omg, no more fruit flies for Fishy!

[sainthogan]

I just discovered where the fruit flies in my house were coming from. We had gotten rid of all the fruit and vegetables in our house, yet we still had hundreds of fruit flies and their numbers weren't dwindling, no matter how many we killed. My husband insisted that they were coming from the sink somehow, I didn't believe him, but I did research it and it said yes, some times fruit flies will breed in the sweet sludge that builds up in the pipes, especially pipes that are slow moving like the little half sinks in a double sink set up. So, I plugged the drain on the slow side for a few days. The fruit fly population seemed to drop radically, we weren't being swarmed anymore and it seemed like they were going away. Then yesterday, I opened the drain and swarms of them few out. I'm not talking one or two groups of fruit flies here, I'm literally talking hundreds, and hundreds of them! Now we're back to where we were this summer with a huge infestation of them. (That does explain why there were so many in the bathroom though)
Yuck!!!!! I know how much Fishy loves them, but there's no way I'm going to feed anymore to her now that I know where they're coming from. Yuck!!!! I just hope that she isn't going to get sick with some sort of internal thing.

[Kenny G]

Wow you might want to call in an exterminator plus maybe pour some Drano down the sink to kill the fruit flies. Just an idea. I would definitely plug that sink back up and avoid using it if you can.

[sainthogan]

I did plug it back up. I have a feeling they've infested the entire sewer system in the apartment complex where I live. My mom's been trying to figure out why she has so many and so have many other relatives who live in this same building. This could explain why so many of us have been sick off and on throughout the summer with similar things while no one else in town is getting sick as much. :(

[Kenny G]

Definitely time to call the Board of Health or Housing Preservation & Development and have this issue investigated. Your health is nothing to play with.

[sainthogan]

Originally Posted by Kenny G

Definitely time to call the Board of Health or Housing Preservation & Development and have this issue investigated. Your health is nothing to play with.

Yeah, only thing is it's my uncle who owns the apartment complex. I will talk to him first and see what he wants to do. He has had so many issues with the sewer this year. The water main broke, and in the process of them fixing it, they broke the sewer line broke and sewage seeped into our water line. We had to have our water ultra treated with massive amounts of chlorine and other stuff until it tested safe to drink. (That was before I got Fishy). Then he had the sewer start backing up (only to find out that someone had flushed clothes down the toilet in his store). So.... I'm hesitant to bring this up, he's out of town right now anyway, so I'll definitely wait until he comes back. In the meantime, my mom and I are going to pour bleach down our drains everyday in hopes that will do something.
The website where I found out that fruit flies can breed in pipes discouraged pouring insecticide down the drain because the sewer treatment plant is usually not equipped to treat the chemicals found in insecticide.

[Kenny G]

Wow yes you are between a rock and a hard space. Hopefully this issue can be resolved soon.

Best of luck!

[sainthogan]

Well, I just talked to my dad who works with the town, and he said there are fruit flies all over the place. Many people are complaining of fruit fly infestations, and are also complaining that they can't seem to get rid of them by getting rid of the fruit and vegetables in their houses. Hmmm.... this sounds like a town wide problem. He said that when he goes to work tomorrow, he's going to talk to the health people and see what they say.

[Kitty Whiskers]

Sounds like Drain Flies. They breed and lay eggs in the drains then they fly out around the home. My mom has those in her apartment as well. They look like little gnats or fruit flys. Here is something about them here in this link....

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/drainflies.htm

[lelei]

There is some holistic..natural remedy for those, I know spiders it's peppermint, and for ants it's cayanne pepper, I heard it was baking soda for flies..not sure..I need to check on that..so much better than chemicals.

[sainthogan]

Originally Posted by Kitty Whiskers

Sounds like Drain Flies. They breed and lay eggs in the drains then they fly out around the home. My mom has those in her apartment as well. They look like little gnats or fruit flys. Here is something about them here in this link....

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/drainflies.htm

I've caught enough of them to know they're not drain flies, at least not the ones I have. I did research that when I saw they were coming out of the drain. Drain flies are a lot fuzzier with darker bodies than fruit flies. The ones I have are pink/yellow in color, after looking at different pictures, they are definitely a form of fruit fly. We had a very warm winter and spring, and are now having a very warm fall, the town officials are saying that's the cause of the unusual fruit fly infestation. I'm not sure what they are planning on doing about it though.