Shoo fly, don't bother me!

Back in university I lived in a townhouse with three awesome ladies. One day we began noticing fruit flies in the house. Over the next week the population of fruit flies exploded and our whole downstairs was blanketed in tiny brown dots. We could not get rid of them! The culprit (a bag of rotten apples) wasn't found for a week, because for some inexplicable reason it was in the cupboard under the stairs. But even removing the source of food didn't help.

Eventually I researched the best way to get rid of these creatures and I came up with my patented (haha) Fruit Fly Trap Extraordinaire! In a couple days we were fruit fly free without any chemical use.

So lately in the condo, I have been having a fruit fly issue again. This time there is not obvious food source for the little buggers, as my compost is kept in the freezer and there is no food out in the condo. But for weeks now I keep seeing one or two flying around the condo like they are all that and a bag of potato chips.

Therefore I busted out my Fruit Fly Trap Extraordinaire and I hope I can catch the last few stranglers and wrap up this problem. Here what you will need to create a trap of your own:

1. An orange (and a guess a knife and cutting board to cut this orange)
2. Saran wrap
3. Small tupperware or dish with a lip
4. Elastic
5. Fork

I find an orange works best because fruit flies like citrus and it has a bit of a stronger smell to attract them (aka, you don't have to wait for something to rot).

First thing you want to do it cut up your orange and place a small piece into the tupperware.

Feel free to eat the rest of the orange, because oranges are delicious and healthy for you. This project results in vitamin C baby!!

Cover the tupperware in saran wrap and wrap the elastic around the outside to secure. You don't want a way for a fly to get out.

Next, poke some holes in the top of your trap with a fork. You want these holes to be small, so don't start ramming it.

Finally, leave the trap somewhere near the source of the problem. As I don't know where my problem arises from, I just chose the counter.

After about 24 hours, check your trap. You will hopefully find some little buggers in there chowing down on that orange! At this point you can take it outside and dump it, or just leave it open and the flies will eventually fly out (but NOT in your house!).

The trap is very simple: attracted to the smell of delicious orange, the flies will land on the top of your trap and eventually crawl in through a hole to reach the bait. However, once they are in, the flies have a difficult time getting back OUT of the hole (this is why we keep them small). If you haven't gotten all the flies in one go, just make a second trap (more oranges for you!) and set it out again.

This trap has not failed me yet!

Update:
Not two hours after I wrote this post I found this:

 

See that little dot in the upper right corner (well, not a corner, cause it is a circle, but you know what I mean)? MY FIRST VICTIM! mwahahaha. And considering I think there are only 1 or 2 fruit flies in the condo, this is a pretty darn fast catch.