The words Dog Breed Info with the letter D inside of a black paw print
Insects

Green Bottle Fly

Green Bottle Fly on a wooden cabinet. Its wings are shiny, its eyes are red, back is green and its legs are black.

Green bottle flies lay their eggs almost exclusively in dead or rotting flesh or meat. These flies can pick up on organic odors of decomposition within minutes of death. They are one of the first insects to be attracted to a fresh carcass.

Other Names
  • Phaenicia sericata
Green Bottle Fly in the palm of a hand Close Up - Green Bottle Fly front view Close Up Right Profile - Green Bottle Fly Close Up - Green Bottle Fly against a window Half Eaten Wet cat cood in a yellow bowl with yellow fly eggs in it

This cat food was put outside at about 9:00 a.m. to feed some farm cats. Most of the food was eaten. However, at about 1:00 p.m. the leftover bowls had a mess of green bottle flies all over them. Upon inspecting the bowls, fly eggs were found in the bowls.

Close Up - Green Bottle Fly eggs on the Cat Food

Fly eggs laid on some leftover canned cat food that was left outside for only four hours.

Green Bottle Fly eggs inside wet cat food

Imagine going to a picnic where flys are in the area. Now imagine the food everyone is being served is sitting out on a table. It is uncovered as people dish out their lunch onto their plates. This could be in your food in only a short amount of time, and it looks like chicken flavored rice. So depending on what the dish is, you may not even realize what you are eating is actually fly eggs.

Close Up - Green Bottle Fly eggs

Up close the eggs look like rice; to the naked eye they look almost like part of the cat food.

Close Up - Green Bottle Fly eggs on the wet cat food

Have you ever been at a picnic where the food was left out for half of the day? Were there any flies in the area?? Hmmm, better think twice about eating uncovered food.

Close Up - Green Bottle Fly eggs in can cat food Close Up - Lots of Green Bottle Fly eggs in the can wet cat food that has been sitting out

Fly eggs in can cat food