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argh! fruit flies in my bathroom! — Brooklynian

argh! fruit flies in my bathroom!

lnelson
lnelson
edited November -1 in Park Slope
help! my bathroom is infested with fruit flies and they're making their way into the rest of the house!!!

we don't have any fruit out (especially not in the bathroom), but apparently they can be attracted to shampoo and other nice-smelling cleaning products. irony of ironies, products for the advancement of hygiene can attract these sons-of-bitches.

any thoughts on how to get rid of the suckers? i massacre about 10 each day, but they breed like rabbits! we moved into this apartment last may and had fruit flies in the bathroom last summer, and now they're back in fuller force than ever before! they're tiny and they don't sting and they're not scary or gross like roaches, but i want them eliminated! i don't want to just catch them in vinegar or wine or any of the other myriad home remedy-type things i've read about; i want them gone for all time.

thoughts?

Comments

  • carmen
    carmen
    Fruit flies live in moist areas and can live in drains- pour bleach down all your drains and in your toilet, and mop around the moldings of anything that might have water near it (toilet, corner near the shower, even under the sink which could be leaking.) We did this at a restaurant I used to manage that becamse infested somehow and eventually found a small puddle in a corner that was housing most of them. Also, make sure you close all of your bath products and I'd toss any bar soap as well since you can't cover it. Keeping things dry is your best defense.

    OH and they can live in moldy or damp towels too, so peek at that.
  • carmen
    carmen
    Fruit flies live in moist areas and can live in drains- pour bleach down all your drains and in your toilet, and mop around the moldings of anything that might have water near it (toilet, corner near the shower, even under the sink which could be leaking.) We did this at a restaurant I used to manage that becamse infested somehow and eventually found a small puddle in a corner that was housing most of them. Also, make sure you close all of your bath products and I'd toss any bar soap as well since you can't cover it. Keeping things dry is your best defense.

    OH and they can live in moldy or damp towels too, so peek at that.
  • tryp
    tryp
    My roommate says the best thing to do is fill a glass with wine and cover it with cling film with a hole in it. The flies go in after the wine but can't get out. He says it worked in his kitchen.
  • tryp
    tryp
    My roommate says the best thing to do is fill a glass with wine and cover it with cling film with a hole in it. The flies go in after the wine but can't get out. He says it worked in his kitchen.
  • carmen
    carmen
    tryp wrote: My roommate says the best thing to do is fill a glass with wine and cover it with cling film with a hole in it. The flies go in after the wine but can't get out. He says it worked in his kitchen.
    this will definitely work if you get rid of where they're breeding (meaning the live ones will come and die) but if there's a puddle or something somewhere with eggs in it already you'll be starting over the next morning.

    You can also make a trap somehow with a two liter bottle, if you google it I know it'll come up (we did this at the restaurant after eliminating the breeding grounds and whatnot.) Bleach is your friiieeennndddd.
  • carmen
    carmen
    tryp wrote: My roommate says the best thing to do is fill a glass with wine and cover it with cling film with a hole in it. The flies go in after the wine but can't get out. He says it worked in his kitchen.
    this will definitely work if you get rid of where they're breeding (meaning the live ones will come and die) but if there's a puddle or something somewhere with eggs in it already you'll be starting over the next morning.

    You can also make a trap somehow with a two liter bottle, if you google it I know it'll come up (we did this at the restaurant after eliminating the breeding grounds and whatnot.) Bleach is your friiieeennndddd.
  • dottietron
    dottietron
    I had a similar problem last year. Do you have any house plants? In the end, it turned out they were breeding on this plant I had in the kitchen and buzzing around the living room.

    I threw the plant out and got hyper vigilant about killing the biggest ones (I found that they were the ones carrying babies).
    It took aboout a week for them to die off but they did.

    Best of luck!
  • dottietron
    dottietron
    I had a similar problem last year. Do you have any house plants? In the end, it turned out they were breeding on this plant I had in the kitchen and buzzing around the living room.

    I threw the plant out and got hyper vigilant about killing the biggest ones (I found that they were the ones carrying babies).
    It took aboout a week for them to die off but they did.

