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Knowing tips to prevent and eliminate fruit fly infestations in your own home is helpful if you want to try to do some exterminating by yourself. You can use these tips to either save money on an exterminator in Suffolk County or just to deal with the problem until you can have a professional exterminator come out to help you.
Where Do They Come From?
You might associate fruit flies with a fruit bowl in your kitchen. Even though they like to hang out here, it's not actually where they're from. In fact, they probably didn't come home with you from the produce section of your favorite grocery store. You didn't notice them there, nor did you see professional extermination taking place.
No, it doesn't really matter where you shop for food in Suffolk County or Nassau County, because the little buggers probably got in your home from outside when they caught the scent of ripening fruit. They're really drawn in when food starts getting overripe.
Are there any drinkers in your house? Fruit flies actually like beer and wine over fruit because they love food that is already fermented.
What Are They?
Anyone who makes a living exterminating on Long Island will know, but you are probably curious too. Fruit flies are tiny insects that are yellowish in color and have red eyes. They're just one member of a bigger family of small-sized flies that number around 3,000 different species.
Fruit flies live and breed in spots such as:
Drains
Wet rags
Garbage cans
Damp mops
Spills under your fridge
When a fruit fly lays eggs near the top of ripe fruit, it can lay as many as 500 eggs at once. It only takes about 30 hours for the tiny larvae to come out and starting feeding on the fruit. They eventually turn into pupae, and they're airborne within a week.
The good news is that fruit flies only live around two weeks. Then again, if they get to sip any fermented beverages along the way, they might get to add a day or two to their lifespan.
How Dangerous Are Fruit Flies?
Fruit flies aren't really known for directly carrying disease if they bite you as houseflies might. However, they can transport bacteria that get into your food. Globally, nearly 50 million people fall ill from the food-borne disease on an annual basis, so the extermination of these flies is a good move in all circumstances, whether you do it personally or professionally. Fruit flies are known for their association with the transmission of E. Coli.
Preventing Fruit Flies
The best thing you can do is to just eliminate the breeding grounds that fruit flies rely on for survival and reproduction. Use these tips to prevent fruit flies if you don't already have them, or apply these techniques to make sure that they don't come back after your home is free of them:
Check your fruit for rot and blemishes regularly.
Refrigerate or dispose of anything damaged or ripened.
Take your garbage out regularly.
Use secure-fitting lids on all trash containers.
Don't leave half-empty drinks out.
Clean up all spills immediately, particularly if they involve wine, beer, or fruit juice.
Clean drains regularly to avoid grime where flies might live.
Shut your windows and doors completely; fruit flies can get through screens.
Run the air conditioning whenever you can, as reducing humidity will slow down fruit rot that fruit flies find alluring.
Wipe down all food prep areas with an all-purpose cleaner.
Clean the bottom of your trash can to free it of any organic matter that is decaying.
Replace your kitchen sponges and your mop-heads routinely.
Discourage fruit flies from landing on your food by putting an active oscillating fan nearby.
Clean your garbage disposal regularly.
If You Get Infested
If you notice a fruit fly infestation in your home, look over all your fruits and veggies for:
Signs of it being overripe
Liquid oozing
Breaks
Bruising
Should you notice anything suspicious, bag it all up and dispose of it. Put this in your outside trash immediately. Don't let it sit in your kitchen can or any other indoor trash can.
Clean up any and all residual mess you have from meal prep, cooking, peeling, and chopping.
Rinse out all recyclables, especially if they had soda or alcohol. Clean and scrub your recycle bin frequently to remove residue that you can't see but fruit flies can smell and call home.
Making Fruit Fly Traps
Fruit fly traps are very effective. You can buy them or make your own. Make your own trap using simple supplies and ingredients:
Apple cider vinegar
Dish soap
Jar
Plastic wrap
Rubber band
Toothpick
You might be able to use other forms of vinegar in lieu of apple cider, but it's the specific fruity taste that works the best. For that matter, old beer works too. Fermented alcohol and ripened fruit all taste the same as fruit flies.
Also, a small bowl can work if you don't have an empty jar handy.
Dish soap is present just enough that children and pets shouldn't have access to this solution at any point. Contact your local poison control center if they ingest it at all.
Start by pouring a cup of apple cider vinegar or whatever you have on hand into a jar until it's approximately half full.
Add in a drop or two of your dish soap.
Mix the solution with a spoon in a gentle fashion. This is necessary to break up the liquid surface tension and prevent fruit flies from floating on top of it.
Top off the jar with plastic wrap.
Hold your plastic wrap in place using the rubber band around the jar.
Poke a dozen holes through the plastic wrap using the toothpick.
Place the jar in a place where you suspect or see fruit flies.
Ensure the holes are large enough for the flies to crawl down into.
Wait.
The smell should prove too alluring for the fruit flies. They'll crawl in, go down in the solution, and then drown in it.
If you want a quick and easy version of all this, then you can just finish half a beer, but one or two drops of dish soap into it, and then rubber band or tie a paper towel over the top. Poke a few holes that are big enough for them to get in but not easily out, and you should have yourself a budget-version fruit fly trap that has something they actually want to drown in. Still, an apple cider vinegar jar trap is going to be far more effective. Just do whatever it takes to free your home of these critters.
Need Professional Exterminating on Long Island?
If these tips to prevent and eliminate fruit fly infestations in your own home aren't enough to get the job done, then you might need professional extermination. Consider General Exterminating for your professional exterminator needs in both Nassau County and Suffolk County.
Count on their professional exterminator in Suffolk services to free your home of fruit flies for once and for all.