Fruit flies usually infest homes with ripe, rotting, or spoiled fruit and reproduce. They also fancy fermented items such as beer, liquor, and wine. Fruit flies also may breed and grow in drains, garbage disposals, trash cans, and mop buckets. Once they begin reproducing indoors, females can lay about 500 eggs and the eggs will hatch in as little as 24-30 hours after being stored by the female.
Characteristics
- Size: They are usually are 3 to 4 mm long.
- Eyes: May have red eyes, though some are dark-eyed.
- Body: The abdomen is black on top, gray below.
- Color: Fruit flies can appear to be brown or tan in color.
What causes them?
Knowing what causes fruit flies is the key to eradicating them. Not many people would normally care where fruit flies came from unless they had them in their homes and were trying to get rid of them. In a nutshell, anything that is fermenting will attract these tiny flies. This covers fruits, vegetables, anything moist like mops and filthy rags, and of course alcohol. These are perceived as breeding places for fruit flies. They can smell something fermenting from very far away.
If you have anything like this in your home, they will be drawn in. Fruit flies originally do come from outside, but will immediately make a new home for themselves in your home if you’re not cautious, particularly if there is a change in temperature and it begins to get colder outside. Once they find an ideal spot, the can lay up to 500 eggs, in which those eggs, in a few hours, transition into adult fruit flies. The fruit fly only has a 10-day life span, so they grow remarkably quickly from the egg to the larva, and then eventually the adult fly.
This is why you one day had only a few flies around, and then the next day, there are thousands! Multiply this plot by 500 and you can clearly see how an infestation can occur. It can happen very fast, so the quicker you can eliminate them the better. Once you know what causes these pests, and where they breed, you can start concentrating on those areas when you begin your eliminating process. Getting rid of their breading spots will help reduce their ability to reproduce, and make it simpler for you to rid them from your home.
