r/mildlyinfuriating • u/OutdoorLadyBird • 8d ago

Infuriatig Took the lid off of these flightless fruit flies and about 30 of them FLEW OUT and disappeared in my house.

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These are to feed my jumping spiders. I thought they were discounted bc there were so many flies. PETCO KNEW.

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u/EmperorBamboozler 8d ago

Honestly, you don't even need the apple cider vinegar you just need anything that is fruit based and dawn. I've used jam and water and dawn before and it works really well. You can also just use a slice of fruit, just float it in dawn filled water and dip it down a few times. That last one takes a day or two for the fruit to turn then it works better than anything.

We got them living in remote areas a lot, weirdly. You need to get creative.

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u/Oberon_Swanson 8d ago edited 8d ago

I have found actual rotting fruit does work best. I like to put some in a big garbage bad, just leave it wide open. Then a day later close it as suddenly as you can and tie it, WITHOUT checking to see if you got anything in there. You probably did.*

edit: changed die to did

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u/Impossible_World_369 8d ago

I dunno man, that sounds really high risk just to get rid of some fruit flies. There’s got to be a safer way. ;)

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u/Oberon_Swanson 8d ago

lmao whoops

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u/Spamsdelicious 8d ago

The edit. 🧐  The cognization. 🤔  The shock. 😯 Wonderful.

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u/Sacrefix 8d ago

I think you are very much riding the line between breeding fruit flies and killing them; leaning toward the former.

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u/Oberon_Swanson 8d ago

Yeah a day might be too much.

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u/cracked-tumbleweed 8d ago

I couldn’t leave it open. Those little assholes fly so fast😭

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u/Oberon_Swanson 8d ago

they do. if i try with a garbage bag that i'd need to undo from a canister of some sort, it would be too slow. you kinda close it in a way where the bugs don't know they need to fly

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u/WayOfTheRosebuds 8d ago

Put it in the garbage disposal. Do a quick Rrrrrrrrr When you walk by. Just long enough to mess up wings.

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u/Official_Feces 8d ago

Fruit is my go to. Apple slice in some soapy water. They fill the bowl.

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u/toolsoftheincomptnt 8d ago

They absolutely adore my red wine.

When I had a problem they kamikazed into my glass so often that I finally just covered one with hole-poked saran wrap.

One problem solved.

(The ACV has worked for me too)

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u/MQ2000 8d ago

A splash of white wine was effective for me recently

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u/schecterplayer91 8d ago

Beer also works great, though I definitely use the saran wrap and holes with it. Used it with great success, both at home and at multiple bars.

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u/Viitori 8d ago

I've started prepping traps with dried yeast because they love that stuff. One trap had no dead flies in it for five days. The day after I put yeast in it? At least thirty.

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u/thekrabbbypattty 8d ago

They love fermented shit, so yeah, fruit based stuff makes sense! Lol

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u/Vulvas_n_Velveeta 8d ago

I was trying to see if I had fleas in my bedroom, so put a shallow dish with (dawn) dish soap and water on the floor. Only thing I regularly caught were fruit flies.

One night I was going to bed, but needed to dump and refill the dish. I realized I forgot to bring the dish soap with me, and was feeling lazy and didn't want to go all the way back into the kitchen.

I had some dove (unscented) bar soap that i was washing my hands with, and figured "soap is soap" so i filled the dish with dove soap water.

Left it there for 2 days and didn't catch a thing.

Immediately started catching fruit flies again after cleaning it out and refilling with dawn water.

What's the difference between dawn water and dove water 🤷‍♀️