Never had a gnat problem before… but boy do I have one now!

It started out innocently enough. One or two fruitflies, tops. I thought to myself, “Self, you’ve seen them before. They’ll go away on their own. Don’t sweat it.”

Told my wife the same thing. I was wrong.

Those one or two turned into a couple dozen really fast. I turned to teh interwebz for some answers. Learned about the apple cider vinegar in a bottle trick. Tried it. Captured and killed nearly thirty of the nasty little flying soul nazis. Thought I had won the war.

I was wrong. Again.

After a couple of days of peace, an army of gnats assaulted our home! Seemingly out of nowhere, too. Those damned pilots of winged dread!

Okay, I readied myself for war. As any good solider would do, I performed a bit of recon. Perhaps I missed a gnat food source somewhere?

I searched the house high and low. Nada. From where in hades did these suckers come from? Wait a minute… the garage! These tiny farts must be squeezing their way into our abode via the door to the garage. After all, the garage is where the large garbage cans are kept.

Alas, I found their home base! And what a disgusting base it was. I missed one garbage day. Just one. But that was enough for the gnats to breed hundreds if not thousands of soldiers. Given that trash day was the following day, I took the can out. Most of the gnats either stayed inside the can or swarmed around me as I marched towards the sidewalk.

The next morning, I watched with glee as the garbage man unloaded the trash into his truck, replete with swarming squadrons of gnats! But I knew that while a major battle was won, the war was not yet over. I went to the grocery store and picked up some weaponry:

Can of Raid for Flying Insects
Large jug of Apple Cider Vinegar
Two bananas
Two boxes of Entenmann’s blueberry muffins (okay, not a weapon… a snack for my son)

As soon as I pulled into my driveway, I opened the garage door and stopped short of driving my car into the bay. I got out of my car with Raid in hand. Starting from the back and working my way back to the car, I misted the entire space. Damned gnats! You shall die!

Onward to the house! I setup some traps. Plastic water bottles (cut in half) with holey cling wrap covers, all filled with a slice of banana and a serving of ACV. Works like a charm. I seal and dispose of bottles in regular intervals. Now only a few gnats appear. I’ll keep going until no gnats exist!

The best thing to get rid of fruit flies is fill a plastic beaker/tub with vinegar, cover with cling film and make small holes in it (large enough for the flies to get through though), and leave it where ever you need to, even do a couple where needed, they get drawn to it, go to feed and drown in the vinegar!!

Haha I love they way you are writing down your thoughts.

All these flies seem to show up every time my mother comes. You see, she buys all these vegetable and fruits for me, and leaves them out of the fridge.

The first time, the fruit flies were tracked in my bathroom! In my cabinet (how the HECK did thy squeeze in there? Thank god everything was sealed) and on my sink’s soap (I use a solid soap). I kept smashing them, until no more were left there.

the second time they were lying in a cupboard where I stored carrier and essential oils! EWW! They were trying to get in my seled bottles, those horrible creatures!!

Now, after another mum’s visit I suddenly have them again. They are constantly curious to see what I was browsing on the internet, they were stuck to my Lolita Lempicka perfume until I hided it, I find their babies in every possible place. Especially yesterday I was hysterical, I found some of their babies in kitchen cupboards where I store food! They were attracted by honey! I looked so terrified, that my boyfriend (who doesn’t live with ,e_ took out every shelf of the cupboard and cleaned it with chlorine. And today I used chlorine on every drain in my house.

I haven’t seen any fruit flies since the morning, but I am always concerned.

I prefer them over roaches though
Good luck everyone!

this made me sad when i saw the dead bugs

I been having this problems with fruit fly’s. They are draving me crazy. I have completely clean with bleach, and they still in my whole house…. I am going nuts… anyone has anyother ideas?

I thought I was the only one annoyed to insanity by these critters! Then I saw a close up of them on another website (yuk yuk yuk), and found out they LAY THEIR eggs in fruit, and I am declaring an all out WAR! We sprayed while we were away for Thanksgiving, removed all traces of food,(fruit is no longer allowed to be purchased until this is over) bleached, rinsed, plugged drains, and yup the freakin things coulda spelled out “Welcome Home” with their live bodies on my counter. The vacuum’s been fun for my 10 year old, but lordy, I have spent way too much time fighting this! I’m going to continue to try many ideas (the more sadistic, the better, IMO) and maybe drop the temp in the house to a balmy 35F.

you have to be very careful leaving glasses of wine around the house as this may attract winos and they are herder to get rid of than fruit flies.

