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Housekeeping

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Original poster

what are these black dots?

35 replies

booyhoo · 21/09/2010 18:05

over the last 3 weeks i have found 5 clusters of black dots. they look exactly like someone has taken a black pen and just done a cluster of between 20-30 dots. so far i have found a cluster, on ds1's pillow, on ds'1s bedroom floor (lino), on the hall floor (laminate), on the leather sofa and today on the cofee table. i know it wasn't ds as he wasn't here today to do them on the coffe table. it isn't ink, they washed off the pillow, sofa and both floors and i have been able to scratch them off the coffe table. what the hell are they?

OP posts:
scurryfunge · 21/09/2010 18:09

mould?

Bicnod · 21/09/2010 18:10

Ooooo - we had this at a holiday home and I think, I think it's something to do with flies. Have you had a lot of flies in the house recently?

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 18:12

not mould. i polished coffee table this morning, no dots, but they were there this afternoon

OP posts:
llareggub · 21/09/2010 18:12

I've found these and wondered what they are.

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 18:12

OMG loads of flies. billions of the feckers. i have been burning citronella all day. had to stop as i was choking.

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Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 18:13

are they fly poo or eggs? eugh!!

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MrFibble · 21/09/2010 18:16

It's fly dirt.... yuck stuff and not easy to get rid of.

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 18:17

boak!!!

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SuperLapin · 21/09/2010 18:19

fly poo!

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 18:22

right, on that note. apart from fly screens. what keeps the filthy gits out?

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Bicnod · 21/09/2010 19:54

get some fly spray and fumigate your house, that's the only thing that worked at the holiday cottage.

bleurgh. poor you.

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 19:59

oh god, i hate fly spray, it chokes more than the citronella.

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popeonarope · 21/09/2010 20:02

Get the council in to spray for you - go out for the day (you have to anyway with the stuff they use) and the smell will be gone when you get back.

popeonarope · 21/09/2010 20:02

Incidentally it's a cluster fly outbreak and yes it is fly poo. Sorry.

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 20:03

is the stuff they spray safe for kids and pets and how long does it last?

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Tippychoocks · 21/09/2010 20:06

fly poo. and it will mark fabric like white sofas so be careful Sad
Have a mn whip round for spiders Grin. If you have lots then I think you may have to spray. Do you know why you have so many?

popeonarope · 21/09/2010 20:08

Four hours you have to vacate afterwards, then open the windows for one hour. We chose to stay at a hotel (frankly we had a bloody good day out and let the neighbours air the place). Lasts for a good few months.

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 20:09

i don't know. i am really carefull with food. nothing gets left out. we wash up straight after dinner. we have a dog but he eats all his food straight away and his water is changed several times a day. i am guilty of leaving all my windows open all day. could that be it?

OP posts:
popeonarope · 21/09/2010 20:11

You probably have something dead somewhere - mice in the loft? Do you have a cellar? It tends to be dripping which draws them in - have you identified the room they are mostly in?

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 20:16

well last night there were 8 flies on the living room ceiling which is directly below the dses room and the playroom. considering i found all the dots either in the living room or dses room, except for the hall outside the LR then i reckon i have a problem in one of those 3 rooms. i really fucking hope there is nothing dead in my house. boak.

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BertieBotts · 21/09/2010 20:17

My mum had the same problem just before I left home. I can't stand having flies in the house now. If I see one I'll chase it out or kill it with a newspaper as soon as I notice it - that seems to keep them under control.

Bins? Are you taking the bin bags out regularly enough? Is your outside bin too close to your open window?

Maybe house plants? Another thing my mum has which I don't. I do sometimes leave food out and half done washing up etc (and cat food) and they don't seem to be attracted to that. But I don't literally have the windows open constantly. I have a bit of an irrational phobia of wasps so tend to only have windows open in the room that I am in.

There was a fly trap which they made on Kim & Aggie once, I'll see if I can find where I wrote it down.

Tippychoocks · 21/09/2010 20:18

My mum gets them and I am convinced it is because she has a huge fruit bowl. She buys all sorts and mostly watches it rot, attracting the little buggers. Or possibly hatching them. Yuckness.

I don't have them and I have a dog and other animals and windows open letting in cow poo smells Grin.
Shock at the dead dripping pope, sounds like CSI.

popeonarope · 21/09/2010 20:19

Right above DSes room what is there? A loft? A chimney?

That is the source of the problem unless your children have been keeping a dead animal in their room (not beyond the realms of possibility - kids do get attached to odd things).

Otherwise I would send someone up to the loft to have a looksee. Or just hold a can of flyspray through the hatch, let them have it, and then go out for a few hours till the dust has fallen.

BertieBotts · 21/09/2010 20:19

Ah I see x-post. Yes we wondered at my mum's house if there was a rogue decomposing mouse hidden away somewhere which the cat had brought in and terrified away into a little hole to die. Never smelt anything though so who knows?

Original poster
booyhoo · 21/09/2010 20:19

i empty the kitchen bin after dinner every evening and before that if it is full. the outside bins are in the back garden but that is the only place they can go. black bin is getting emptied tomorrow so i think i will hose it out after. no house plants either.

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