Studies show that the more flies you have around your living space, the more diseases you are exposed to. How come flies always seem to survive even when you think you’ve killed them? Do flies come back to life?
Flies can’t come back to life after they die. Although flies appear to emerge spontaneously back from the dead, it is actually new flies that you see. Flies have an unrivaled commitment to producing more offspring quickly. Flies have a brief life cycle that takes about one week for fly larvae to develop into adult flies.
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Do Flies Come Back To Life After Death
Although flies appear to come back to life shortly after you have killed them, flies can’t come back to life after they die.
What makes them appear again is actually new flies. The speed at which their larvae emerge from the rotting matter and trash is very quick. Flies have a brief life cycle.
Many species of flies are outright scavengers, with their larvae stage developing on either carrion or open wounds. Depending on the species, the female will shed eggs or live larvae within hours of attaining adulthood.
Provided the growth conditions are right, the bare minimum being cool temperatures, the life cycle will start and keep repeating itself rapidly.
This makes the flies appear to recover from death as it takes about a week for the larvae to develop into adult flies.
However, just how resilient a fly may look can depend on the species.
Flesh flies are made up of numerous species and can be easily mistaken for the common housefly. Unlike houseflies, however, they prefer to burrow in dead bodies rather than walk on food and hang around on tables.
And what makes flesh flies seem to not die and come back to life is how they are committed to reproducing.
Flesh flies are parasitic, and they have evolved to attack other insects like wasps, bees, or grasshoppers, and will quickly lay eggs on them to trigger the life cycle.
The second reason why flesh flies complete their life cycle very fast is the abundance of food. This is something you can control.
If you have lots of dead matter lying around, these flies will have a reason to keep multiplying at a higher rate.
It is worth mentioning that flesh flies aren’t the only colonizing flies capable of replicating back into new adult flies at such a quick rate. Blowflies are capable of reproducing quickly as well.
Do Flies Come Back To Life After Freezing
If you freeze a fly long enough, it will die and not come back to life. Freezing kills most biological systems that haven’t specially evolved to withstand it.
No species of flies possess a coping mechanism for extremely low temperatures, even for the Belgica Antarctica Fly.
Water is known to expand during the freezing process. When an organism is exposed to extremely low temperatures, the ice crystals that form in the cells end up rupturing the cell membranes.
The freezing process causes ions and salts to leave the solution, or the innards of the fly, damaging them in the process. The growing cells may experience other physical damages as well.
Flies don’t truly hibernate in extremely cold conditions. They slide into a state of diapause, meaning their appetite and development is slowed down until the temperatures rise high enough to promote activity.
That’s why flies disappear in the winter only to resurface when the conditions get warm.
However, there’s a big difference between the conditions in the freezer box and the conditions during a regular winter storm. No species of flies can survive an hour in the freezer box because of the extreme conditions.
Some species of flies, however, can withstand winter temperatures. Don’t assume your fly problem will decrease because of winter.
All species of flies undergo complete metamorphosis (egg –> larva –> pupa –> adult). Many species hibernate in the early stages throughout the cold months of the season.
So, flies may appear to be gone in the winter only to get active again when the conditions get warmer in the spring.
Cluster flies, especially the Pollenia Rudis, are known for their hibernating capabilities in adulthood, especially on your attics.
Musca Domestica is a family of flies that make up the common house fly you often see on a dirty table and kitchen.
Research shows that Musca Domestica is good at hibernating in adulthood especially in garbage. They normally shelter in warm pockets of rancid fermenting trash.
Helpful Tips To Know About Flies Coming Back To Life
Here are the facts you need to know about the lives of flies:
- A fly that is frozen through is dead, regardless of the species. It can’t be revived. However, the muscles may appear to twitch for some time if you try to thaw them, but twitching isn’t life.
- Just one species of flies has so far been found to stay alive in levels of freezing conditions. Belgica Antarctica will stay alive and happy as long as the temperatures don’t drop below – 5°F.
- Flies can survive low temperature conditions in a fridge, it just depends on how long you keep them there and at what temperature point. They will simply slide into hibernation when the temperatures approach zero. Most flies can’t withstand anything subzero. The longer the fly stays in the fridge or the faster the temperatures decline, the slim the chances it will get out alive.
Final Thoughts
Can flies come back to life? Although sometimes they appear too, flies can’t come back to life. Even if you freeze a fly, they will not come back to life.
A frozen fly is a dead fly regardless of the species. Their bodies may twitch when thawed, but they are still dead. Flies just reproduce so quickly it appears they have come back from the dead. They are actually new flies.