What Exactly are Fruit Flies and How Do I Get Rid of Them?

If you have seen gnats flying around your house there is a good chance those gnats are actually fruit flies, and boy are they annoying. The pest usually enters the home on ripened fruit that you bring home. This is because there are tiny eggs that were laid on the fruit. They hatched after you brought it in. Gross, I know.

The single fruit fly lives for about a week and lays up to 500 eggs. The tiny larvae feed on the surface of the fruit especially where it may be bruised or started to have turned. Fruit flies are more than just a nuisance. They can contaminate food with bacteria. So it a good idea to get rid of them and prevent them from coming in.

If you are still seeing fruit flies after the fruit has been discarded or eaten, it is because they have laid eggs in the drain or some other crevice where the larvae can feed. A good thorough cleaning will help prevent them from reappearing.

Here is a good trick to capture the fruit flies you currently have. This is the vinegar trick.

1. Take a solo cup and place just a little apple cider vinegar in the bottom, maybe half an inch or so.
2. Then take some plastic wrap and cover the top. Seal it using a rubber band.
3. Poke some small holes in the plastic wrap.
4. Let the cup sit out.

The fruit flies cannot resist the fermented scent of apple cider vinegar. They will make their way into the trap and will not be able to get back out. Below are some pics I took myself of the trap I made. I left it out during the day while I was away and when I came back there were two dead fruit flies in the trap. Nice!

Another trick is to take a small dish and add apple cider vinegar to it and a little dish soap. The dish soap cuts the surface tension and will make it so that the fruit fly sinks when it lands on the liquid.

To prevent the fruit flies from getting into your home you can wash the fruit when you get home from the grocery store. Stay tuned for other great pest prevention tips from our Pest Control Blog