Super cheap fly trap

[drotski]

A while back I found this on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=371245138933&globalID=EBAY-US

$3.69 with free shipping...shipping takes a while.

You can use any bait you want, I used a little honey, water, and vinegar. I covered the bait dish with mesh to keep the flies out of the bait. The top is perfect to attach to dmina's feeder bottle, or you can tie it around the mouth of any container (unlike the picture, you actually bunch up the mesh and tie a string around it. I am getting plenty of houseflies, blue and green bottle flies, and even moths. The mesh is too coarse to trap fruit flies.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

You can also achieve the same thing with a common soda bottle. Cut the top off and invert it, then cut some rectangles out of the bottom of the cone for the flies to crawl under. Only problem is that it's difficult to remove the flies from the trap. The best way is to put it in the refrigerator for a while, however that may not be optimal depending on how nasty your bait is and how much of it got on the trap.

Although that trap looks much nicer and probably works better.

 

[drotski]

I tried the soda bottle thing, but I didn't like baiting it, and wasn't as easy to harvest as this net trap. I was also getting many more flies in the net trap, though the bait was different. I used meat in the bottle trap (cooked pork chop bit, hot dog chunks, and sandwich chicken).

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

What bait did you use in the net trap?

 

[drotski]

I mentioned it in the first post, water, vinegar, and honey.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Oh sorry

 

[drotski]

No problem

I'll post pics of how I attach the feeder bottle in a couple days when I use it again.

 

[CosbyArt]

A while back I found this on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=371245138933&globalID=EBAY-US

$3.69 with free shipping...shipping takes a while.

You can use any bait you want, I used a little honey, water, and vinegar. I covered the bait dish with mesh to keep the flies out of the bait. The top is perfect to attach to dmina's feeder bottle, or you can tie it around the mouth of any container (unlike the picture, you actually bunch up the mesh and tie a string around it. I am getting plenty of houseflies, blue and green bottle flies, and even moths. The mesh is too coarse to trap fruit flies.

Thanks for sharing!

Cheap way to get some traps, and another bait to try - sounds cheaper and better than spoiled meat or worse I've been using (but they sure love it, but can get expensive if I don't have nay to use).

Does sound similar to a moth recipe I read about, and a few moths would be a bonus. The recipe was a mixture of beer, pancake syrup, powered sugar, honey, and I think vinegar. It is left in a bottle in the sun to age then simply poured onto trees to attract moths, done right before sunset. I've tried it a few times and only seemed to attract ants and bb flies.

 

[Lantosea]

Drotski it would be great to see those pictures of how you set yours up!

 

[Rick]

Cool idea if it works.