Anyone who battled a fly infestation knows how difficult it is to get rid of these pesky pests, that can reproduce at an amazing speed and infest any area of your home. These flies have an affinity towards damp and wet places like your bathroom and such places serve as the potential breeding grounds for them.
Did You Know?
Despite being called fruit flies, these flies do not eat fruits. Rather, they eat the fungus or the rot that grows on fruits, and this is the reason why they are attracted by the smell of rotten fruits.
How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
Flies are usually found inside the bathroom sink. For getting rid of fruit flies present in the sink, just pour some ammonia into it and then flush it out. You can use ammonia to clean your bathtub drains as well.
Try Apple Cider Vinegar
This amazing product has a never ending list of uses, of which one is the ability to kill fruit flies. You can pour this vinegar into the drainpipe to kill the flies. However, be sure to warm the vinegar slightly before pouring it into the drainpipe. Heating helps release the fragrance of the cider vinegar, which in turn, helps attract more fruit flies.
Cider vinegar can also be used to make a fly trap. Take some vinegar in a cup or glass, and place a paper or plastic funnel on top of it. The funnel will provide a large space for the flies to enter the glass. But flies are not intelligent enough to exit through the neck of the funnel, and so, they will get trapped inside the glass.
Otherwise, you can take some cider vinegar in a bowl, and cover it with a plastic wrap. Be sure to poke some holes in the wrap, which should be large enough to facilitate the entry of flies, but small enough to prevent their exit. The smell of vinegar will attract flies, and they will enter the bowl through the small holes. But they won’t be able to exit through those holes.
Spare Some Red Wine
If you have red wine in your home, then sacrifice a small amount of wine to make a highly effective fly trap. Like humans, flies, especially fruit flies love the smell of wine, which is the reason why this trap is so effective. Leave a small amount of wine at the bottom of the bottle, or pour some wine in a glass, and keep it near the sink or a corner of your bathroom. The next day, you will spot flies floating on top of the wine.
An inexpensive homemade fly trap can be made by mixing a small amount of dish washing liquid and vinegar. Just pour some vinegar and a few drops of dish washing liquid into a jar or container. Now, cover it with a piece of aluminum foil, and make a few holes on the foil to facilitate the entry of fruit flies. The smell of vinegar will attract fruit flies, while the holes made on the aluminum foil would make their entry possible. The dishwashing liquid, on the other hand, will kill the flies.
This is an excellent device for killing adult flies. Just go to your bathroom and crush as many flies as you can by using this mechanical device. Otherwise, you can opt for an electrical swatter that looks like a badminton racket. It can kill flies and other insects more efficiently than the mechanical swatter.
Hang Some Fly Stickers
Another conventional way to kill flies is hang some fly strips or fly stickers in places where flies are seen frequently. Though these strips are not very popular, they can work rather satisfactorily, and attract and trap flies efficiently with their odor and the adhesive applied on them. It is better to place them in a less obtrusive or inaccessible area, so as to avoid any accidental entangling of clothes and other items.
Homemade Sticky Swatter
A sticky swatter can help you overcome the difficulty of swatting the small fruit flies. To make a sticky swatter at home, you will need a Styrofoam plate and cooking spray. Just coat the styrofoam plate with the cooking spray, and use it for swatting flies.
Fruit flies have a very delicate and small respiratory system, which cannot tolerate irritants like smoke for a long time. So, you may consider the option of burning incense to kill these pesky pests. The smoke as well as the perfume of the incense will kill the flies slowly but surely.
Replace Old Towels and Mops
The wet and crumpled towels, and the old and worn-out mops and sponges can attract flies to your kitchen and bathroom, as fruit flies thrive in wet and damp places. In fact, they can lay eggs in such items. So, consider to replace such old mops and towels.
Things to be Considered
~ To get rid of fruit flies completely, it is important to eliminate the sources of food, as well as the breeding grounds. Usually, the places from where these flies derive their food, and the places where they breed are same. Such a place can be your garbage bin that contains moist and decaying organic matter, and ripe or rotten fruits. Flies love such a place for breeding and laying eggs.
~ Other places that can also serve as breeding grounds for fruit flies are, drains, sink, and old and unused garbage cans. So, always use sealed bags, and bins or cans having lids for dumping garbage.
~ Maintain the same cleanliness and sanitation in the vicinity of your house. If fruit flies invade the surrounding of your house, they would not take much time to infest your kitchen and bathroom.
~ Along with cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom, inspect the cabinets to see if they have any hole or leak to allow the entry of fruit flies. If they have, then seal them immediately.
~ Remember that there is no alternative to cleanliness, if you want to keep fruit flies away from your house. So, keep every part of your house clean, especially the sink, basin, drains, and the garbage bins, which are more likely to attract flies. Be sure to dispose any decaying food material immediately. Never keep ripe fruits in open; keep them in the refrigerator or eat them as soon as possible. Hope these simple steps would help keep your house free of fruit flies and other insects.