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The house fly and ant are probably the two insects that never seem to have diminishing populations. You are likely to see them everywhere you go. Haven’t you always wondered how long a housefly lives and whether it has an interesting life before a fly swatter dispatches it to the afterlife?Or whether they die of natural causes? So to help us answer that question, we have mapped out the natural life cycle of the housefly.

Where does the life of a house fly begin?

To know the end, we must start at the very beginning. A female house has the ability to lay more than 150 eggs at a go. The eggs look like single grains of rice. Over the course of several days she will lay from five to six batches of eggs. The preferred egg laying sites by female houseflies are dark, smelly surfaces such as manure, compost and other decomposing organic material.

The egg mark the beginning of life for a housefly. Amazingly after the eggs have been laid, the gestation period of the eggs is a mere 24 hours after which they will hatch into legless maggots. The hatched eggs will then feed from the same laying site for a period of 4 to 5 days within which they molt several times. This feeding serves to stock on protein in preparation for the coming metamorphosis. They then seek a dark place to pupate.

The pupal stage will then take 3 to six days after which, lo and behold! a full grown fly will emerge with fully formed wings, legs and body. The pupal stage of a fly is often compared tothe butterfly’s cocoon stage. The brown hard shell serves to protect the inactive maggot as it metamorphoses into a fully formed housefly.

What is astonishing is the fact, within days of emerging from the pupalstage, the female houseflies are able to reproduce. They can lay up to a thousand eggs in their short life time. And then the cycle begins all over again. I guess that in a sense explains why there is never a shortage of house flies at any given time.

With that life cycle in mind, the life span of a housefly is somewhere in the range of 15-30 days depending on conditions such as temperatures and weather. Out in the wild, houseflies are more susceptible to danger and harsh conditions such as unforgiving heat and extreme cold, both of which can limit their lifespan. Incontrolled environments such as a laboratory, house flies can live much longer.

Conclusion

Although the housefly is short-lived, it is capable of horrendous trouble within the short time that it is alive. Houseflies are known carriers of pathogens and diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis. They carry germs on both their mouths and feet. If you notice an infestation in your area, its best to find some experts on houseflies and pest to help get rid of them completely.