The common fruit fly, whose species name is Drosophila melanogaster, is a type of fly that can regularly be found around households, especially overripe fruit. You might wonder – do fruit flies bite? This issue often comes along with other questions you might have about this species. We’ll discuss different ways to get rid of fruit flies.
What’s a Fruit Fly?
The term “fruit fly” is generally used to describe several subspecies, but all of them are basically identical. Sometimes, the term “vinegar fly” is also used to describe the same species, mainly because they can also be found around fermenting fruit that is a by-product of vinegar production.
Do Fruit Flies Bite?
Fruit and vinegar flies tend to gravitate to things like food particles and fermenting fruit. They do this because they feed on the same particles of nutrient. This means that they have no use for blood or any other animal-based food. Physiologically, they do not possess a mouthpart that can be used to bite or penetrate the skin of animals or humans.
When it comes to the question do fruit flies bite, the simple answer is – no, they do not.
At the same time, there are some types of small flies that do bite and which people regularly confuse with fruit flies. However, these represent a different species of flies.
Yet, you probably realize fruit flies can still be quite a nuisance even if they don’t bite. For that, here are three proven ways and great tips on how you can get rid of fruit flies.
3 Tips to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
A Paper Cone Trap
To make this trap, you first need to put a bit of vinegar and a part of a overripe fruit in a regular glass jar. After that, you should roll a sheet of paper into a cone. Put the narrow end into the jar. With the cone’s narrow opening in the jar, you simply have to make sure that the wider end of the cone completely closes the jar’s top opening. That completes the trap which can be set anywhere near the fruit flies. They will detect the fruit and vinegar and fly into the cone, but once they enter, they will not be able to exit it.
Here is how you can do it using a video tutorial:
Sugar, Pepper, and Milk
Another trap tip we prepared for you also includes simple ingredients found in any home. First, you should combine a single pint of milk with two ounces of grounded-up pepper and add four ounces of raw sugar to it. You should then pour it into a saucepan. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Once the cooking is complete, the mixture should be poured into a dish, ideally a wide and shallow one. The fruit flies will not be able to resist this mixture and they will drown inside of it once they try it.
Red wine
Red wine, aside from being delicious, shares many traits with vinegar that fruit flies find appealing. You can make a simple red wine fly trap by pouring a bit of wine into a bottle. Here as well, flies will fly in and not be able to leave.
Takeaway
In short, fruit flies cannot bite you or anyone else but using these traps, you can easily get rid of them nonetheless. Do you have any experience with trapping fruit flies? We would love to hear them, so feel free to leave a comment!
- Disclaimer
Article by
J. Beck
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