Heat waves: rabbit-safe way to get rid of all those fruit flies

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Spring has been unseasonably hot in many parts of the world, which is leading to an insect plague in many places. The fruit flies zooming around here were driving me crazy, so I searched for a rabbit-safe way to get rid of fruit flies. Most store-bought traps are based on artificial scents which may irritate a rabbit’s sensitive respiratory system. 

The worst thing that can happen with this homemade trap is that your bun knocks it over and that there’s some juice with alcohol spilling. This method depends on creating a fermented fruit smell, which attracts fruit flies like crazy. It can take up to a day to become truly effective, but once it does it works like a charm! Replace every 3 days so your house won’t smell like a boozy frat house 

What you need: 

– plastic disposable cup

– fruit juice or fruit lemonade

– small clump of yeast or some grains of dried yeast

– drop of dish soap

– cling film (Saran wrap for the US folks)

– rubber band or tape

– small skewer or knitting needle to pierce a small round hole

This is how you do it:

Take a plastic disposable cup and fill it about halfway with fruit juice or fruit lemonade. Add the yeast and a drop of dish soap and gently stir. Cover the cup with the cling film and make sure that the surface of the cup is nice and flat by holding it in place with a rubber band or tape. Take a small knitting needle or any other tool that can make a round 2-3 mm hole, just enough for the flies to crawl through. 

Put the cup nearest to the place where the fruit flies gather: the fruit basket, certain plants, the bins, or the counter. Within hours you’ll start to see bubbles. The yeast is converting the sugar in the juice to alcohol, and combined with the fruity smell this’ll be irresistible to fruit flies. They will crawl in but won’t be able to fly out again, and soon you’ll see many of them drowned in the liquid. At least they’re going out in a boozy way… Replace every 3 days or sooner. 

(Not such a pleasant detail: if you keep it too long their eggs may hatch in the cup, and you’ll have larvae crawling around). So toss the whole thing after you’ve had a good catch, and repeat until your pest problem has gone. You can flush the liquid down the drain/toilet, and you can rinse the cup and dispose of it in the plastics recycling bin.

[Bam]

Brilliant! What we call fruit flies are actually vinegar flies. So it makes total sense they should love this concoction ?

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Quite the catch for today already, trying to protect my precious apricots for the next vlaai. There’s always a lot of fruit and veg in my house because I’m a coeliac and have to take double portions of these. It’s getting difficult keeping things fresh, because some produce actually spoils quicker or loses its flavour if you put it in the fridge.
I’ve already made screen curtains for all my windows, but it’s still a warzone. Seriously it’s crazy this year… Hoping for a good harsh winter!
Bas has had many sleepless nights already because his roommates are letting mosquitos in by the hundreds. *What, I’m just airing out a bit…* Poor guy, he’s like a beacon to them…

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[Bam]

Lovely apricots!

Poor Bas! He needs a mosquito net around his bed like in the tropics. I have one of those for Bam’s outdoors run, got it at a charity shop at a very reasonable price. IKEA has them, they do work for indoors but should not be trusted in the actual tropics according to IKEAs disclaimer.

Lots of mozzies in the woods around here this summer, but luckily it’s dry or it would’ve been intolerable. Now it’s only almost intolerable ?

[Muj Mom N Bun]

I cannot believe that there is someone else who has picked up on what these little buggers are attracted to, too! For years I have been catching them by proofing a small amount of yeast and leaving it on the table to drown their little pesky butts! I bake A LOT so I quickly saw that they are attracted to the fermentation!

[Author]

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