Catch and Release is for Sissies

Our kitchen seemed overrun with fruit flies this year. Even after storing bananas in the pantry and everything else in the fridge - we still had the little pests flying around.

I looked online and there were several different methods - including a catch and release. WTH? For fruit flies?? After reading my post, you'll see there's nothing humane about my method. But I guess if you prefer, you can skip the last couple steps and let the little buggers go live outside.

1. I got a glass, I used glass specifically so I could see how many I was trapping.
2. Put some bait in the bottom. I used pineapple. But I also noticed a cup of OJ my daughter left out had attracted a lot of fruit flies (FF's).
3. Make a funnel out of paper. The top needs to be wide enough to sit in the glass while leaving space at the bottom for your bait. The hole at the bottom is about 1/8" wide. The funnel shouldn't touch the bait, it may help the FF's crawl out.
4. Tape the funnel to keep it's shape and tape it all around the top of the glass so they can't crawl out of the glass.
5. Enjoy watching the FF's get trapped, for some reason once they get into the glass, they can't fly up out of the funnel hole.
6. To kill the FF's, you can put the cup in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
7. So that I didn't have to make new traps, and I was afraid of FF's getting out of the trap, and I know FF's don't like cold bait, once I took it out of the freezer, I microwaved my whole trap and set it out to catch more.

Other suggestions are:
1. Put apple cider vinegar in a bowl and mix with dish soap. The apple cider attracts them, and the dish soap helps disperse the surface tension and they drown. Or something like that.
2. At night, put a dish of bait in your dishwasher and leave the door slightly ajar. In the morning, gently, so as not disturb the FF's, close the dishwasher door. Turn on the dishwasher and wash those flies away. (you shouldn't open the door to see how many you caught - this could alert the FF's and they'll fly away. - see why I love the glass method.)


Happy Hunting!