Flies - worried about my boys health

[MyGuineaPigPals]

hello,

i have indoor piggies in a c&c cage, had them 18 months or so now and all has been fine but the last few days I have been getting a lot of flies in my place. I have cleaned the piggies regularly and do their toilet areas as often as possible to but wondering if anyone else has had experience of this?
my boys live on newspapers and a carpet of hay, not fleece could it be the hay doing it? (i wont use fleece tried it and hated it)
I'm worried about the health implications of he flies around my boys ive never had this before

the only other explanation i can think of for the flies is I had a hamster escape a good while ago, (months ago) and i haven't been able to find her anywhere - there arnt many places for her to go here as its a fairly new build all the walls and skirting boards etc are really solid, so i assumed she had got out the front door but starting to worry incase she has passed away here somewhere and they are coming from her. problem is my place is quite small and i can't pinpoint the actual source of where they are coming from

so i am going to do a massive deep clean tomorrow of everything piggies related... will a steam cleaner melt my correx? if not ill use that as well and hope i can get rid of the nest, i may move the animals out for an hour or so and spray every room too with killer to try and get rid.

i am not sure what else to do but everytime i think i have got all the flies i wake up the next morning to even more new ones!

 

[MyGuineaPigPals]

just to add looking at pictures on google i think the type of flies might be horseflies or something like that

 

[MyGuineaPigPals]

it might be worth adding i happen to live next to a canal which is another possibility but we havnt had any windows or doors open over night to let them in

 

[Guinea pig slave]

Sorry to hear of your hammy
Flies...arrrgh ! Pesky things who send me into a frenzy where the piggies are concerned grrrr
I use fly papers in the lounge which are effective in the warmer weather and put fly nets over windows etc. still get in >>>
Good husbandry really helps and I get paranoid having long haired piggies so keep their hair really short around their back ends, regular butt checks as flies like warm, moist areas so keep their pee/poop spots scrupulous. A good old fashioned swatter is also kept to hand here and I'm often caught flailing around the lounge to give the little blighters a good thwack or chasing them into the hall before blasting with Raid (the flies obviously) pow-pow
Hope you can source the problem, unpleasant task :{

 

[MyGuineaPigPals]

thanks feels good to know I'm not the only one, will possibly see if i can get some fly paper tomorrow and going to do a massive deep clean in the morning and then going to be spot checking constantly twice a day after that to try and keep things clean. i cant be doing with flies. so is it ok for me to give all of them a hair cut then just to be safe? they are indoors and we will start putting the heating on soon so they shouldn't get cold or anything

 

[Jerrybelly]

thanks feels good to know I'm not the only one, will possibly see if i can get some fly paper tomorrow and going to do a massive deep clean in the morning and then going to be spot checking constantly twice a day after that to try and keep things clean. i cant be doing with flies. so is it ok for me to give all of them a hair cut then just to be safe? they are indoors and we will start putting the heating on soon so they shouldn't get cold or anything

We had some problem with flies in the summer, but thankfully not too bad and it was easily dealt with using fly paper. It does seem strange to have so many flies around at this time of year, but if you do live near a canal then I suppose that could explain it.

If you have long hair piggies then it's important to keep the area around their bums short and tidy, as Guinea pig slave has said

 

[MyGuineaPigPals]

right spent today deep cleaning the boys had the cage dismantled shampooed the carpet under them and EVERYTHING the boys have even had baths themselves so thought i would upload a short cage tour to show it off as it looks nice (the boys are all hiding though lol) you can also see the divide between 2 of them and I know this makes their cages may be a fraction small this is just temporary don't worry i will be expanding their zones as soon as i can! besides they dont seem to mind as they like to sit next to each other through the bars anyway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ50gYuTGRI&feature=youtu.be

also yes i know they dont have water in the video dont worry ust from finishing up the cleaning thats all they have fresh water now!