I like bugs. They are fascinating little creatures when in their own environments. However, my home is NOT their natural habitat...no matter what they think!
Our dear boys, bless their hearts, have been a bit disobedient. I discovered that they have been sneaking sodas, poptarts, and chocolate covered granola bars into the basement to drink/eat while they play wii. They've been told not to eat in the basement, so, crafty as they are, they hid their half empty soda cans along with poptart crumbs, wrappers, and half eaten granola bars in the bathroom trash can.
Please understand that the basement bathroom doesn't get used often, and therefore I don't clean it often -- it's on my once a month rotation unless we are having company. I may have missed my rotation last month for some reason...so it's been a while.
Well, I went down there yesterday. I should have been prepared for the worst when I saw that the door to the bathroom was closed, but I can be a bit naiive. I opened the door and was absolutely swarmed by fruit flies -- I don't think I'm exaggerating much to say that there were a million of them in there. I held my breath so I wouldn't breath any in!
I do have to give the boys credit...their trash actually made it into a trash can! But the smell of rotten soda and crumbs was pretty overwhelming. And every move I made just sent waves of flies out into the other room! I ran out, slammed the door, and went to get a big trash bag. I put it over the trash can and literally ran it up the stairs and out the door....I'm not sure how many flies actually left the house. I grabbed the bug spray and fumigated the bathroom. (WARNING: You really should read the warning on the bottle and not spray it into the air then breath the fumes....).
This morning I went to the kitchen and most of the fruit flies had relocated to the kitchen. They had landed on the cabinet doors, stove top, sink...almost any surface that was flat. I found this great site on the internet that has a ton of labor intensive ways to get rid of them. We are experimenting with the inverted soda bottle, glass container, and several metal containers covered with plastic wrap and filled with either apples or balsamic vinegar. Yes, the kitchen smells...unusual.
I really couldn't wait for the traps to do their dirty work, so I decided to attack with the vacuum cleaner. Now, if you are a bit sadistic, this can be rather fun. If a fruitfly gets within four inches of the hose, it is sucked in almost immediately! The boys thought it was really cool.
Well, we'll see how this all works. So far the apples are attracting more than the vinegar...and the vacuum has definitely won with the highest kill count. I'll update tomorrow to see how well it all works.
Any one know the gestation period of fruit flies?????
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The gestatation of Fruit Flies is like.... "FOREVER"!!! If you find a way that really works let me know. We still have them and of course now they are coming out of the drains in the kitchen and bathroom. So I am back to being the Drain patrol and constantly covering the drains everywhere! Even the shower drain. I found that they would hide and sleep in my artificial plants at night. Yes they do sleep. You can get up about 3 or 4 in the morning and they are nowhere to be found. But if you smack the plant or curtains they come flying out. I took my plants down for awhile but they are still here. Somebody told me they reproduce about every 48 hours!!!! I can't remember how long they lasted last year, but it was a long long time. Good Luck!
kris
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