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 Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:26 pm
I guess this goes here because it's kind of like a farm issue...getting rid of bugs without using pesticides or chemicals.
My room has been infested with fruit flies for the past month. My air conditioner broke last month and I was away for like a week, and when I came back, my room was filled with them.
I made my own traps using water bottled cut in half then folded in on each other with sugar water in the bottom of it. It took a while, but those started attracting them and now there's a few hundred either dead or trapped, but there are still thousands of them in my room.
I can't and won't use any chemicals because of my pets. I would never do anything to harm them. Does anyone know how to get rid of them in larger number than my bottle traps?
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:18 pm
At my house, whenever we get a big fly problem we put up a ton of flystrips(those cheap sticky things)
The big problem would be finding a place to put them.
Like out of reach of your hair and your pets.*trust me getting it in your hair is a B###h!*
They do preety good and are really cheap(where i'm at you can get a 6 pack for a dollar)
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:52 pm
Okay, I'll check my dollar store next time I go. I don't have to worry about my pets getting at them because the ones in my room are fish or caged. The cats aren't allowed. I will keep them in places I don't walk though, I can only imagine how sucky it would be to catch them in my hair. Thank you!
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:46 am
No problem. But another tip. If you have freinds visit you fairly often, it might seem kinda gross to have hundreds of fly corpses hanging from your ceiling.
there's a more expensive version of a sticky fly trap like that, but it's more of an enclosed box that the fly has to fly into.
They are less likely to be seen with those(but again, if you want to save money use the cheaper version and just put up fresh strips right before freinds visit.)
I personally don't like the flystrips. We keep one near the sink and whenever it catches an adult fly it keeps buzzing loudly, like it's screeching in pain trying to get away. crying
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:01 am
I'm on a tight budget so the strips will have to do. I think my friends would rather see dead flies than flies buzzing around their heads and food.
I've also been using my brine shrimp net to catch as many as I can and feed them to my fish. I like to supplement their diet with live when I can =P
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:54 am
That's clever! 3nodding
I wouldn't ever have thought of catching them live! blaugh
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:09 pm
Are they fungus gnats? Do they hang around the plants, plant soil and other moist spots? I have those, though they don't bother me. I have read that putting sand in the soil cuts up the larvae so they don't mature and produce more offspring. This page has a thing about cut up potatoes that might be worth a try.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:10 pm
This worked wonders for me.
Get a bowl, a regular, wide, cereal bowl.
Fill it with a sweet red wine.
Cover with saran wrap.
poke a whole on top, plenty wide for them to get in, so maybe like the size of a quarter.
Leave it out and they will get stuck in there. Most will drown, if you want to capture and release or something, I'm sure there's things you can buy. I saw something at a restaurant that trapped wasps without killing them.
Also, obviously, get rid of any old fruit.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:17 pm
@Sakakikala: The only reason I even thought of that though was because I was thinking of using the net to get rid of them, then I realized my halfbeaks would love them.
@pirhan: No, they're fruit flies. They actually don't go near my plants, I was hoping the venus fly traps would take care of some of them, but so far none of the traps have been triggered. They tend to hang out on my fish tank glass, on the walls, and on my book case.
@Crazy: That's similar to the set up I have with the bottles except on a larger scale. We don't have any red wine though, think some water with cut up strawberries in it would work the same?
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:09 pm
Well if it is fruit flies, I just get rid of the food source. Eventually they starve.
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:59 am
Urgh, I can't stand them! We had an infestation a couple weeks ago and before I could take care of them we needed to go on a weekend trip. When we got back, our poor turtle's tank was filled with them and my cat's litter box was already starting to get worms. *shudders*
The red wine thing didn't work for me, but the trap I had with vinegar worked best. Also a piece of fruit they like in a jar and saran wrap works well I hear.
But the best thing that worked for me.....clean clean clean!!! For the next few days I made sure everything was super clean, the garbage was taken out every night and none of the dishes had food in them.
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