fruit flies

[Barbie]

We keep a very clean house and I am wondering if it is just the time of year or what? I am going crazy with fruit flies. The Macaws need the fruits and veggies everyday so we can't stop giving the food but does anyone have any secrets for getting rid of these pests. I know if they are driving me crazy they are definitely driving the birds nuts. We clean the cages everyday. I have tried the cider vinegar in a bowl, fruit in an inverted soda bottle....etc any other suggestions that work helpp!!!!!!!!! i am going mad.....

[Monica]

You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar!

As far as fruit flies, after you remove all your birds friuts from their cages, put it in a plastic bag and save it till right before you go to bed. Before you go to bed, open up the bag (preferably zip lock), and put it nearest where the fruit flies hang out. In the morning, check on the bag, close it up, and toss it. You may need to repeat this process every night for a couple of weeks before getting rid of the majority of the problem.

Or you can even try the inverted soda bottle (top cut off, then turned upside down into the bottle itself) with about an 1/2-1 inch of red wine in the bottom. This can be left somewhere up high or an area that they frequent.

[kathleen]

I had the same exact problem. I bought bananas and left them on the table. Boy was I sorry. What I did was put fruit juice in the bottle but I did it for a few days. I would let the flies collect and then shook them up and sent them down the sink. Make sure all fruit and veggies are in the fridge. Pumpkin, at the time, was still small so I made him pureed veggies and fed it through his syringe along with his formula and I left him his pellets. Clean up all your surfaces. Each day wipe them down. Try rinsing the veggies that you feed to your birds and try not letting the veggies sit for longer than they have to.

Be patient. Be vigilant. You will get rid of them but it will take a couple of days because as you get rid of the adults, whatever eggs they left, if you didn't get them when you wiped down, will hatch but as all the adults get caught in the bottle, they will eventually disappear.

Good luck.

[Joel]

Catch & release. .....





[QUOTE=Barbie]".......etc any other suggestions that work helpp!!!!!!!!!QUOTE]

[FeathersNFur8]

Catch & release. .....

Don't laugh, that's exactly what I do. I make a funnel out of paper, and put it into a glass that has a piece of fruit in the bottom, then I tape the edges of the paper to the glass. As I catch a few, I take them outside and let them go. I know, I'm nuts