Tiny Flying Insects

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have lived in the same place for more than 20 years and I’ve had pretty much the same habits when it comes to cleaning and to handling food.

About ten days ago, I started noticing tiny flying insects in my home. They are about one-tenth the size of a normal house fly. They don’t seem to bite. I noticed them when one would usually light on my arm. As soon as one did that, I would spray the room with either Raid Home Insect Spray or Raid Mosquito and Fly spray. But they kept appearing - strangely enough almost always just one a day. On two days, it happened twice that day.

The Raid did appear to kill the one that was visible. It started flying around in circles and eventually died. Thank goodness.

I also took to cleaning my entire home. I vacuumed all the carpets and washed and scrubbed all my floors and walls. I bought a new kitchen garbage container that sealed tightly and I made sure there was never any open food in my home or in my sinks. I even started sealing my sinks so they couldn’t get in that way.

But for the longest time I was stumped. I really don’t know what kind of insects these are. Two days ago, it stopped. I didn’t notice any of these insects at all for the past two days.

Ten days ago, I started preparing a large quantity of eggs and onions. I used large Spanish onions and would fry them in oil until they were soft and then added about 8 scrambled eggs until the dish was solid. Then I would seal it in a plastic container and store it in my fridge. I wonder if that may have anything to do with these bugs. I often see insects swarming over the onions in my supermarket. Is it likely these bugs came from the onions?

I know what the bugs look like because I swatted one and looked at it through a magnifying glass. But I had never seen anything that looked like these bugs before.

Can anyone guess what kind of bugs these may be?
Also any ideas why this problem started and how to best ensure it doesn’t happen again?

I checked this site and looked at the various varieties of insects.

These bugs may be gnats. But unfortunately, this site fails to give any idea of the size of the bugs. So I can’t be certain whether they are gnats or not. As I said, they are about one tenth (or less) the size of an average house fly. They are really very tiny.

Unfortunately

2

I should add that I have never before had any problems with any kind of insects. Also, I read about fruit flies and these things could be fruit flies. But I’ve always thought fruit flies appear in numbers. I’ve never heard of solitary fruit flies like these have been.

3

Probably a gnat. They’re harmless. No real need to coat the room with pesticide. Bugs are a natural thing. Just swat it if it lands on you.

4

I ALWAYS use some kind of trash can liner, so the trash can itself never gets grody. I use those thin plastic grocery bags (the kind you probably can’t get any more), which happen to fit my wastebaskets nicely. For several years before the ban went into effect, I hoarded them so I now have a lifetime supply.

Here’s another trick I learned from my parents: All wet garbage (banana skins, apple cores, fat trimmings, orange peels, glop from the kitchen drain strainer, etc.) don’t even go into those waste baskets anyway. They go into a plastic bag that I keep in the freezer. (I save empty bread bags for this.) Finally, when any amount accumulates there, it goes out with the trash on trash collection day.

5

Thank you for your reply.

I’ve tried and tried many times to swat them - both on my arm and in midair. But they are just too fast for me. The exception is about 5 minutes after I sprayed, they seem to be flying much more slowly and/or their reflexes are much reduced and then I am able to swat them.

6

I used to use a small plastic wastebasket in my kitchen and lined it with a plastic bag. But then one day I saw one of these bugs at the bottom of that basket. I bought a self sealing trash can that same day. It works by stepping on a pedal at the bottom to open it and when you release the pedal it then closes. I’m pretty confident that no bugs will be able to get at any food in there.

But I remain concerned that it is something I am doing or have done that is attracting them and I really would like to figure out what that may be.

7

It’s hard to tell fruit flies from gnats, frankly.

For fruit flies, there are simple, well-known methods to kill them using vinegar traps. I had a small infestation here a couple of years ago, the vinegar trap eliminated them in about a week. (I got to watch them suffer a bit, too.)

8

Again with the let’s poison the world in order to rid ourselves of harmless other beings!

Gets real old.

9

The sole purpose of bugs and vermin and rodents on this Earth are to drive people crazy.

Little guys like you have could be a number of things. We had a minor invasion not too long ago, and they seemed to come from several places. After much sleuthing (and swatting, and swearing) the point of origin seemed to be from a bunch of flowers we had gotten COTU#1 to mark a momentous event.

The flowers WERE pretty ratty, and we got them at WallyWorld. The flower display was right next to the produce department, and as you have noticed, some produce items can come with their own swarm.

There were wiggledy things swimming the backstroke in the flower-water.

The little shits seemed to migrate to the pantry, so some foodstuffs which were not tightly wrapped got thrown out.

Weird bananas, forgotten onions, and sometimes unidentifiable things can all be culprits. Go on a safari, hunt out any suspicious items, and throw them out. Ideally, take them out of the house and set them on fire.

Then was affected areas with soap and water (I always add a glug of bleach) and then sit down and rest, and wait for the creepy feeling to go away!
~VOW

10

From a distance? Probably. Through a magnifying glass? No.

