Bugs!

[ajaxx24]

Hello,

My husband and I recently bought a log home. Now, we've got a whole bunch of these fruit-fly looking creatures all around the house that we don't know how to get rid of. They seem to hang around the sink drains, garbage, toilets and get into my breadbox frequently. I don't know how to deal with these little critters because I can't exactly bug-bomb my log home, right?

By the way, my husband and I are clean people and this is making us feel unclean because we are infested with these little bugs, so we need to take action to remedy this problem. We've been keeping things as clean as humanly possible, but it's not helping.

Thank you!
April

[Klapton]

I'm just guessing, but I think that spraying or bombing a log home wouldn't necessarily be any more harmful than bombing or spraying a stick-built. It's certainly an unpleasant thing to have to do in either case. But I just did a quick google search and got these results:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=home+made+fly+trap

The first three linkies in the results all looked promising!

[Klapton]

This one looked interesting as a bee / wasp trap:

http://www.thriftyfun.com/images/feedback_image.lasso?id=27059831

The one that would probably work best for tiny flies like you are describing is the design that uses a small jar with platic cling wrap.

Put something liquid in the jar that the bugs will like. Most of the things I read include sugar and vinegar. If they are fruit flies (which they might be, even though you may have got rid of the offending fruit already, they hang around a while, and their eggs can hatch after the offending fruit is gone too), a piece of banana works well.

Wrap the top of the jar with plastic cling wrap. Use a rubber band to hold it in place, if the cling wrap doesn't cooperate. Poke small holes with a sharp pencil or something similar. You want the holes to be JUST big enough for the flies to get in. Most of the time, they go for your bait and either drown, or they are too dumb to get back out.

Disposal... hmmm... once you have a bunch in your jar, you could simply put the lid on nice and tight, or another layer or two of plastic wrap (without the holes this time), and throw it away. One thing I read, they blasted the jar with bug spray after they had a nice collection. Or if you need some karma, you could take it outside and open it up and set the buggers free.

[Fonda]

Fruit fly type bugs are by far the easiest for me to get rid of. I use a small mouth 1 quart canning jar with a piece of rotten fruit or banana in the bottom. I place it near
the infestation. Every couple of hours I walk by and put my hand over the mouth really fast. I take the jar to the sink and move my hand to the side making a big enough
opening to allow hot water to drown the little rascals and wash them away! Drain the water and replace on the counter to catch more.

The plastic idea sounds like a good too.

[GT.]

http://www.gardengrapevine.com/FruitFlyTrap.html
http://www.biconet.com/flyers.html