Mrs. HM is locked in a battle of wits with a home invader. Drosophila melanogaster to her, a common fruit fly to you. Ever since we studied them in my college Genetics class, I can't help but think of them by their official name.
Every now and then, the Mansion harbors such a pest. It's inevitable, when I bring in eight bananas every four days. I usually am able to dispatch them forthwith. Squashing on my HIPPIE screen, or by clapping one between my palms. After all, my brain is much larger than theirs. I seriously doubt that any of them were class valedictorian!
Anyhoo... there's one that is driving me crazy. I can't seem to outsmart it. I know my reflexes aren't what they used to be. But this one scoots away just when I think I've delivered a good smooshing. And it follows me like Scarlett follows her much-adored Farmer H.
Since my regular murder tactics have not borne fruit-fly, so to speak... I will now resort to a trap. Can't hurt. I'm not going to spend 80 DAYS chasing after this pest. That's the average life span, you know.
The innernets say to put out a bowl of apple cider vinegar, with a couple drops of dishwashing liquid in it to destroy the surface tension, so the pest can't stand on the liquid, and will submerge and drown. I don't have any apple cider vinegar. I have regular vinegar. Or I can make my own tempting treat of a piece of banana in water.
We'll see how long it takes me to premeditatedly murder this unwanted visitor.
4 comments:
Those are the tiny little "gnat" type flies that gather and hover around ripening fruit, right? They're attracted by the sugars. I used to cover the fruit and the cat food and spray a half a can of insect spray into the room. These days I don't leave fruit on the bench (counter).
River,
Yes, that's the gnat. I don't have any way to hermetically seal my bananas. All these years, it's never been a problem. I must have gotten an infested bunch of bananas from Country Mart. That giant gnat is so elusive! But I caught 5 small ones in a half-cup of plain water with some free green detergent dropped in it. I didn't even know they were around. I will reset my trap!
The apple cider vinegar attracts them, but regular vinegar should work, just add a little sweet to it, then they get caught in the soap. It works quite well with me!
Kathy,
I had no luck with the regular vinegar. Then I used tap water with a couple drops of my FREE green dishwashing liquid that has an apple scent. JACKPOT! They were dropping like... well... FLIES to the bottom of the cup. There are only one or two left now.
Not sure if it was that bunch of bananas, or the yellow onions I bought at Save A Lot. They always have a fan blowing on their onion rack, and I've seen fruit flies take off when jostling the onions. Their banana rack is only about 10 feet away. Anyhoo... the infestation seems to be over now. I will return to buying my onions from Country Mart, or the new 10 Box store.
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