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You Little Bastards (read: Fruit Flies)
Raggaholic
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ok, so my girl's place has fruit flies, and we have no idea where they are coming from. We've done the "look for food/clean fridge and sink" bit, and they are still everywhere. It's driving me insane. It seems like every time I kill one, three more end up landing on me while I'm watching TV. I want these things gone.
Help?
Help?
Raggaholic on
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As for murderifying them, the bottom of this page from The University of Kentucky suggests a jar with some cider vinegar or a slice of banana in the bottom and the top with a paper funnel in it. I imagine non-paper funnels might do just fine as well if you have them.
It also suggests taping a clear plastic bag (like a ZipLoc bag) over the sink disposal area overnight to see if they're in there. If they are, the big will have a bunch of flies inside.
My google terms were "fruit fly trap."
First thing, even after you get rid of the food, the suckers have to go through a few life cycles before they're gone. Each cycle is 1 week. So a week after you've seen the last one, you should be good.
Like others have said, clean the sink and drain really well. If you have a garbage disposal grind ice in it to get rid of bits and use bleach and water to sanitize. Take out garbage, etc. For the next few weeks you have to be ultra diligent, if they find someplace to mate, you have to add at least a week to your kill time frame.
Once you've gotten rid of all the food sources you'll actually notice more flies because they'll be flying around looking for food. Now is the time for the traps.
I used two mason jars. Put an inch of cider vinegar and some fruit in the bottom. Stretch plastic wrap over the top and hold it in place with an elastic, make sure there aren't any wrinkles. Poke holes in the plastic wrap. I used a needle and wiggled it around a bit to make the holes large enough for the adults. I made two of these, put one in the kitchen and another in my living room. After about 2-3 hours it was starting to trap them.
Once you have enough that you're concerned with them getting out, or if you're going to bed for the day, put the mason jars in the freezer. Make sure you put the jars away at least every 12 hours. If they lay eggs and they hatch, the tiny flies may have an easier time getting out of the trap simply due to their large numbers.
The next day I defrosted the jars/fruit/vinegar in the microwave to thaw out the bait and make sure the little guys were really really dead. This is now day three, I haven't seen any around, I just checked the one trap I still have out. I've got one trapped inside and another sitting on the cling film. Just so you know, they do this for quite some time before they figure out how to get in. If you haven't caught any in 3 hours, you might have holes too small for them to get in.
Like most insects, they seem to be attracted to light. When all of the lights go out and the TV is on, they all gravitate there. The ladyfriend has been on the net doing some research and she thinks they're mold gnats and not fruit flies (she has this crazy obsession with mold).
Hopefully these traps will start bringing them in. Quick question, will freezer kill the ones in the traps? I'd hate to put the traps in there overnight only to have a new colony growing in my ice cream.
The Best in Terms of Pants on JCCC3
I occasionally get fruit flies living in my drain and this kind of trap is super effective. You can basically solve your fly problem in a day with one of these. I use clear plastic cups instead of jars though so I can just throw the whole thing in the dumpster when it's full of fly corpses.
Yeah, I found that my mom's usually got a problem with these flies because of her houseplants rather than food left around/out/the garbage disposal.
In only a few minutes you should see the ones in the freezer jar start slowing down. They'll be solid shortly after. My GF raised the point that they might be waiting in some type of suspended animation. I'm doubtful, but I still boiled the vinegar in the microwave the next day. The steam and heat from that will most definitely kill them. (Not the microwaves them selves mind you, fruit flies are too small to be effected by the 12cm microwave wavelength)
Another method I tried when there were tonnes of them around was suggested on The Google. Use a hairdryer and suck them in the "wrong" end while they're flying around something they like. Time consuming yes, but it tends to be fun.
Either way, I made some traps and, boy, do they suck as far as fly inside to fly outside ratio. I think I'll try with the cups and the funnels. That seems to make some sense. Also, shouldn't I be destroying a nest or something? I remember when I had a problem once, I found it was due to some rotting potatoes that I forgot I threw under the sink (I did that when I first got them, not when they were rotting). Once I killed that nest, they all died off.
I can't find a nest on this one. Does that mean they're going to be around forever?
Try this - put out the cups with vinegar, but don't bother with a funnel or plastic wrap or piece of fruit, just mix a small squirt of dish soap in with the vinegar. This will break the surface tension, and thus when they fly in to try and feed on the vinegar, they'll drown.
I had a serious infestation a couple months ago myself and this worked quite well - probably killed a good 20 or 30 per day at least. I used red wine vinegar, but I don't think it really matters a whole lot.
We rent a house and are currently having a fruit fly issue. We are meticulous and our house is clean, so we couldn't figure out where they were coming from. One day after I got done washing the dishes, and drained the sink, I heard a distant splattering noise. Apparently we have a massive leak in the plumbing in the basement/crawlspace thing under the house. Everything that had been washed down the sink was ending up in a pile in the part of our basement that's only 2 feet tall. Think they're breeding down there and coming upstairs. Landlord needs to fix that shit...
Moral of the story, check your basement if applicable. Otherwise keep scouring harder for a source. Behind/under the fridge and stove, under the sink, under the microwave, in the backs of drawers and cupboards, etc.