How to Catch Fruit Flies in the House
Fruit flies are curious little creatures that love to fly around. They can often be found buzzing around fruit or rotting food, so you may have seen them in your home before. Fruit flies get into homes because they're attracted to the smells of fruits and vegetables left out on counters or in garbage cans.
They seem to just show up without warning and it is often difficult to get rid of fruit flies. These tiny pests can be found in kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, and other places throughout the home. It's important to understand how they got into your house so you can prevent it from happening again.
Things that Attract Fruit Flies
Fruit flies are also known as vinegar fruit flies, so how can you get rid of them? You need to understand what attracts these creatures in the first place.
Rotting Produce like Fruit or Vegetables
Fruit flies are often found around fruits and vegetables that have started to rot. If you're not careful about how long food sits out on the counter, this will only attract fruit flies into your home.
Dirty Garbage Cans
They also like dirty garbage cans because female fruit flies lay their eggs in them without being disturbed; once hatched, these larvae feed on what is rotting inside so it's important to keep your trash always covered too.
Fruit fly traps may be effective in killing some of the adults but won't get rid of any eggs or larvae already present in either your home or outside if left unaddressed for a long period. It's best to contact pest control experts who offer full-scale fruit fly removal services when dealing with an infestation.
How to Catch Fruit Flies When You Find in Your Home
If fruit flies have invaded your home, it's important to take action right away. Try some of these tips and tricks below:
Make a HomemadeTrap with Vinegar or Soda Water
Mix two cups of either vinegar or soda water into a jar with some overripe pieces of fruit for 24 hours before placing them outside on an elevated surface where you've seen them flying around at night. The smell from the rotting fruit will lure fruit flies inside while they drop down into their death traps.
Essential Oils
Clean up food that has been left out and scrub garbage cans clean. Spray natural essential oils like peppermint oil and lavender all along doorways/windowsills as well - this will help repel them.
Make a Homemade Fruit Fly Trap with Empty Pop Bottle
Catch fruit flies with a homemade fruit fly trap. Cut the top off of an empty two-litre pop bottle and place over some apple cider vinegar into which you've added liquid dish soap to break the surface tension of the liquid, so they fall in easier. The one downside is that once caught, it can be difficult to get rid of these creatures if they die inside this improvised jar. You will need to throw it out and make a new fruit fly trap.\
The best thing about using natural fruit fly traps is that there are no chemicals involved which means it's safe for kids and pets. You can also use them in your garden or outdoor spaces to help keep bugs away.
Using Store-Bought Fruit Fly Traps
Aside from DIY fruit fly traps, you can also choose to use store-bought traps. These are available online or at your local gardening store. You can also find them in some hardware stores, but you might have to ask for them as they're not always on display. These traps typically come with bait inside that attracts the fruit flies inside the traps.
There are several options for fruit fly trap that we can recommend for you:
Green Earth Homecare Fruit Fly Trap
This apple-shaped trap has ready-to-use attractants that no longer require mixing. It can also act as a decorative on your kitchen counter, which allows you to trap fruit flies discreetly.
Terro Fruit Fly Trap
This non-toxic trap can last for 30 days and is safe to be used in areas where you prepare food and around children and pets. It can easily match kitchen décor because of its apple shape, you can even place it near your fruit bowl as additional décor.
Fruit Fly Trap Reusable
Like the traps above, you can simply place this on your countertop and let it do its job in luring and trapping fruit flies. It is reusable, which means you just need the refills always ready when the trap is full.
Terro Fruit Fly Trap Twin Trap
This is a fast-acting trap that is designed to get rid of fruit fly infestations. It attracts adult fruit flies and has built-in windows that let you monitor the lure levels. Since it is apple-shaped, it can easily blend with your kitchen décor.
Choose from any of these traps if you are not into homemade traps. Make sure that you follow steps in making these traps more effective and eliminate an infestation as soon as possible.
How to Make Catching Fruit Flies in the House More Effective
There are things that you need to do to make sure that you can effectively catch fruit flies in your house. These things include:
The first thing you can do is discard any fruits and vegetables that have started rotting in the trash before they attract more of these pests into your home.
You should also put all other food away after preparing it, so no leftovers sit out overnight either.
If there are already some inside, try cleaning them up as best as possible with vinegar water solution; this will kill off many but not all types of larvae if present.
Make sure garbage cans are covered at night too because even a small opening for one day could cause an infestation by morning.
A few simple tricks can help you get rid of these pests quickly and easily at home. Whether they're in your kitchen or bathroom, chances are good that you'll be able to find out how to catch them with just a little effort and patience. Sometimes need multiple methods before having success but this technique should do the trick if done properly.
Ways to Prevent fruit Flies from Coming Back
As you learn how to catch these tiny pests and make your choice of catching them more effective, it is also necessary that you learn how to prevent them from coming back. Check out the tips below:
Make sure all fruits are wrapped tight and stored away after each use if possible.
Keep garbage cans tightly closed when not being used so they don’t attract any unwanted guests into your home either.
If anything spills or dries up near windows or doors, make sure you clean it immediately since these areas may be how the flies entered in the first place.
It's important not only how to get rid of them but also how they got into your home in the first place. By taking care of both issues at once, it will be much easier than trying one method after another without success.
Remember these small pests can multiply quickly making them especially difficult to get rid of on your own. You should talk to a pest control professional about how they can help if you've tried everything and still haven't been able to solve your fruit fly problem.