Ever since I became a regular user of Spalding Labs’ Fly Predators, over 40 years ago, I have recommended them for fly control to my clients, my neighbors and my seminar audiences.

Invariably, those who heed my advice are satisfied with the results. However, occasionally, the response is unusual and sometimes funny.

For example, one of my clients had a serious fly problem. Like me, she lived in a canyon where the summer temperatures often rise to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, a paradise for barn and house flies. So, I recommended Fly Predators.

Sometime later she telephoned me and said, “I just received my first shipment of Fly Predators. I can’t see them because they are buried in the shavings in the plastic container, but that’s not why I’m calling. I see dozens of little bugs in with them. I’m afraid that they will damage the predators. Maybe they already have, because I don’t see the predators. Maybe the bugs have killed the predators.

I reassured her, “No! Those are the predators. They are hatching, so it’s time to put them out on the manure piles on your place.”

“But,” she protested, “If those are the predators, how can they kill the flies? They are too small.”

“Oh,” I responded, “They are very efficient at killing flies. Nature is full of small organisms killing large organisms.”

“Really?” she exclaimed.

“Sure,” I said. “The smallpox virus is so small that it cannot be seen under an ordinary microscope, yet that virus has killed hundreds of millions of human beings throughout history. And, I have seen horses killed by rattlesnakes less than three feet in length. That’s just two examples of smaller organisms killing much larger ones.”

“You mean the Fly Predators are dangerous?”

“Yes,” I replied. “But not to us. Only to the flies.”