You may have had the misfortune of finding fruit flies buzzing around your sink or fruit bowl. These pesky black flies have a tendency to appear in the house. When spring and summer arrive, there’s practically no escaping these small flies!
What exactly are fruit flies and how can you get rid of them? Are there any DIY solutions? Here are some of the top tips from our Montreal exterminators for preventing a fruit fly infestation!
What is a fruit fly?
The fruit fly, vinegar fly or drosophila, is a species of dark brown, almost black, fly that is very small in size (between 2 and 4mm long). You can find fruit flies on pretty much every continent. They reproduce incredibly fast, which means there’s a lot of them out there.
Fruit fly lifespan
The fruit fly has a lifespan of about 30 days. Quite a long time over a summer! Their reproductive cycle, lasting around ten days, allows them to rapidly reproduce in the home. A fruit fly can lay up to 500 eggs in those ten days!
Although the fruit fly is considered a pest to most people and exterminators, it is a very popular insect in the scientific community. But why are these intruders so fond of our homes, especially our kitchens?
Why do fruit flies appear?
These little black flies are attracted to anything that ferments. This usually means fruit that’s been lying around for a while and aging badly in the heat. Although fermented fruit is their number one attraction, fruit flies can also easily be lured into your home by a glass of wine left out on the kitchen counter.
Fermented foods are a great place for flies to reproduce. They often end up laying 50 eggs per day on this produce. However, ingesting these eggs can lead to certain illnesses (stomach ache, diarrhea, etc.). This is why it’s important to get rid of fruit flies as soon as possible! Let’s find out how.
Getting rid of fruit flies in the house
How to prevent fruit flies
If you have not yet seen fruit flies in your home, but want to prevent their arrival, a few simple things can be done. Keep in mind that these small flies are attracted to moisture as well as food. Their eggs may also already be on the food you buy.
- Before recycling containers and bottles, be sure to rinse and dry them thoroughly (
- Store your fruit and vegetables in the fridge, and clean them as soon as you bring them home from the grocery store to remove as many potential fly eggs as possible
- Wash, dry and store your dishes immediately after use
- Use waste containers with a lid and remember to disinfect them regularly (about once a week). Do not forget to regularly take out your garbage bags
- Before the summer, repair holes in your mosquito netting and avoid keeping your doors open during the season
- Keep your counters and floors clean
If you want to strengthen the pest prevention in your home, feel free to contact our pest prevention service. At Elite Pest Control, we even offer a fruit fly extermination service. What more could you need?
3 simple DIY methods for getting rid of fruit flies
If you haven’t managed to prevent the arrival of fruit flies in your home, don’t panic. There are several simple and effective ways to get rid of them. The aim of the following 3 methods is to lure the fruit flies in with the delightful smell of rotten fruit:
- Place ripe fruit peels in an open container in a mixture of dishwashing liquid; once trapped, the flies will not escape to overrun your food
- A similar method is to place a piece of banana in a container covered with a paper funnel, fixed with sticky paper: the food will attract the insects inside and the funnel will prevent them from coming out again. This avoids killing the flies, if you prefer a peaceful way to get rid of them
- If you have wine, beer or apple cider vinegar in your kitchen, you can pour it into a glass, covered with a perforated plastic film (using a toothpick or fork). The liquid will trap the pests and, as with the funnel method, the film prevents their escape.
These solutions will be useful during a minor invasion. If the problem is more significant, we recommend calling a professional extermination service. The ultimate solution, if you want to get rid of fruit flies permanently, is to remove their egg-laying nest. Extermination experts often intervene for this purpose.
Contact Elite Pest Control to get rid of fruit flies
Now you are ready to prevent and get rid of the fruit flies in your home. If you have questions that are more specific to your home, or for a free quote for any type of extermination, we invite you to contact Elite Pest Control. Our pest exterminators in Montreal will be happy to offer you a solution tailored to your needs.