I found out this past summer, from a very nice bug guy, that these
flies might not be fruit flies but a ‘drain’ fly. I’ve never heard of them but I tried the wine, juice and other suggestions to no avail. Soooo I did what the bug guy told me to do. 1 cup of bleach down all
your drains and leave it sit for about an hour. And guess what, next day I never saw one fly. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!

The battle began about a week ago. First it was just a couple of fruit flies, then the brigades arrived shortly thereafter. I came on here and looked for solace as they were mounting further infestation. I tried a few things on here and though all were appreciated, not all worked. So, after almost wiping them out entirely, here is what I have to advice.

Sarcasm. Fruit flies can’t stand it. “Hey Fruit Fly want to don’t you land on my food” I literally saw them frown and leave. It was beautiful.

Ok, here’s what I really did. Red wine glass with crappy red wine and vinegar. Stretched the plastic wrap over the top, punched holes wtih a toothpick and gave it an hour or longer. Then came back with some Simple Green (household cleaner, I’m sure others work, it’s what I had) and sprayed the ones on top. I emptied the glass full of those little bastards and refilled. That took most of them out.

The other trick is take a soft drink from a fast food place with the lid and put an orange peel inside of it. The fruit flies climb down the straw and can’t get out. I’m finally a little fruit fly deficient and couldn’t be happier. Good luck and take no prisoners, it’s war!!!

PS forget the soap. I dont know what that is all about. They die just fine without it.

The best and simplest means of eliminating or at least controlling these buggers is a glass of red wine placed in the kitchen. I discovered this years ago when I was single; I left a glass out overnight one summer. The next day after I got home I was amazed to find about a dozen of them floating belly up.
Through experimenting, I found strong red wine to work best (Merlot, Cabernet) but go cheap if you are buying wine for only this purpose. It is also best to use a small glass with a small rim, filled to about an inch from the top. We usually put the full glass near the fruit bowl and change it out about every 2-3 days or you can strain out the dead ones and add a bit of fresh bait.

I HATE, JUST HATE THESE FRUIT FLIES. THEY ARE FLYING IN MY FACE,IN MY DRINK, AND ON MY FOOD. I STILL CANT FIND WERE THEY ARE COMING FROM BUT I KNOW THAT IF ANOTHER FRUIT FLY FLYS IN MY FACE IM GOING TO GO CRAZY.
HELP!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!

i hate these little shits they seem to migrate to my mirrors so annoying i tried the wine the juice the insecticides foggers in the house and than i found the culprit a bannana in my 3 year olds room so they do come from fruit! there another product i found underhow to rid of knats that im gonna try ill let yas know how it works!!!

I have a quick fix. I find that they have to die off outside because i can see them everywhere out there. But untill then I use windex. I spray those little buggers right out of the air. Then they fall to a surface where I then wipe them up and throw them out! Its a battle until it gets cold but it helps. I try to keep the ripe fruit in the frig and keep the numbers of them down with the windex. Good Luck

I am going nuts with these stupid annoying fruit flies and i dont know what they are feeding off of in my home.. I have never ever had them before and just this last month they have somehow found there way into my appartment i have looked through everything and cannot find what they are surviving on.. at one point i thought that they were gone cos i didnt see any for like 3 days and then its like they came back with a vengence… Im going crazy can anyone HELP me im in DESPERATE need im havding family over in like 3 weeks and i dont want them to be disgusted with them…
HELP PLEASE

Alanna- I couldn’t sympathize with you more. I just had a baby 8 weeks ago and had these things all over my house. I get them every year, but was super freaked out about bringing a baby into the house with them. Please know that no matter what anyone says, they are harmless to you and your baby. They are just SUPER annoying. If you are bottle feeding, just try and keep the bottles sealed in zip lock baggies. It will ease your mind.

If you can, check your drains for scum build-up. I know that is where all of mine come from. You can cut their numbers down dramatically by cleaning out your drains throroughly, including the p-traps (the u-like pipe under the sink). For a quick fix, get some fly strips and drain plugs from a home improvement store. It will cut them down until you can pay better attention to the problem. In-Vade bio gel is a product you can get online (not in stores) that will also help. But be sure to follow the instructions implicitly. This stuff is great because it’s non-toxic and doesn’t smell so it won’t harm you or your baby.

Be sure to take your trash out daily and don’t leave any dishes in the sink or allow standing water to sit anywhere.

I know how frustrating this problem can be. Just don’t worry, they are harmless. Good luck and congrats on your new baby!

