Has anyone ever had Fruit Flies?

sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
I had a BBQ this past weekend. My garbage can in my kitchen had a lot of items thrown in it while I was preparing food. I had fruit flies by Sunday. I took the garbage out and now they seem to be everywhere. Every time I set anything down on the counter there are damn fruit flies on it. I have sprayed the garbage, took it out when the bag was not even half full, sprayed the air near the can. How do you get rid of them once they are in the house? I have kept everything as clean as possible. I have two dogs and two cats. They have food and water out. They may be feeding off of that. I don't know.

Thanks!
-Sep
 
reefer545

reefer545

Member
Pour some maple syrup on a plate near where you think they started. they also LOVE SCOTCH believe it or not, and will fly to it, and then fall in and die, probably due to the fumes. It shouldnt take more than a couple days to get rid of them. As a chef, I understand.
OH, if they happen to be coming from your garbage disposal, you will need to use bleach. the fumes will kill them. Also a L shaped brush should be used to scrub the underneath of the fitting inside the sink, which can store NASTY amounts of food waste, and give prime breeding groounds for bugs.
 
nvmycj

nvmycj

Member
Don't leave any fruit out on the counter tops. They LOVE house plants. I had them like CRAAAAAAAAAAAAZY, until I sprayed my house plants everyday for about 4-5 days. I also made it a little cooler in the house. FLIES BE GONE!!! I bought some house and plant safe spray at Lowes that said it killed gnats and flies. It worked! So far, so good!
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by REEFER545
Pour some maple syrup on a plate near where you think they started. they also LOVE SCOTCH believe it or not, and will fly to it, and then fall in and die, probably due to the fumes. It shouldnt take more than a couple days to get rid of them. As a chef, I understand.
OH, if they happen to be coming from your garbage disposal, you will need to use bleach. the fumes will kill them. Also a L shaped brush should be used to scrub the underneath of the fitting inside the sink, which can store NASTY amounts of food waste, and give prime breeding groounds for bugs.
Do you know how they reproduce? I am worried to leave anything out because I think they will just eat and keep on living. If I leave something sticky out (which sounds like a gross idea) will they have a million eggs laid elsewhere in my house? I have been spraying which seems to have no effect at all. LOL the maple syrup trick may be like hypo for my house right? It will eventualy get them all? I don't want to get ants in the process though. LOL a secondary infection! Darn, I don't have to leave my house for six weeks do I?
Ok, do you think the syrup on a plate may work? I don't have a garbage disposal. I was taking the garbage out because I don't want them to have food.
Thanks,
Sep
 
reefer545

reefer545

Member
It wont get RID of them immediately, but it will guarantee where they will go. They will just run their course, cuz after a few days, the eggs that have hatched will have matured adn gotten stuck in the syrup before they can reproduce. Get it? The whole lifespan of these pests is to eat, eat, and screw. kinda like us I guess. LOL. If they stop their life at eating, there is no screwing. To any mod out there, forgive my language please. this does work.
Ants are a whole new story. plus, you can throw away the syrup everyday and move it so that any ants dont localize on one area. If they do, they will get stuck too.
 
geridoc

geridoc

Well-Known Member
In our lab we get rid of fruit flies by making a home made fly motel - flies check in, don't check out. Take a glass, put some cooking oil in it and some banana skin. Cover the glass with a funnel, narrow side down. The flies will fly down the funnel to get to the banana, get stuck in the oil, and no more flies!
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by GeriDoc
In our lab we get rid of fruit flies by making a home made fly motel - flies check in, don't check out. Take a glass, put some cooking oil in it and some banana skin. Cover the glass with a funnel, narrow side down. The flies will fly down the funnel to get to the banana, get stuck in the oil, and no more flies!
That sunds like a good idea. No one in my house eats bananas though. Anything that can substitute? I just don't want to leave a plate of syrup out all day. I work from 6am until 5pm durring the week. I can't leave stuff un-attended.
 
reefer545

reefer545

Member
Dont you leave your light switches unattended when you go to work? lol. No offense. It is just a plate of syrup. You could easily go with jelly or a couple days old piece of fruit which would have to go unattended a lot longer just become RIPE enough for flies to want it. Im sorry, that is not true, a fruit fly would want a 10 minute old peel.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by REEFER545
Dont you leave your light switches unattended when you go to work? lol. No offense. It is just a plate of syrup. You could easily go with jelly or a couple days old piece of fruit which would have to go unattended a lot longer just become RIPE enough for flies to want it. Im sorry, that is not true, a fruit fly would want a 10 minute old peel.
No offense taken. I would rather not invite more bugs into my house if I can avoid it. There are two things in life that I have a major issue with, they are bugs and foul odors. I have owned a snake and will hold other people's snakes but scream if a moth flies near me. I will wake whomever is in my house to kill a lightning bug. I have a major issue with bugs. Foul odors are just not allowed at all. I would not have posted about such a seemingly small problem if it were not a major issue for me. These bugs need to die without any new ones comming in.
 
ice4ice

ice4ice

Active Member
Pour bleach (not diluted - but straight out of the gallon) in all your sink drains and rinse out after a few minutes. It'll kill the eggs in there. Clean your garbage can with bleach. That usually will take care of the problem.
 
jennythebugg

jennythebugg

Active Member
i hear you sepulation im the same way with bugs i have to kill them cant stand 'em ...my kids let flies in when they go outside i hand them the swatter when they come back and make them kill their own flies
 
rylan1

rylan1

Active Member
Here's how you get rid of them - get a bottle of white vineger, take the top off, its a new bottle pour some out. Just let it sit there and they will go in and die. Let it sit there for a few days.
They can come up through the sink also.
 
R

rattler739

Guest
I used to breed fruit flies to feed to my dart frogs and one time i left a burrito in my garbage in my room with the lid on it for about about 2 or 3 weeks (the garbage was behind a desk because i was moving stuff around and forgot about it) Later i remembered about the trash and went to take it out and had to thow away the whole thing because there were literally millions (if you think i am over exagerating i am not) and had fruit flies in my room for about 2 months.
 
R

rattler739

Guest
We also had a problem at a SUBWAY that i was an assistant manager at. they were living in the mop and the drain and the mop water was organic so it did absolutly nothing. We ended up getting bleach and within a week or so they were totally gone.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by Rylan1
Here's how you get rid of them - get a bottle of white vineger, take the top off, its a new bottle pour some out. Just let it sit there and they will go in and die. Let it sit there for a few days.
They can come up through the sink also.
I will try the vinegar. I use bleach in my sink all of the time so I do not think they are living in there. Thanks guys
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
They seem to be diminishing. My kitchen was not infested but 4 flies on something that I lay on the counter was a problem to me. I don't know where they are in their life cycle any more than I know ABOUT their life cycle but I only saw a few tonight. I have not set anything out yet to trap them. I hope they just go away. I will probably get swarmed in a few days when the eggs hatch.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
As suspected, they are back with a vengence today. I put out a bowl of maple syrup and a bottle of white vinegar. They swarmed to the syrup yet nobody fell in..................They swarmed to the vinegar, 5 of them fell in. I have been bleaching the heck out of my kitchen. Any other ideas?
 
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