Fruit flies escaped

[uralowl]

Not sure if this is the right place to be posting this, apologies if it is.

I was taking the lid off my flightless fruit fly culture earlier when I was trying to feed several of my small mantis nymphs. Unfortunately, I accidently ripped off the whole lid and at least 100 fruit flies came swarming out. I got the lid on as quickly as possible and tried wiping and swatting the flies that had escaped onto the table. I think I got most of them, though there are definitely some that escaped unnoticed I'm sure. I've already seen at least 10 flies randomly appear on the walls and on other furniture, all of which I've killed.

The only thing I'm worried about is, will they actually do any harm? I saw one of them in my tarantula's enclosure (again, killed it) and it looks quite unsightly having to spot a fly or two on the wall every now and then, I don't normally get wild flies in the house. This is honestly one of my worst nightmares come true. I really hope they don't find the kitchen and start laying eggs on any of the fruit...

 

[happy1892]

Here is the place to post something like this. Do not worry, they will do no harm! We have thousands (really) here in the summer.

 

[uralowl]

Here is the place to post something like this. Do not worry, they will do no harm! We have thousands (really) here in the summer.

Sorry about posting this in the wrong section, though thanks for letting me know where to post things like this in the future.

The only reason I'm worried is because about 6 years ago, I had an infestation of blue bottle flies that kept breeding in my apartment like mad. It literally took me forever to get rid of them, even with fly paper and the handy house spiders that were killing some of them. I'm assuming these flies only eat fruit though (hence the name) and thankfully they can't fly, but they can climb and move fast it seems.

 

[hibiscusmile]

they will not live long enough to hurt anything, and no fly, bb or fruit fly will lay and hatch unless u have something they can do that in, so if u had bbs, u had to have a dead mouse or something for them to lay in, or something rotting in the open garbage can.

 

[piroxi]

Hello

As the others said, fruit flies are harmless.

Take a glass and put it next to your fruits in the kitchen.

Inside a mixture of 1 coffee spoon of sugar and some water the same amount of vinegar. And one or two drops of dishwashing liquid.

You'll see if there are not too many, this is a irresistible blend for fruit flies.

 

[happy1892]

Hello

As the others said, fruit flies are harmless.

Take a glass and put it next to your fruits in the kitchen.

Inside a mixture of 1 coffee spoon of sugar and some water the same amount of vinegar. And one or two drops of dishwashing liquid.

You'll see if there are not too many, this is a irresistible blend for fruit flies.

Wow, OK, thanks. Many fruits seem to be irresistible to fruit flies LOL!Edit:

Thanks for your support angelofdeathzz

First try and then make a comment happy 1892.

Alright, I will do it in the future. I believe you. Angelofdeathzz wrote it works well for him too.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

The clear answer seems to be to release 10-100 mantis nymphs in your house to take care of the fruitflies.

They should perish pretty quickly as long as you don't have a bunch of rotting fruit out on your counters or something.

 

[maybon]

They only reproduce in rotting fruit. Keep all waste fruits outside and they should be gone very quickly. They can escape through fly screen mesh usually so just leave a mesh door open and they should leave through it.

 

[uralowl]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I've still managed to spot a few more fruit flies since yesterday, I've just swatted every one that I found, no idea how many more may be left, but I guess it's just something I have to live with.

 

[Rick]

I bet i've lost millions of fruit flies that way. Not sure what you think they will harm, but they will die in a few days or so.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Hello

As the others said, fruit flies are harmless.

Take a glass and put it next to your fruits in the kitchen.

Inside a mixture of 1 coffee spoon of sugar and some water the same amount of vinegar. And one or two drops of dishwashing liquid.

You'll see if there are not too many, this is a irresistible blend for fruit flies.

+1 this method of vinegar and a few drops of dish soap work's very well I've found in the past, you beat me to posting it!

 

[piroxi]

Thanks for your support angelofdeathzz

First try and then make a comment happy 1892.

 

[Bug Trader]

Escaped FF are harmless for the most part, cant tell you how many Ive propably eaen or drank down as they always seem to end up in my food and beverage. We for the most part have been making 50+ cltures every ten days for a decade to feed our collection and we've found theres nothing better than keeping a small shopvac by the table for when your seeding cultures or feeding. It could be much worse though, your kids could "accidentally" dump a tub or a thousand crix or roaches out on the floor. That kind of fun lasts much longer than a couple days of dealing with escaped FF. Its just the cost of having such a great hobby...

 

[maybon]

Escaped FF are harmless for the most part, cant tell you how many Ive propably eaen or drank down as they always seem to end up in my food and beverage. We for the most part have been making 50+ cltures every ten days for a decade to feed our collection and we've found theres nothing better than keeping a small shopvac by the table for when your seeding cultures or feeding. It could be much worse though, your kids could "accidentally" dump a tub or a thousand crix or roaches out on the floor. That kind of fun lasts much longer than a couple days of dealing with escaped FF. Its just the cost of having such a great hobby...

Yeah I did that the other day with crickets... Luckily there was only like 100-200 in the tub as I recently set it up. Caught most of them but every now and then I see one hopping across my room.

 

[jimpaunik]

Not sure if this is the right place to be posting this, apologies if it is.

I was taking the lid off my flightless fruit fly culture earlier when I was trying to feed several of my small mantis nymphs. Unfortunately, I accidently ripped off the whole lid and at least 100 fruit flies came swarming out.

Haha!

sorry man but that image i got in my head was..funny