ridiculously annoying flies

cassiepengo

cassiepengo

New member
Nov 12, 2013
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india
Parrots
my darling lovebird
as funny as it sounds, i need help with these flies around my budgie's cage:eek:. i make sure to clean his cage, remove old fruits and stuff, but somehow all the fruit flies seem to find their way to him. its so pathetic!! sometimes bamboo comes out of his cage, and when he goes back in, theres dozens of fruit flies sitting on the perch. he dusnt even know whats happening, and he sits on the floor waiting for them to go away, and staring at them:p but im sort of worried because i see bamboo sometimes snapping at them. i hope he hasnt eaten any!! but they are not dangerous right?? they also sit around his food, so im wondering if they are spoiling the food?? excuse me, i know nothing about fruit flies:rolleyes: ive tried everything possible, but they keep coming back. help, please!! bamboo is getting really tired of them;):greenyellow:
 
They are probably vinegar flies rather than fruit flies. You can make traps for them. Do you clean his cage with vinegar? If so, that could be attracting them, you might want to give everything a good rinse off with water.
 
what I did, was take my birds dish, placed it on the table near the cage.... waited for them to crawl on it, and there were around 20 of them annoying little creatures.

then I threw a dish towel over the dish, trapping them,(you have to be very quick) wrapped the towel around the dish so they couldn't escape.... took it outside and removed the towel....bye bye fruit flies!
 
I hate these things with a passion. I had an influx in the late summer and just couldn't get rid of them. I'd trap a load, think I'd got it under control, then a couple of days later there'd be a new one, then two or three, then we'd be back where we started. I read somewhere that a single fly is capable of reproducing 50 times over 48 hours, so it only takes one survivor to start the whole thing over again.

Fortunately, winter frost has set in round these parts, and even with the central heating on it appears to be too much for the flies.
 
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whoa, sounds scary!! well i dont really wash his cage with vinegar. i dont think removing the foods gonna help. they just keep cumin back. they dont just like the food. most of them sit on the bars, or on his toys. gawd!! they're annoying
 
As said give his cage a good rinse with water, and try to see if anything else in your room may be attracting them as well.

Here's some awesome advice from another website of how to capture them easily at home ;)
Cheap, easy remedy - vinegar and dish soap
Get out a small cupcake sized bowl and put about 3-4 drops of dishwashing liquid in it. Add about 3/4 inch of apple cider vinegar (works best) or some other vinegar. Stir it just enough to get the dishwashing soap to dissolve.

The soap breaks the surface tension of the liquid and the vinegar attracts the fruit flies. Without the soap some bugs can land on the liquid and then fly off again, with it, they get sucked in. Let it sit for a couple of days, and you will find a lot of dead bug bodies in the bottom of the bowl. Just dump it down the drain and wash it out. Also, of course, make sure that there's no leftover fruit garbage in your garbage disposal, etc., to attract them back.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Someone else added the paper, and a larger jar, that helps to keep the flies from escaping once they reach their doom.
a44bc2d48bacb5f759efcc87eb1aab76.jpg
 
We have been bombarded with these pesky flies for several weeks. We made the above trap, but it didn't work at all. Very frustrated, because they are attracted to my fids' veggies.
 
I think that these traps would be helpful - and it's my experience that flies and other bugs are particularly attracted to the color yellow:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Whitmire-Sticky-White-Fly-Traps/dp/B0002L2IXY"]Amazon.com: Sticky White Fly Traps 5/pk: Patio, Lawn & Garden[/ame]

Here are some others, particularly insects that are attracted to fruit and vegies:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/TERRO-Fruit-Fly-Trap-T2500/dp/B002EJLLEE/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1386493498&sr=1-1&keywords=fruit+fly+trap"]Amazon.com: TERRO Fruit Fly Trap T2500: Patio, Lawn & Garden[/ame]


 
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thanks!! i'll try out everything soon. but today i think bamboo ate a fly, he had something black on his beak. i tried checking but he just it up. i hope they're not poisonous!!
 
Is it possible that you are breeding them and you don't know it? I had so many, couldn't figure out where they came from. When I cleaned one of my cupboard I found and old bad of potatoes. Upon careful examination, I looked and low and behold their they were, worms and flies. Got rid of the bag and the pesky fruit flies. So check and see, you may not even realize it. I also have one of those battery operated, racket looking, electric fly swatter. If one flies in to it, it goes pop... dead! lol
 
:eek:Yikes, that fly cartching contraption makes for one gross photo, eh?
I don't have a problem with flies so much as dang Gnats! Grrr, they can't wait for me to put Percy's freshies out and they're there. I can't even leave a veg kabob for him to nibble on throughout the day, which he loves to do.

I tried the dish soap vinegar mix but I didn't catch a single gnat :( It could be that my formula was wrong though...going to try again :)

Any other tips? And where do you put the bug catching contraptions to avoid the feathered detectives from discovering them? My Percy is so brave these days, he digs and scratches everywhere LOL!
 
SoCalWendy said:
Is it possible that you are breeding them and you don't know it?
Click to expand...
There'll definitely be something attracting them, but when you've got birds, it's hard to know whether there's something other than their food. Do have a good look about, a hunk of fruit or something might have dropped down the back of his cage. I've just had a bunch of vinegar flies in my kitchen and discovered the guts of a capsicum in my compost scraps bin that I'd forgotten to empty.

With the traps you can use a jar with a screw-top lid and poke holes in the top with a large nail. It shouldn't be too attractive to bamboo and if you make sure the lid is on tightly only the little flies will get access to the contents.
 
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thanks!! poor flies lol!! i might be breeding them in my kitchen. im sure. there are always milllllllions and billions of fruit flies all over the kitchen. they dont really bother us, so we dint try to get rid of them. but if bamboo starts eating them, its war!! i still dont get how they found their way to my room, though. its quite a long way from the kitchen. full of twists and turns.... smart flies!!
 
They'd just be coming from the kitchen to Bamboo's food. That's what would be attracting them.
 
Cassiepengo, I feel your frustration. It's difficult to lure these pests into traps when there's always fresh food out for your fids.
 
Gizmomania said:
Cassiepengo, I feel your frustration. It's difficult to lure these pests into traps when there's always fresh food out for your fids.
Click to expand...

We have to find a way to make the traps more attractive than the fresh food. Mmmm....off to go google some things ;)
 
I was reminded by my little compost bin that they drop grubs in the rubbish. Check under your bins and lids, there could be young'uns in there.
 
I did some googling and learned something - we should use ONLY apple cider or balsamic vinegar. The normal white stuff won't work. Who knew? Maybe that's why I've not had any luck.

I also found a suggestion of placing a narrow necked bottle with a little bit of beer or red wine in it, near the cage. That supposedly also traps the little suckers.
 
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