    Best of luck!
  • filmlover44
    filmlover44
    Those sticky things that you hang from the lights in your room can help to control flying insects. I once had a serious moth infestation. Couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It turned out to be a bag of organic grass seed.
  • filmlover44
    filmlover44
    Those sticky things that you hang from the lights in your room can help to control flying insects. I once had a serious moth infestation. Couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It turned out to be a bag of organic grass seed.
  • lnelson
    lnelson
    Bleach, eh? OK, I like bleach.

    This also seems like a good time to see if having someone clean your apartment for you is as great as they say. I bet it is. I think someone already has a recent thread on that. I'm gonna check it out.

    Question for people who discovered their fly-y friends' breeding grounds: What did the eggs look like? Will I know them when I find them?

    Ick, this is SO GROSS.

    Oh, and PS, apparently they're not fruit flies; they're probably drain flies. I did a lot of googling today. Fruit flies are yellowish and drain flies are black or brown, which these are, plus they live in the bathroom, which these do.

    YUCK-OLA!
  • lnelson
    lnelson
    Bleach, eh? OK, I like bleach.

    This also seems like a good time to see if having someone clean your apartment for you is as great as they say. I bet it is. I think someone already has a recent thread on that. I'm gonna check it out.

    Question for people who discovered their fly-y friends' breeding grounds: What did the eggs look like? Will I know them when I find them?

    Ick, this is SO GROSS.

    Oh, and PS, apparently they're not fruit flies; they're probably drain flies. I did a lot of googling today. Fruit flies are yellowish and drain flies are black or brown, which these are, plus they live in the bathroom, which these do.

    YUCK-OLA!
  • filmlover44
    filmlover44
    Fly "eggs"? Um....they are white and they squirm allot.
  • filmlover44
    filmlover44
    Fly "eggs"? Um....they are white and they squirm allot.
  • carmen
    carmen
    lnelson wrote: Bleach, eh? OK, I like bleach.

    This also seems like a good time to see if having someone clean your apartment for you is as great as they say. I bet it is. I think someone already has a recent thread on that. I'm gonna check it out.

    Question for people who discovered their fly-y friends' breeding grounds: What did the eggs look like? Will I know them when I find them?

    Ick, this is SO GROSS.

    Oh, and PS, apparently they're not fruit flies; they're probably drain flies. I did a lot of googling today. Fruit flies are yellowish and drain flies are black or brown, which these are, plus they live in the bathroom, which these do.

    YUCK-OLA!

    we didn't actually find eggs, just a ton of the actual flies hanging out. And we cleaned it up and, low and behold, they stopped breeding. Make some home-made traps, clean out the drains, wash all the towels and bathmats, wash out ANYTHING that could have standing water (soap dish, cup, toothbrush holder, etc) you'll find em!
  • carmen
    carmen
    lnelson wrote: Bleach, eh? OK, I like bleach.

    This also seems like a good time to see if having someone clean your apartment for you is as great as they say. I bet it is. I think someone already has a recent thread on that. I'm gonna check it out.

    Question for people who discovered their fly-y friends' breeding grounds: What did the eggs look like? Will I know them when I find them?

    Ick, this is SO GROSS.

    Oh, and PS, apparently they're not fruit flies; they're probably drain flies. I did a lot of googling today. Fruit flies are yellowish and drain flies are black or brown, which these are, plus they live in the bathroom, which these do.

    YUCK-OLA!

    we didn't actually find eggs, just a ton of the actual flies hanging out. And we cleaned it up and, low and behold, they stopped breeding. Make some home-made traps, clean out the drains, wash all the towels and bathmats, wash out ANYTHING that could have standing water (soap dish, cup, toothbrush holder, etc) you'll find em!
  • longtimesloper
    longtimesloper
    My neighbor's had this problem in their bathroom also and found otu it was coming from a plant. If you have any plants, I would check them out carefully.
  • longtimesloper
    longtimesloper
    My neighbor's had this problem in their bathroom also and found otu it was coming from a plant. If you have any plants, I would check them out carefully.
  • bogframe
    bogframe
    L-red, I hope it turns out they come from plants! My wife has been turning our apartment into a jungle for the last couple of years!
  • bogframe
    bogframe
    L-red, I hope it turns out they come from plants! My wife has been turning our apartment into a jungle for the last couple of years!
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