequently if it hangs in an arid environment that dries the adhesive quickly.