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fly laying eggs on food
Do flies taste with their feet?
Flies can be a nuisance to you when you are trying to enjoy your meal or trying to relax and unwind on the patio. A fly can be so irritating. Have you ever watched them as they land on something and they look like they are rubbing their front legs together as if to say, “bring on the food”? Why do their legs move like that when they land on something? Because they are tasting.
A fly eats about anything from garbage, food matter, and manure. Food for a fly is so much more than something to fill up their bellies. A fly uses meat to also lay their eggs in. The eggs will then hatch into maggots and they will eat the meat they are on until they grow through two more stages of larvae before embedding themselves down deep inside the meat to hatch out as an adult fly.
House flies have taste buds located on their feet. These taste buds allow them to land quickly, taste the food, and then escape from your swat. So, having taste buds on the legs gives them the freedom to quickly taste and get away. You will not likely see them in action because they are quick. Once they land, they will immediately taste the food to determine if it is right for them. If it is, and they feel safe, they will continue to eat it as long as they want.
Prevent house flies from landing on your food
You want to be the one that samples your food – not the flies. As soon as your food is ready to eat, it’s best to eat it right away so that no fly lands on it. If you can’t eat it right away, you will want to put a cover on it so that flies cannot directly land on it. Flies land on animal feces and then look for another place to land which may be your meal. Even though their legs are very thin, it is filled with bacteria that can cause harm to your food as well.
If they don’t have time to taste something, they may just move on in order to avoid being caught or trapped but if they get to taste your food, they won’t want to go away. They will continue to make attempts to land on your food no matter what you do to shoo them away.
Is the food bad after a fly lands on it?
Immediately after a fly lands on your food, it begins to taste. If the food tastes good enough for the fly, it will begin to break the food down so it can consume it. This process begins immediately after the fly lands on your food, however, if you are sitting there and you swat the fly away, chances are slim that there are enough harmful bacteria to harm you. You can just play it safe and refill your plate with fresh food if you are in doubt.
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