# AHHHH! Fruit Flys! Help me get rid of them! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605 "2003-07-15T07:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/1 "2003-07-15T07:52:16Z")
Earlier tonight, I went to take out the trash. When I grabbed the bag in the kitchen can, a great and wonderful cloud of fruit flys swarmed up in front of my face. WTF? Where did these pests come from? I haven’t been leaving food out. The sink wa empty of dishes. ( Mostly, there was a pot I had boiled spaghetti in tonight there, forelornly awaiting it’s journy to the dish washer. There was no food in it, however. ) The only fruit around was some apples in their dish. I checked, no flys on them. My kitchen is fairly clean. Where did these fly come from? More importantly, how do I get rid of them? A cloud of flys arose, even though I threw out the trash, I know they are still there. I suppose I could bring in a bat to eat them, but for obvious reasons, that’s not an option. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the flys? ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/2 "2003-07-15T08:07:13Z")
They come from mother drosophyla. [Life cycle.](http://www.labartlibrary.com/symbiosis/12/1204001.pdf) (warning PDF) They are attracted to a chemical that is given of by a fungus on rotting fruit IIRC. They may have come inside to escape the heat and then bred. Is it hot where you are? If you want to get rid of them, remove any old fruit from the house. You can make a simple trap out of a PET bottle. I am sure you can google on how to make one. Or you can resort to fly spay of course. ---
**Author:** ![davidhorton\_01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@davidhorton\_01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidhorton_01)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/3 "2003-07-15T09:32:33Z")
I had the same issue…after reading up on it, it seems that the trick is to keep them from breeding. It takes a few weeks for the eggs to mature… if you keep your trash in a closet or something, it’s possible that the eggs were laid in some spot of funk where you accidentally missed the trash can weeks ago. The flies get in through open windows and doors and one or two seems to be all it takes. I would suggest making sure that your trash area is free of debris that ‘missed’ the can…and if they are coming out of your drains (supposedly common in apartment buildings), pour boiling water down the drains to loosen the ‘slime’ that builds on the inside of drains (that’s where the eggs can be laid and eventually hatch)…Also, fungus gnats happen and they usually hang around plants and stuff, and lay their eggs there. Don’t overwater your plants (soil should be dry to the touch before watering again) and the eggs should die. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/4 "2003-07-15T09:59:16Z")
It is conceivable, though not likely, that it might be helpful to remember this: _Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana._ ---
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/5 "2003-07-15T11:45:44Z")
To get rid of them, fill a cup about 3/4 full of any fruit juice. Add a healthy squirt of liquid soap. Leave it out where you see the flies. The juice lures them into the cup. The soap kills them. Just dump the goo and refresh as needed. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/6 "2003-07-15T12:03:38Z")
Those things drive me absolutely nuts here. I assume it’s due partly to the fact that I leave my kitchen window open part of the time, and of course the fruit and other goodies that I keep around. Occasionally, I get really pissed and go on a swatting spree. **hardygrrl** ’s suggestion will work too. I’ve tried spray and find it pretty useless, because they are so light that it just blows them out of the way. Or maybe my flies are immune to it, because they don’t seem the least bothered when I spray…for all I know, they get together at night and huff the Raid while I’m sleeping. Off to pour boiling water down the drains… Best, karol ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/7 "2003-07-15T12:32:52Z")
My friend Jim has performed lots of research on fruit flies. And occasionally they escape to eat yeast somewhere else. The best way to dispose of 'em is to fill one regular old spray bottle with water and add a bit of soap. Then you can just fire away at the little buggers and watch them plummet to the floor (or stick to the wall), and mop 'em up with a paper towel. ---
**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/8 "2003-07-16T06:26:40Z")
Catch and release! Put a piece of banana peel in a clean pickle jar with the jar lid off center. Next morning approach slowly, bump the lid shut and take the big wad of fruit flies outside. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/9 "2003-07-16T14:04:47Z")
I had this problem a couple of weeks ago. Before our vacation, we cleaned out all the fruit and fruit residue from our house so the little buggers couldn’t survive. When we got back a week later, there were more than there were before. So I made a trap, as I had read in this forum’s previous thread about fruit flies. I got a glass, put some smashed strawberry in it, then taped on an inverted cone made out of paper, with a very small hole at the cone’s point. The next morning, I had prolly 50 fruit flies in the glass. I did it again the next night, and caught about 50 more. I didn’t need to do it again. Also, I poured a little bleach into the garbage disposal, to kill any that were hiding/breeding in there. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahhhh-fruit-flys-help-me-get-rid-of-them/188605/10 "2003-07-16T14:30:24Z")
Bad news: Fruit flies come from fruit. Specifically, fruit fly eggs come in the fruit you buy. What? You thought that all the fresh fruit you buy has been gamma-irradiated? That’s the only way to ensure that fresh fruit does not have fruit fly eggs in it.