Flies adjacent to house? Do I call an exterminator.. or what?

Question

For some reason, we're starting to have a problem with those iridescent c**p-eating flies in a little patch of ground directly adjacent to our house.

This is not where we store our garbage, that is about 10, 15 yards away. Flies in this area are at least 3 times as numerous here as they are where we store our garbage covered. This little 'yard' next to the house, near our front door, has some cactus, as we had problems with animals here, and there is a dead / dying shrub as well. Otherwise, the ground is mostly covered with small crushed stone, but there is a patch of exposed dirt as well. The flies seem to hang out everywhere in this area. I'm clueless as to what to do since, although this isn't exactly ideal or 'pretty', as far as I know none of these things on their own should draw flies.

My question is, who do I call about this? Should I just call an exterminator, or..? I'm starting to wonder if a small animal died in an inaccessible place that I am unable to see, although it is not a poorly-kept house on its own, it has fairly new siding, concrete foundation is intact, etc.

Who would you call about that sort of thing?

Answer 1

Try hanging bags of water, it works to keep the flies from bothering you.  Also you can purchase or make a cone shaped trap for flies.  They fly in, and cannot fly out.  You then toss it in the trash and make/buy new ones.  The ones you buy contain a "bait" inside and if hung in the sun, they smell bad, so try to put them where they will not be hanging in your face on your porch.  If you don't have anything to hang it on off of your porch, maybe get a shepard's hook at say Home Depot or something to put in the ground.  Good luck with those buggers :)

I posted a link to a site with instructions on how you can make your own fly traps.