water bags stop flies?

[Gryphus-1]

I have a question to present to this forum, because I can't seem to find any scientific study or university study on the topic. Does the ziplock bag half filled with water really repel flies. My family is convinced that it works, yet I have combed the internet trying to find a reasonable study on this topic. All I have been able to find is home remedy sites. So is there any credible proof that these water bags work?

[Crazycowbob]

Not that I know of, but the idea has been submitted to the mythbusters, go to their site and add a comment to the thread, maybe they'll test it in an upcoming show if enough people show interest :)

[Jayoss]

I was at the coast a bit ago and stopped to eat at a restaurant. I walked in and saw there were ziploc bag full of water placed over doors and open windows. The place served (of course) fish and sold fresh fish; always an attraction for flies. While the weather was good and there wre flies about, not a single fly in the restaurant.

I tried this at my home and recall there being far less flies in my home during warm weather than in the past. This would be an excellent submission for Mythbusters.

[slyjoe]

Evidence seems pretty anecdotal. With some saying it works, others saying it doesn't.

And welcome to the forum!

Both Gryphus-1 and Jayoss. :)

[BenK]

Doesn't help much but I found this (http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=24;t=001458;p=1) thread in Snopes.

[Gryphus-1]

Something else that is interesting about this topic that I didnt state before. All of the sites I see pertaining to these water bags state very specifically that the bags must be ziplock bags and half filled with water. Some sites even throw out theories that the water scares the flies, so would it really matter if the bag were half filled or totally filled? If that were the case. Other sites throw out theories that water refracts light blinding the flies preventing them from flying into your home. Again there is no credible scientific or university study on this topic that I could find.

[Cello Man]

My brother does this on his back porch, but there is a penny in the water bag as well. Apparently the copper and water emits some mysterious ether that repels flies.

Does it work? Hell if I know, but my gut tells me it's hokum.

[yairhol]

A very good subject. Welcome to the boards.

What I know about the water bags is that it doesn't matter what kind of bag it is as long as it is clear. When you put water in it and the fly gets close to it he can see himself in the reflection coming from the water in the bag. Since the reflection is stretched because of the bag, the fly is supposed to think that there is a bigger fly in front of him and he is scared away.

Has anyone told the flies this is what they're supposed to see?
Some people claim that it works. I don't know...

Regards,
Yair

[petra10]

welcome gryphus-1 and jayoss. i have never heard of water bags stopping flies but it would be good if it was true.do you think it would work with other insects like bees and wasps?

[kellyb]

My brother does this on his back porch, but there is a penny in the water bag as well. Apparently the copper and water emits some mysterious ether that repels flies.

Does it work? Hell if I know, but my gut tells me it's hokum.

People do the "with a penny in it" version around here, too.
My gut also tells me it's hokum.

I'd like to be proven wrong, though. :)

[FramerDave]

I was at the coast a bit ago and stopped to eat at a restaurant. I walked in and saw there were ziploc bag full of water placed over doors and open windows. The place served (of course) fish and sold fresh fish; always an attraction for flies. While the weather was good and there wre flies about, not a single fly in the restaurant.

I tried this at my home and recall there being far less flies in my home during warm weather than in the past. This would be an excellent submission for Mythbusters.

Anecdotal evidence, and confirmation bias.

[supercorgi]

I've never heard of this. Seems to be baseless. Want to get rid of flies? Have a few frogs sitting around your house. :D

[RSLancastr]

I seem to recall there being a column about it in The Straight Dope. I don't recall what Cecil's final take on it was.

[Amapola]

Well, I sure don't buy the explanation in the Straight Dope. (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwaterbags.html) (This is in that Snopes thread that BenK linked.) It says that the shifting water in the bag causes areas of light and dark to appear to the fly, and that the fly stays away from moving things because "it could be a predator." (As an aside, they claim that flies see really well and other insects do not. A question for BugGirl! I am not well-informed on how well insects see.)

Have you ever gone riding on a horse? They move around plenty, and in addition switch their tails to keep the flies at bay. Doesn't work. That's why humans invented fly spray..... which must be applied frequently..... so they could have a peaceful ride on a horse. So I don't go along with the idea that flies stay away from moving things.

I also don't go along with the idea that flies stay away if you hang bags of water. I do this every year. They are not really bags of water for the sake of bags of water, they are fly traps. I put a little scent in there to smell bad, and the flies go in and drown in droves - but since they are crawling right in to the bag to drown, you could hardly claim the bag of water was keeping them away. I also have water troughs all over the place, and this does not deter the flies either, although in the wind the water moves quite a lot and reflects light and dark.

I'm going to be old-fashioned and go with closing the door, or using a screen door. That is the only thing I have found to be effective in keeping them out of my *house*. Outside is a different matter....

[arthwollipot]

I've never heard of this practice, and we get a LOT of flies in summer here in Australia. I strongly suspect that it doesn't work, otherwise everyone down here would be doing it.

[RSLancastr]

I'm going to be old-fashioned and go with closing the door, or using a screen door. That is the only thing I have found to be effective in keeping them out of my *house*. Outside is a different matter....Although not terribly suitable for home use, I've often wondered how effective those fans above the door in some restaurants are. They come on when the door is opened, and send a blast of air straight down until the door is closed.

Seems like it would have a better chance than a bag of water, but I still wonder about them, usually as they blow my sunglasses off of my head...

[skeptigirl]

I'll go out on a limb here, NO, this does not work. And I can't believe how open minded you all are being.

