He has drain flies.

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:
... Place an upside-down Dixie cup over each drain at night. The next morning see if any have come up. ... Two-week life cycle. Eggs for the next batch are already in the drain gook...

This is the truth. I fought these little bastards for months then cleaned the infested bathroom vanity drain. Gross what is in the tailstock. They moved to the other vanity. Cleaned it. I then saw a couple in the kitchen and immediately listed the house for sale.

Broadside - I have studied these flies at length and concluded that they MUST BE fruit flies. The only 2 options I have found are fruit flies and "drain moths". And these closely match the description of the fruit fly. They are about 3-5mm long (with wings folded down their sides; the wings are transparent, and their bodies appear to be mostly dark brown. They appear to be black while in flight but a closer inspection shows otherwise. Drain moths - the only other option - just simply DO NOT look like these things while at rest.

Have I trapped/killed any of these things with vinegar? THOUSANDS. And may I say here - the solution is mostly apple cider vinegar, a small amount of water, a little sugar, and a few drops of dishwashing detergent to break the surface tension of the vinegar/water. The idea is to get these things to fall into the vinegar and drown.

Have I located the source? Not definitely. I ASSUMED that it was possibly fruits & veggies that we had brought home from the market. It's enough to make a fellow want to abandon a healthy diet. And I'll tell you one thing: If you ever bring bananas home & leave them sitting out in a large bowl on "the island" or the kitchen table -> you're a damn fool.. I'm pretty sure that's how they got started here.

No, we don't have a sump pump or similar apparatus here.

So I HOPE I have answered all of your questions. I really do appreciate your interest... and I would appreciate more a sure-fire plan from you telling me HOW to get rid of all these - FOR ALL TIME!! But seriously, "Broad".... I DO appreciate your interest.... FredT

Drosophila melanogaster. Red or white eyes. Phenotypes, genotypes. Sexing, anethetizing, selecting, mating, culture media, avoiding catastrophic mold overgrowth. Preventing escape of gain of function mutations from the lab, I mean wet market.
Good old Genetics Lab 101.

Work Every Time. Apple cider vinegar with a ff=ew drops of liquid soap. Pour enough into a plastic cup 24 oz and freshen it up every 3-4 days with a spritz. I have one in the laundry room where I some into the house and kitchen counter. Guaranteed to work!

Richard C. - what in the name of heaven was THAT all about??!

OK. Just to throw out some ideas, is it possible something fell behind an appliance or rolled underneath an appliance? What about maybe an old bag of potatoes that you forgot about? What about an old bag of onions? You mentioned bananas, do you leave any other fruit out?

Do you store pet or plant food anywhere inside your home? What about potting soil?

Could the source be in an attached garage? Is it possible they are making thier way in through an exhaust vent? Do you store any bird seed inside your home?

One other idea, maybe the source is some type of spice that you have in your cupboard or countertop.

Any chance another family member dropped a piece of fruit that rolled under apiece of furniture or maybe a pet snagged something from the kitchen floor and left it under a piece of furniture?

quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie1:
Try a shallow glass tray and put red wine in it, put it near the sink.

White vinegar will also do the trick.

Broadside - there seems to be more than a little confusion about what type of "bugs" these are. Here's an honest & sincere offer from me: I will be happy to send samples (dead bugs in good shape) to ANYONE who might help me identify these critters so that I might more effectively fight them. I don't know how to get your address, but if you'll share that with me I will immediately get samples to you. As for my address? I am more than willing to share it. Again, my "Thanks" in advance......FredT

I’ve always used a glass of leftover white wine (in a wine glass) and a drop or two of Dawn’s to break the surface tension. Don’t mix.
The drain itself I break out the soft scrub (with bleach), and scrub out the sink well, then rinse it all down the drain slowly. It has worked for me, esp if these are fruit flies. But 1 leftover glass of wine won’t work…. Buy a bottle and have 1-2 drinks a day over several days always leaving a small amount in the bottom, not enough for those little sobs to crawl out, mind you..

quote:

Originally posted by jtedescucci:
Broadside - there seems to be more than a little confusion about what type of "bugs" these are. Here's an honest & sincere offer from me: I will be happy to send samples (dead bugs in good shape) to ANYONE who might help me identify these critters so that I might more effectively fight them. I don't know how to get your address, but if you'll share that with me I will immediately get samples to you. As for my address? I am more than willing to share it. Again, my "Thanks" in advance......FredT

FredT, I’d be happy to help but I know very little about bugs other than the ones I’ve dealt with. Have you tried contacting doityourselfpestcontrol.com? I’ve sent pictures to them before and they were helpful.

quote:

Originally posted by jtedescucci:
Richard C. - what in the name of heaven was THAT all about??!

“Good old Genetics Lab 101.”

OK, now I get it. Riiiight.... Thanks

I've had a fruit fly problem for the last six weeks. I just discovered a case of protein drinks in our garage that had busted open. There were fruit flies swarming it and maggots crawling all over.

jtedescucci, is it possible that you have some type of fungus gnat that is living/breeding in a houseplant?

We had a problem with these a while back. Checked all the usual sources in the kitchen with no luck. Put some of the yellow glue stakes from Amazon in every house plant in the house and that solved it. I'm speculating here but I think they were reproducing in the soil around the plants then migrating to the kitchen, so dealing with them there was unhelpful.

These are the ones we used" https://www.amazon.com/Garsum-...=lawn-garden&sr=1-18

A month ago I had fruit flies really bad. I believe they came from my sons room originally. I did 3 things and they are totally gone.
Poured bleach down the drains of all sinks and showers.
put a few ounces of apple cider vinegar in small glasses. Caught a lot.
Finally went to Home Depot and bought a 3 back of bombs.

Two days later not a fruit fly in the house.

We've been using the Dynatrap flylight. It's basically a black light with a sticky trap. Works well most of the time, just need to switch the sticky pads out and leave the lights off at night. They catch all sorts of flying bugs at night.

quote:

Originally posted by jtedescucci:
Broadside - there seems to be more than a little confusion about what type of "bugs" these are. Here's an honest & sincere offer from me: I will be happy to send samples (dead bugs in good shape) to ANYONE who might help me identify these critters

You would probably be better served by posting a clear close up picture here rather than mailing the little buggers.