OK, I'm losing my frigging mind...how the hell do I get rid of fruit flies?

This is ridiculous. I try my best to keep my place free of "breeding grounds" yet I just went to throw something in my trash and literally a frigging CLOUD of these f***ers came flying out of the trash. Disgusting.

I've gone through 3 bottles of this Raid Flying Insect spray (fogger type spray designed specifically for fruit flies and house flies). Yes, it kills them - but it's not getting at the freaking source...obviously....it seems like for every freakin fluit fly I kill 20 more pop up. I sprayed directly into the garbage....i just took a look and there are literally HUNDREDS dead in my trash and I've still got a swarm in my kitchen and it's spreading to other rooms! This is disgusting. Killing them is counterproductive because it seems like 50 more come out of seemingly nowhere.

What the hell do I do? I'm at my wits end and it's disgusting to be confronted with these fruit flies every waking hour.

Obviously this Raid spray isn't destroying the source...which definitely seems to be my trash. I mean, I can't avoid having trash...this is ridiculous.

Anyone know a foolproof way to permanently exterminate these F*ckers? I'm seriously to the point where I'm considering...when it drops down to around freezing...turning off my heat, wearing winter clothing and toughing out a few nights in the cold - would this kill them off for good?


Somebody PLEASE respond. This is driving me bonkers.

I don't know any answers to get rid of them forever but apparently you have something they like. When I get them I put anything they like in ziplock bags, I generally have a supply of used ones that have just held sandwiches and are clean enough to keep for throwing away garbage the fruit flies like. Fruit flies like wine, vinegar, catsup, any kind of fruit or veggie practically. I also rinse any dishes I have that might attract them when I put them in the sink. Good Luck, try and slow down on the spraying all that poison before you poison yourself.

Heh, thanks for the advice.

The only thing I haven't done is rinsing the dishes - I'm a lazy piece of schit and I let my dishes pile up. No more...laziness isn't worth the fruit fly invasions.

I did something similar to your ziploc thing - I save my grocery bags and I'd double wrap and tie my trash up TIGHTLY before throwing it in the main garbage bag. Yet I still probably had a THOUSAND in there...no joke. And all of my fruit remains in the refrigerator.

But I think I won the battle - I went wild with the Raid in and around my big garbage bag...I had a mutiny of fruit flies on my kitchen floor afterward...then I took the friggin garbage out to the curb...it's cold outside so I don't think I have to worry about any stragglers re-invading.

Now, if you're having problems with fruit flies right now - I just found this on the internet and it works GREAT (after I'd already eliminated the proverbial breeding grounds). Basically, you take a jar (I cut off the top of a spring water jug).

Then, simply fill the jug to the top with a combination of water, vinegar, sugar and a few drops of dish soap. Like you said, fruit flies love vinegar so they are VERY attracted to this. They also love sugar. The key is that while they are attracted to this mixture - the dish soap kills them almost instantly on contact. I was slightly skeptical myself but I figured it was worth spending the $1.50 on vinegar to see if this would work. I schit you not, I probably set this contraption up 40 minutes ago and I've already got TEN dead fruit flies, and a lot more on the outside waiting to go in. You have seriously got to try this if you have fruit flies...I keep running out to see how many are dead out of morbid curiosity. Hopefully these guys aren't smart enough to catch on to the suicide trap.


And I'm buying one of those covered garbage cans tomorrow...

Interesting, the Vinegar and sugar thing..Thats a good idea.

We had an invasion a few weeks ago..I could NOT figure out where they were coming from..Finally, I found a paper bag, under a bed..One of my dogs probably hid it there..It had bananas in it, OLD OLD bananas!..pretty slimy, and full of those tiny little buggers..
That was the end of that!

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Interesting, the Vinegar and sugar thing..Thats a good idea.

We had an invasion a few weeks ago..I could NOT figure out where they were coming from..Finally, I found a paper bag, under a bed..One of my dogs probably hid it there..It had bananas in it, OLD OLD bananas!..pretty slimy, and full of those tiny little buggers..
That was the end of that!

Are you serious? You haven't had a problem with them since you got rid of the bananas? You are truly blessed. I just moved into this apartment about 2 months ago and my first week here I had bananas and a few of them over-ripened before I had a chance to eat them...next thing I knew I had a small colony of fruit flies and despite my better efforts they have friggin multiplied EXPONENTIALLY over the last month or so. Fortunately all my fruit is in the fridge now and I've never seen them come out of drains so I think my garbage was their ONLY breeding ground...I had a freakin massacre last night, believe you me...Me and Raid versus the garbage bag fruit fly colony. I let them die after I sprayed the area...the top of the garbage bag was literally COVERED in dead fruit flies - and this is a big freakin bag FULL of crap. I can only imagine what was dwelling beneath the surface. And the floor in this area was covered in fruit fly carcasses...I really don't exagerrate when I say I probably killed at least 1,000.


The jury is still out on the vinegar, sugar & dish soap thing. I mean, it killed a TON - I woke up this morning to probably at least 50 dead in there and I've eliminated the breeding grounds (at least I think and hope). I also had about 50 of them still alive on the peripherie of the water jug...So I quickly launched another Raid attack killing these peripherie dwellers instantly and spraying a smog with the crap to kill any of the flying stragglers. I think the trap worked very well but I still feel like I have a ways to go to completely eradicate these bitches. Although I haven't seen ONE since I launched the last air raid. It's cold outside so I doubt I'll have any slip in from outside....maybe just maybe I'm done, I'm fully prepared to set up another trap though (this time a revamped trap - most of the fruit flies that died in the trap kind of slipped into the mess and didn't seem to intentionally dive into it. So I'm going to grease up the sides of my next contraption and make sure the liquid level goes right up to the brim...and infect the outsides with dish soap and Raid for the stragglers on the outside. Hell, maybe I won't attract ANY with a trap, that's my hope, maybe I'm rid of these bitches.

Well,

I live in the desert..That probably helps..It's hard for those non-native bugs to exist here, without an Oasis...Like a paper bag full of bananas!

I asked a friend about it who also had them. He said they get in the sink drains and breed there. He tried a variety of methods to exterminate them, but said that the only thing that worked was pouring ammonia into the drain.