A fan works to keep flies away from the dinner table.

I've seen people hang lots of strings in their doorways. I doubt it works well but at least there is plausibility that the flies perceive the surface as solid. There are some who think the mechanism tricks flies into thinking it is a spider web. That's a stretch, and since I've seen flies and their carcases in spider webs, I don't think that is the mechanism. And I'm also not aware of actual evidence the strings work.

But the bags of water, absolutely no way.

[robinson]

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwaterbags.html

Fascinating. Thanks for the link. What an amazing world it is.

[Hydrogen Cyanide]

Another more scientific bithttp://www.aptivinc.com/AM_INFO_SHEET.pdf is to use fly traps with ammonia scents:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/may01/fly0501.htm

Funny, today I just hung some around my apple trees for apple maggot (yes, I am about two weeks late, but I have them covered in socks! (http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/productdetails.cfm?ProductID=T165)):
http://www.aptivinc.com/AM_INFO_SHEET.pdf

[Clutch]

Although not terribly suitable for home use, I've often wondered how effective those fans above the door in some restaurants are. They come on when the door is opened, and send a blast of air straight down until the door is closed.

Seems like it would have a better chance than a bag of water, but I still wonder about them, usually as they blow my sunglasses off of my head...


They're air curtains. Meant to help keep the cool air in the restaurants and hot air out.

[robinson]

Something this complex is going to require vast amounts of funding, careful experimental design, a double blind test protocol, many years of careful research, and peer review.











Or you could hang some baggies half full of water up and see if it works.

[tube]

I for one lament the loss of the Shell No Pest Strip:

http://www.jimhightower.com/node/1786

Seriously, this reminds me of putting plastic milk jugs filled with water out on your lawn, possibly in the belief that it would repel dogs and their attendant excremental functions.

[casebro]

If I was selling Woo Water Bags, I would tell the public that flys see in a different wavelength of light. And to use my proprietary/homeopahtic ingredient, to change the properties of the water, so only the flies see it as a hazard. Hmm, some kind of gel ersumpthin that would make the water shimmery? Powdered aluminum maybe? I wonder what the fragments from a broken tempered window look like through water? Prismatic? Might as well make it look cool as well as be Woo...

Hmmm, maybe flys are all paranoid/delusional. So that when they fly near a half-filled water bag, they see themselves as being under the surface, and think that they are being drowned? And with those multi-faceted eyes, they think they are being drowned THOUSANDS OF TIMES! It's enough to make all flys paranoid!

[arthwollipot]

I for one lament the loss of the Shell No Pest Strip:

http://www.jimhightower.com/node/1786

Seriously, this reminds me of putting plastic milk jugs filled with water out on your lawn, possibly in the belief that it would repel dogs and their attendant excremental functions.

I know people who swear by this. Their rationale is that dogs won't pollute where fresh water is found. Fine if the water is out in the open, but sealed in a plastic bottle they can neither smell nor see it, and hence pee and/or poo without regard for what those strange humans leave lying about.

[skeptigirl]

There's that myth that puppies won't soil their own bed, it's a myth. And grown up dogs have no trouble barfing in their bed. So I think the claim, "dogs won't pollute fresh water" is also likely to be a myth.

[Babylon Sister]

Another anecdote: In May we ate lunch in an open air resturant in Mexico that had dozens of water-filled clear plastic bags around the place at probably 8-10 feet above the ground. No flies in the resturant. But then, I don't remember any flies outside the ressturant either.

I think they were there just so the tourists would ask about them.

[RSLancastr]

The fact that it does not work for all flies leads me to an interesting theory.

Since the bags must be half full of water, perhaps it only works for optimistic flies, as pessimistic ones would see the bag as half empty.

[arthwollipot]

That has to be one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.

[Amapola]

The fact that it does not work for all flies leads me to an interesting theory.

Since the bags must be half full of water, perhaps it only works for optimistic flies, as pessimistic ones would see the bag as half empty.

By FSM, I think you've got it. :D

[Haunted]

I've seen this many times. The supposed reason I hear is that flies mistake the water bags for wasp nests and keep their distance from it. I don't know if it works, but that is the superstition as I have heard it.

[BenK]

I've heard a similar thing about Wasps themselves. Aparently they won't make a nest if they see an establishied nest nearby. Hanging a paper bag(s) around your house looks enough like a nest to ward off Wasps.

[skeptigirl]

Ben and Haunt, try it this way, "Unless I see some evidence I'm going to work from the assumption this is absurd!" :)

And about that nest by a nest, no..not true. I don't know if there is a minimum distance, but I've had several under one eave before.

[kmortis]

If I was selling Woo Water Bags, I would tell the public that flys see in a different wavelength of light. And to use my proprietary/homeopahtic ingredient, to change the properties of the water, so only the flies see it as a hazard. Hmm, some kind of gel ersumpthin that would make the water shimmery? Powdered aluminum maybe? I wonder what the fragments from a broken tempered window look like through water? Prismatic? Might as well make it look cool as well as be Woo...

Hmmm, maybe flys are all paranoid/delusional. So that when they fly near a half-filled water bag, they see themselves as being under the surface, and think that they are being drowned? And with those multi-faceted eyes, they think they are being drowned THOUSANDS OF TIMES! It's enough to make all flys paranoid!
Don't forget to get the word "quantum" in your description somehow.

The Quantic Effects of the Proprietary/Homeopathetic Mixture effects the Self-Esteem of the fly, ensuring a Safe and Enjoyable Living Experiencesm.