11

Hello. I am not looking to start a quarrel with you. Honest. But I am not sure as to your meaning and I just want to check.

I’m guessing you mean that you think it is wrong for me to use Raid bug spray in this instance since these bugs are not necessarily harmful.

Is that correct? Or do you mean more than that? Specifically, do you mean that it is always wrong to use that kind of bug spray under any conditions.

I ask because without being certain just what kind of insects these are, I have to wonder if your meaning includes all bugs.

12

Hello and thank you very much. I look forward to trying out a vinegar trap. I’ve never heard of that before.

13

If you really have fruit flies, I’ll recommend a vinegar trap. Fill a small bowl with vinegar and add three our four dashes of dish soap. The flies are attracted by the vinegar and the surface tension is broken by the soap so they will surely drown. Works every time for me.

14

Trapping and drowning fruit flies is a lovely idea, but you need to find the SOURCE. I once had an invasion. I swear they were arriving in squadrons. I thought I had tracked the culprit down to an overripe banana (why do they always get that bad when you are sleeping?).

Removing the banana gave minor relief. I had to do major sleuthing. It ended up being a bag of onions that ended up hidden underneath something.

Seek and destroy!

I’m of the school that bugs and vermin and rodents IN MY HOUSE deserve to get dead. They all have the entire Great Outdoors to live, to frolic, and to propogate. If they cone in my house, they die.
~VOW

15

Okay, I’ll contribute my philosophy on the morality of killing vermin in the place where I live:

I, for one, have no moral qualms at all, none whatever, about killing bugs, rats, mice, frogs, etc., that might trespass uninvited into my space. That said, however, I also believe that any kind of bug poison (especially any kind of spray) is poisoning me just as much as it poisons the bugs. So, for the most part, I’ve made my decision to live in peace with invading bugs at least to some extent, but with some exceptions.

I’m okay with using traps of any sort, and with poisons that are liquid or solid or gels. But I’d rather live with most flying or crawling critters (within limits) than breathe the same airborne poison sprays like Raid.

As it happens, my current kitchen is lightly infested with some kind of cockroaches and some kind of beetles. They are little ones, even full-grown, not those big gross ugly ones. I think they are fully domesticated by now – that is, they’ve lived and bred inside my apartment (perhaps inside the walls) that I think they don’t bring germs from outside in. I don’t think these are breeding in piles of cat shit outside. And they don’t eat much. So I just squish them as I see them, which seems sufficient to keep the population down.

I lived for several years (2000-2004) in a rural place, where bugs were everywhere. I just posted my story about them in Baker’s “Squirrel fracas” thread, here.

I draw the line at mosquitos! They were never a problem there for some reason, but sometimes are where I am now. When mosquitos are around, I go into full battle mode. As it happens, I can usually catch them bare-handed. I just let loose my inner gecko and snatch them out of the air! If that fails, then I come on with the Raid!

Oh, as for waste-basket liners: I made clear, I thought, that NOTHING goes into the waste-basket that would attract or generate vermin. Anything that might, goes into a plastic bag in the freezer until trash day. I recommend that everyone should try that. It works well to prevent grody trash from stinking up or getting moldy or buggy.

16

I’ve been trying to figure out the source and I have learned one surprising thing about cockroaches. They need water to survive. The most common reason that cockroaches will invade a space is because there is some source of water present.

I would check all the pipes in your place for any kind of leak. Especially pipes under your kitchen sink. Failing that, I would look for any standing water.

Most people believe cockroaches are attracted by food left lying around. But according to a friend who works in the business, it is water that attracts them in the first place.

17

I’ve been experiencing the same problem with tiny flies for the past couple of weeks. I’m in southeastern PA. Where are you?

18

My crazy opinion:
it is virtually always a poor idea to spray aerosol poison where you have to breathe.

it is a sickness of modern culture to believe that killing all but a very very small selection of organisms which inhabit nearby spaces is not merely justified but absolutely necessary for safety and comfort. It is one of the primary reasons our planet is dying. Not the only one of course.

I’m totally down with trying to minimize parasites, like mosquitoes, fleas, bedbugs. You don’t have parasites, you simply have some small, unidentified insects. Somewhere nearby is an environment conducive to supporting their life cycle. That is all that is going on. You might wish to discover the identity of these creatures, and where they are finding a place to breed and eat. You might learn something about the world you share with other beings.

19

I sent you a PM.

Two days ago, I used rags to seal my kitchen sink drains and I used rubber stoppers to seal all my bathroom drains. I noticed an extreme reduction in the number of sitings since then.

You might want to try that among other things.

I’m not certain but the following site suggests that leaving drains unstopped is one of the ways these insects enter your living space.

20

Thank you for this clarification. I must admit that I am persuaded by much of what you say. I am also considering changing my opinions and actions about some of the rest.

I just get this “freaked out” reaction whenever I see some insect in my living space. But your points are very well made and well taken.