Posted on 07/18/2012 3:09:40 PM PDT by US Navy Vet
If so what did you do to rid yourself of them?
You beat me to it...
We use this method except we use apple cider vinegar and honey instead of fruit juice.
cap full of bleach every night in the drains.
enclose or refrigerate fruit especially bananas
Put a glass of beer out, covered in saran wrap, and poke a hole in the top with a pencil.
If you lay down with dogs you get fleas.
Fly paper...seriously.
Hang a strip near where they hang out...in mere seconds, they will start to get caught.
The fly paper is also dirt cheap, compared to sprays, etc.
I solved mine by kicking out the ex-girlfriend.
Are you sure they’re “flies” .. might be fleas.
A guy in Oregon was bitten by a cat who had eaten a rat that was infected with fleas - fleas with Bubonic plague.
Maybe you need to catch a few of these “flies” and have them tested.
We have something of a Mosquito epidemic with some deaths resulting from the virus they harbor here in DFW. You also have untenable critter problems. Thus, how about a trade? Our West Nile Virus carrying mosquitoes for your tiny fly infestation and an insect swarm to be named later. Think about it.
First, you’ve got to find the food source they are eating, otherwise if you get rid of them, they’ll just be back. For very small flies, it could be something you wouldn’t expect, like a container of grain/rice/cereal that they are able to get into. For bigger ones, it could be a dead mouse or something like that in your walls or basement that they are feeding off of.
Once you get rid of whatever they are eating, and make sure there isn’t any other food they can get to, then they will die off pretty quick. If you need to get rid of them faster, you can just fog up the rooms where they are with flying insect spray, and leave them closed up for a few hours. Then, just make sure that you ventilate those parts of your house for 6-8 hours before you go back in there, so you don’t make yourself sick. Also, make sure to rinse off kitchen countertops, stove, pots & pans, etc if you spray in the kitchen, because you don’t want that stuff getting in your food.
Don't the teeny tiny puffs of smoke from vaporized gnats smell bad?
Besides, I used to have a tortoise who would hang around beneath the bug zapper on the front porch and eat his fill of dry fried moths and flies...
Pour some apple cider vinegar into a jar and place a funnel on top. Pointy end down. A home-made paper funnel works fine.
Heat the vinegar up and it works even better.
Surprising to find flies now when it's so hot and dry. It may be another species.
Anyway, I remember walking with my arm up in the air when I was in Vermont. The flies would circle around the hand and leave my face alone.
Not exactly much of a solution, I know, but you work with what you have.
If you lay down with dogs you get fleas
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So, if you lay down with fleas does that mean you will get dogs or just an itch that can’t be scratched?
It sounds like you have drain flies. They breed in sinks and bathtub drains. Catch them with a hose from your vac and then clean all drains with Drano or something like that.
http://www.pestproducts.com/fliesdrains.htm
Bats are okay outside, at night. Spiders would have to wait until those flies land. Hummingbirds .....
Well, first I made sure no fruit, sticky, what I throw in the garbage, seal the teabags for compost (they liked those), and keep the cat litter box and around it clean.
Then I'd smack a bunch that were getting on my big screen but they're not doing that this year yet. They taunt me by flying in front of it though.
I have some flying insect spray but you have to be careful with it. I used it in one room before I went to bed (for regular flies too) and shut the door overnight. In the kitchen you have to cover everything.
So I went to the gas station and got a cheap, tall can of beer and set it on the end of the long kitchen counter. I built up sticky duct tape all around and over, sticky side up and/or facing out, leaving the tab opening exposed. Leave the beer in; some drown in it. Well, some seemed to catch on but I was getting some. I also noticed some new eggs (ick) laid underneath the tape when I used a fresh piece to make it better.
Then when I went by the beer I would smack the top being careful not to tip it over. Some flew up and off. So I got so I would plop my whole palm down on the top so fast, seal it as best I could with my skin, and not leave any way to escape. I was now getting them all. I did the can thing maybe 4 times a day or when I'd see a bunch. About a hatching cycle and/or fall, I saw no more of them.
I wish I knew what those things were as I've never had them before and saving fruit in the fall on the counter, etc., was always plagued with the regular fruit flies until I got it all put away or disposed of. One of these landed on my hand. Smack. I got it. When they land they flop around and are very quick. But they don't land very often. They're more active at night near light sources.
One just did a fly by and evaded me. That'll teach me, looks like I'll get 2 beers going before they get a chance to get as bad as last year.
This may sound really old fashioned. . . Have you tried a fly swatter?
Odds are that they are breeding somewhere in the house and are not “sneaking in” en-mass from the outside.
They are there because there is something for them to eat or to lay eggs in.
Look around closely for where they may be breeding.
It can be a dead mouse, rat, squirrel, bird, etc. in the attic, in a wall somewhere. Or some food product that slipped behind or under something. Maybe a spilled beverage.
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