Can this get rid of fruit flies?

Question

HELLO, I have a high concentration of plants and pets in my room (many of the pets have dirt floors and live plants), and recently I've had a lot of fruit flies swarming about. I believe the problem started when my guinea pigs had a bit of a digestive problem, leading to swarming in the guinea pig cage, and I believe when I cleaned the cage the remainder started breeding in my plants.

SO how do I get rid of the little bastards? Chemicals are most likely out of the question. And yes I do realize this question is asked like every week.

WHAT I'VE DONE is I put a little saucer thing and squeezed some honey in, and tilted it around so the entire inside is coated. Now will the flies get attracted to this and get stuck like planned? Is there a better bait to use? I use beer and coffee grounds for slugs in my garden, and I saw a previous question like this that wine could work, does it?

Answer 1

if they are fruit flies you should be able to control the amount of contaminated fruit left out for the pets......if they are fungus gnats, the larvae will be living in the soil itself so your trap will not stop the problem, you should be able to find Bt products that target them, (non toxic to mammals/birds/reptiles) if they are one of the many other types of gnat often called fruit flies, sanitation will be the answer. All small flies like what you are seeing will have a food source the larvae are coming from, keeping it cleaned up is the key.

Answer 2

Absolutely, I agree with keeping things as clean as possible!

I used to work at the Drosophila (fruit fly) lab that made food specifically for the flies, at a local university and here is how we did it:

Materials:
a container
a funnel or paper wrapped into a funnel shape
masking tape
something yummy for the flies

Put some food into the container (we used half pint bottles, but you could use just about anything with anything that's taller than it is wide. Very ripe bananas are good (we used the fly food that we produced for the labs) or yeast, molasses...

The yeast and molasses have a stronger odor than banana, but you can experiment.

Place the funnel or paper funnel into the opening, and tape it all around.

What happens is that the flies are attracted by the smell and believe me, they find it. They have no problem getting into the bottle but they can't get out! (Hotel California for fruit flies)

After you've collected them (it may take overnight or longer) fill the container with soapy water and let it sit until you see that they are not moving. Depending on what you used for food and how much you put in there, you could flush it down the toilet, we put it down kitchen drain and used garbage disposal.

Answer 3

I have put some coffee grind around all my plants because I was told its good for them in the house, Now I have a bunch of something like fruit flies all over the house. Could that be the reason why.HELP HELP HELP

Answer 4

Put Apple Cider Vinegar in a cup like 3/4 full. Then add 2 tablespoon of dish soap. If you have a big room or alot of fruit flies use more cups.

Answer 5

Get some Sevin Dust (from a garden shop) and put it on the dirt in the plant pots. It will not hurt the animals.

Answer 6

You could use an electric fly swapper. An electric fly swapper is powered by 2 or 3 AA size batteries which generate an electric grid around it. When the fly makes contact with it, it gets an electric shock and dies instantaneously.

Answer 7

get rid of the plants and buy some knew ones or put the plants outside until the fruit flyes have gone they will go give them a chance put the plants outside they will find somewere else to nest.

Answer 8

Remember:
Time flies like an arrow..
and Fruit Flies like a banana....

Answer 9

Remove pet, discard all old bedding, sand, plants.
Wash tank/cage in warm mild soapy water, rinse, dry and replace with all new bedding/sand/wood chips.

Answer 10

its a good plan but i dought it will work