For the first 50 years of my life, my perfectionist self mistakenly believed it was all about knowing more, getting it right, planning, attempting to prevent bad things from happening, and keeping all of my chicks in a row. It took me this long to discover that the JOURNEY is all that matters. This quote from Gilda Radner sums it all up:

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
"


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Spontaneous Reproduction

Spontaneous reproduction is when out of no where, something is reproduced.

I'm not a scientist - there may be cases where this may happen.

If I had to make an educated guess, I would have to say it happens in fruit flies.

If you're one of the lucky ones, you've never had an infestation of fruit flies.

If you live in a house with children or teens,
I can almost guarantee you have dealt with
too many of these little pests at some point.

They just don't seem to understand that you
can't leave rotting food around the house!

Fruit flies are not easy to get rid of.
When you see one and try to kill it,
inevitably it blends into the surroundings
and is lost to sight.



I did a little research on fruit flies recently.



Did you know that a single female can store sperm and use it for MANY reproductions?


Did you know that a single female fruit fly can lay from 500 to 1000 eggs in her lifetime of about 30 days?  They lay eggs on the surface of moist, organic material, preferably but not limited to rotting fruits and vegetables.

The period from egg to adult fruit fly varies depending on the temperature.  It is about 8 days - shorter in warmer temps and longer in cooler temps.


 How do you get rid of these little creatures?

You will NEVER succeed by just killing them by hand.

You have to set a trap - which is easy to do because the word is they have a very small brain.

There are many home-made traps you can try. 
They are made by putting an attractive liquid in a cup (apple cider vinegar, wine, etc) and covering it with plastic wrap with holes poked into the top. The fruit flies can get in, but can't figure out how to get out.

I usually get these commercial fruit fly traps at our local Agway.  They work great!


More tips:

Empty your garbage often.
Run your garbage disposal often.
Pour a diluted bleach solution down your drains.

OR

Get rid of your kids.

Whichever is easier.




1 comment:

  1. Is it me, or are the fruit flies SO MUCH WORSE this fall? Ugh. I don't have rotting fruit, just sorta ripe stuff, and OMG--they are everywhere! I hate them! I like your method, tho. I'm going to try the vinegar trick!!
    Great photos..they gave me the creeps..lol

    ReplyDelete