I have fruit flies all over my house, I’ve tried everything! Tomorrow I’m getting induced to have my baby, and I dont want those bugs here…What do I do????

we have a leak in our kitchen. so when it rains we put a pot inder the leak. when we do that aboutg 35 fruit flies show up in the pot the next day. so maybe youall might try that…

Kristin, if you check this web site, please let me know how I can email you. I live in Jacksonville, as well and am having the same problem. Would love to chat with you about this FRUSTRATING fly problem. I have some tips that may help as well.

Here is my tip, but it is unfortunately more of a don’t. Do NOT waste your money on a product called “Rid -a - BUG”. It did not work, and in fact, I believe it is fruit fly steroid and crack combined, as it made them more aggro and I believe enhanced their breeding capabilities!!!

PLEASE HELP!!!!

I am being driven nuts by these pesky little things. I tried many of the natural home remedies here (which I prefer, after first using the chemical crap mentioned above, which also made both me and my dog vomit, even though we left the house about two minutes after spraying). I wiped dow everything with bleach after that, which just makes me wheeze and burns my eyes.

Safe in the solace of the master bedroom, with my laptop, I came to this site, and decided to brave the kitchen, and my bathroom. I tried the red wine/soap ideas, as well as dumping cider vinegar down the disposal, letting it sit to attract the bastards, and then rinsing the disposal with bleach and washing it out well after that with anti-bacterial disposal cleaner.

This method has killed many of these f’ing PITA’s, but there are still some in the kitchen, despite having every food sourc eith in tightly closed containers or the refrigerators, including the poor dog’s food.

Throwing out three bowls of Iams is not cheap!

An aside on that issue, as they were all over her bowl! Poor dog, she is totally annoyed as well, as I had to put her food in either the microwave or refrigerator (and it is only dry food!). She’s had her food out all day, every day, for the last 9/1/2 years, and we never saw this.

I have battled, and defeated, palmetto bugs as big as mice in the Keys, termites in St. Augustine, a fleas when my idiot ex got a cat from the shelter in Ohio. This is making me despise the horrid burg of Jacksonville even more.

The source must be the yard. But how to get rid of them out there? We have sprayed, have a monthly pest control service spray…I don’t know what to do. We have had a lot of water in some low-lying spots in the yard, due to a tropical storm, and some branches down, which got wet. I found one branch when I was cleaning up the pine/oak debris from the last storm (I am beginning to despise these trees!) that had maggoty looking white crap on it. I am ashamed to say that this made me yack, and my husband threw the thing over the yard into the creek that runs along the back of the property behind the fence. That creek could be part of the source, as well as the fruit trees that drop unripe citrus during high winds and rain, which accumulates and rots. Unfortunately, the area where it rots in not accessible (high banks, and nasty water). There is a grapefruit tree in our yard, but I pck up and throw away the unripe fruit from that, and as it is very tall, I can’t reach all the branches to get the rest down and my husband cannot either.

Even in Islamorada, with the 8 cat 4 hurricanes and the water left standing from them, combined with the sapodillas (which are very sweet, and mushy, and fall everywhere) and the coconuts (even the jellies) which fell during the 94 - 95 seasons, we never had a problem with these bastards. I’d really like to see them all go, as they are driving me nuts. I took great pleasure in nearly burning with one the snouldering end of a cigarette but that my husband left outside.

That’s another thing! They seem to love nicotine, and cgarette butts!! They are allover the patio outside where my husband smokes, and I clean it (sweeping, and yesterday spraying with bleach and water. )

Someone please help! We have eliminated all standing water, no one is allowed to leave uncovered liquids in glasses around, and everythig in the house has been scoured and vacuumed clean!!

I guess I’ll keep leaving this little red wine dish soap traps out. Maybe put out more? But I don’t know what do do about the yard, short of napalm!

Why were they ever invented in this first place. Yea, I know we used them in advanced biology for the red/brown eye genetic thing, but what other use do they have. Don’t even tell me they are part of the food chain, because NOTHING is eating them. We have about a billion geckos in the yard, and the assorted few that get in the house. What do I need to do? Rent the Jacksonville Zoo lizard exhibit for a da to roam my house?

I don’t want any more harsh chemicals, especially in the house, and well, the yard too where the dog could get into them or it bothers my allergies and asthma. Plus, these things are a health risk (well, of course, they land on garbage!). This is so disgusting!

Someone PLEASE HELP! I AM GOING CRAZY with these things!