Where the fuck did these God damn fruit flies come from!?

[LostInAnomie]

My apartment is infested with them! I never had a problem with them before and all of a sudden there are hundreds of them. I'm gotten rid of all my trash, I've cleaned everything, and I've made sure all my food is sealed, but they are still here. What the fuck!?

Any ideas?

[grasswire]

1. drown them -- here's how

put out a few saucers that contain vinegar, a bit of sugar, and a drip of dish liquid. Many dozens of them will drown overnight.

Rinse, repeat.

[maddezmom]

21. sweet red wine works as well with a bit of dishwashing liquid

I had a real problem while I was trying to sell my house. Bought fresh flowers that were infested.

[Kali]

2. might be drain flies

pour boiling water down your drains

[aquaman]

3. It's a sign of the......

apocalypse. We're all doomed!

[crim son]

4. I had the same problem a week ago, and now I have none.

I made this homemade trap (not the 'easy' one, but the harder one which is still easy). Cheap and it works very well, though not overnight:

http://www.fruitflytraps.com/hometrap.htm

[LostInAnomie]

10. I just built the trap.

I hope I'm amazed when I go to my kitchen tomorrow.

[crim son]

16. It takes a couple days.

Don't get your hopes up. But I actually had so many flies that they were showing up in my bedroom where there's no food. A week has passed and we have NONE. So hang in there. You can buy traps that work but they cost money and don't work any faster, and this one WILL work!

[DeepBlueC]

5. do you have any bananas in the kitchen?

they are often the culprits.

[JVS]

6. HAHAHAHA! Those are a tough nut. I suggest you clean once more, remove all garbage, set off a ...

few bug bombs, and then don't create ANY organic garbage in the house for 3 days. This means you'll have to get dinner at a bar or something, which will also be good because you can't drink beer at home because the fruitflies may feed on the leftovers in the cans and bottles.

[krispos42]

7. Clean out your trash cans

There might be residue that they are feeding off of.

[MilesColtrane]

8. Maybe you're just ripening.

How old are you?

[texanwitch]

9. The fruit.

We had some fruit flies visit us a few weeks ago.

We don't leave fruit out any more on the table.

Make sure to really wash the fruit well when you get it home.

[FedUpWithIt All]

11. Banana in dish soap and water in a jar. Plastic wrap over the top with toothpick holes.

Bye bye fruit flies.



for some reason they cannot crawl back out of the holes and they drown. Make sure the holes are big enough for them to get through...barely.

[hippywife]

12. We do the same thing

with a banana peel, water and dish soap in one of those plastic clamshells with holes poked in the top.

It does work better than the cider vinegar. Works like a charm!

We used to have a kitchen frog, named Fiona by another DUer, who took care of them until we released her after nearly a year of living with us.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[rug]

13. Maybe you should move the pig's head outside.

[crim son]

17. OMG!

[RadiationTherapy]

14. Check your houseplants.

[Bossy Monkey]

15. Kitchen garbage can with locking lid helps loads

Family Dollar has them for $6; Big Lots for $8. Like this:
My fruit flies were coming for the rotting potatoes. They have no interest in the vinegar/dish liquid traps. The drain flies sure went for them, though.
Anyway, the locking lid can has pretty much kiboshed the fruit fly population. Another one makes living with kitty and litter box a lot more pleasant.

[fizzgig]

18. when i had that problem, someone suggested i set out a small glass or two of beer

it took a few rounds of that, but it worked like a charm.

[Algorem]

19. dead guy in the crawlspace

[Kali]

20. nah

those would be blow flies - lots bigger than fruit flies










um, ewww

[SacredCow]

22. Another vote that they could be drain flies...

They're pretty much the same thing, and if you have a garbage disposal there's likely all manner of funk down there that they can live on.

And another vote for the vinegar trick- I use cider vinegar just by itself and it works fine.