You know the feeling, some annoying fruit flies have invaded your kitchen, bathroom, or dining room. You try to get rid of them, but it seems like no method works. The little pests always come back and you start seeing more and more of them. Fruit flies, also called vinegar flies or drain flies, are the most common type of fly. They’re small and have a red-brown color and they love to hang around rotten food.
The adults can live up to one month, while the larvae grow inside drains or compost bins. They are a nuisance and can make you feel like you live in a garbage dump, but don’t worry. If you want to know how to get rid of fruit flies in the house make sure you follow our ultimate guide.
What Causes a Lot of Fruit Flies in the House?
There are several reasons for fruit flies infestation. The most common include:
Dirty kitchen
You might have a dirty kitchen that’s causing fruit flies to gather. This isn’t the best situation, since it can make your home smell bad and make you feel embarrassed when you have guests over.
Cleaning up after yourself is a good way to prevent this from happening in the future.
Poorly-stored food
If you aren’t storing your food properly, it could lead to an infestation of fruit flies. Make sure that your food is sealed tightly and stored in the fridge or freezer when not consumed immediately.
If you have any leftovers that won’t be eaten right away, either freeze them or throw them out before they spoil and attract these insects.
Open windows
A large number of fruit flies will congregate around open windows because they like to stay warm during cooler months of the year; this makes them easy targets for window screens and other barriers that block sunlight from entering your home.
Keep all windows closed during winter months so that these pests don’t enter your house through open spaces like this one.
Read about: How To Get Rid Of Ants In Your House? 11 Effective Ant Killer Recipes
How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies in House
Clean up the area
Remove any potential food sources from the area where you see the fruit flies congregate. Wipe down countertops, cabinets, and pantry shelves with disinfectant wipes or spray them with disinfectant spray (make sure it doesn’t contain ammonia).
Then wipe down these surfaces again with vinegar or bleach water (1/2 cup bleach mixed in 1 gallon of water).
Use vinegar
Fruit flies are attracted to sweet smells, so if you want to keep them away from certain areas, you can use vinegar instead of sugar or honey in those areas.
Pour vinegar into a bowl, allow it to evaporate completely, and place it wherever you would like fruit flies gone from (such as near your garbage). The vinegar smell will keep fruit flies away from that area while also attracting vinegar flies that feed on vinegar instead of sugar.
Apple Cider vinegar and liquid soap trap
This is one of the easiest methods to get rid of fruit flies. All you need to do is combine equal amounts of vinegar and liquid soap in a bottle or jar with a lid, then place the mixture in areas where you see the most flies.
The smell of the vinegar will attract the flies, and when they land on it they will drown because it’s sticky.
Purchase a fruit fly trap
You can purchase an effective fruit fly trap online or at most home improvement stores. It will emit an odor that attracts the flies but won’t harm them as they stick to it while trying to feed on the bait inside (usually a sweet liquid).
Once they’re trapped inside they can’t escape because there are no openings except for where they came in at first, so they eventually die off from starvation or dehydration (or if you want you can release them outside).
Insecticide sprays
You can purchase an insecticide spray at any local hardware store or online if you prefer not to mix up your own solution. The sprays will kill off any remaining adult flies and prevent new ones from entering the home.
Be careful when using these sprays around children and pets because they may be harmful if inhaled or swallowed by humans or animals.
How to Prevent Fruit Flies
The most effective way to prevent fruit flies is simply to keep your kitchen clean. Fruit flies are attracted to any type of food residue or liquid, so keeping your kitchen clean will help reduce the population of these pests.
Making sure that all garbage is properly sealed before throwing it away outside. Fruit flies love garbage and will swarm around any open trash can or bag that is sitting outside your house.
Removing all standing water from your home so that there isn’t any standing water where they can lay their eggs in it. This includes things like leaky faucets or pipes as well as anything else in your home that might be leaking water onto the floor (like a sink leak).
Final thoughts
Spilled sugary drinks are some of the most common causes of fruit flies in the house. Empty any sugar containers and try to drink all liquids left over in your cups before they have a chance to get stale. Clean dirty dishes as soon as possible and make sure that you do not leave any grease or food particles lying around on the kitchen counters.
Also read: How to Get Rid of Rats in the House Naturally
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