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View Full Version : red wigglers and fruit flies



daninthesand
09-29-2003, 09:18 PM
Hi Gang.

I thought you might find this kinda cool. I did.....

I have several bins of red wiggler worms that I use to feed my fishes. Unfortunately one drawback is the tendency for the bins to attract fruit flies. The fruit flies like to breed on the fruit and vegies i put in the bins for the worms. My wife puts up with the fish and even the worms, but not the fruit flies! I don't blame her. :( They ARE a nuicance.

So i searched the net and found a solution for catching the darn little buggers. It works like a charm, and the fruit fly population has been cut waaayyyyy down in a matter of days. I thought you might find it usefull too.

Very simple. Get an empty 2 litre pop bottle. Drill a small 1/8" or less hole in the lid. Cut the top off the bottle at about where the bottle's wall becomes straight. IE just past where it curves. Put some fruit and a little wine in the bottom of the bottle. Flip the top you cut off and place it with the lid down. Put a piece of tape around the top where the two cut surfaces meet to secure the contraption together.

Thats it. Done. Just put the thing near your worm bins and watch the flies get caught. They find their way through the small hole in the lid , but can't figure out how to exit.

The design is such that they check in but the never check out! Hahahahah! I like to crush the flies up near the top where the two pieces meet to make sure they don't find their way out. :P Here's a bad pic of what I mean.

Daniel

Paulio
09-30-2003, 01:26 AM
Great idea! I resolved to just not feed them fruits etc any more and have been feeding only corn meal, flake food (fish food LOL) and coffee grounds.

Paul

daninthesand
09-30-2003, 01:39 AM
I stopped feeding coffee grounds to my worms. My discus were getting to the point they were just USELESS in the morning until they had their morning cup of java worms. ::)

Ardan
09-30-2003, 06:21 AM
8)
Nice trap!

Jason
10-04-2003, 10:30 AM
nice, my sister uses something like that under the porch light to catch bugs for her frogs.

daninthesand
10-04-2003, 03:29 PM
I am happy to report that it appears the fruit fly population has been reduced to zero. We'll see how long that lasts, but there's always time and budget to build another trap.

I've found that taking the trap and placing it in the freezer for a few minutes kills any flies that are in it. I feel better actually killing the flies, rather than letting them breed in the trap and maybe putting their heads together and figuring out how to get the lid off!
Daniel

10-14-2003, 12:08 AM
Just let them breed in there. You have an everlasting food supply for you baby fish in the bottle. Just freeze them before feeding the fry to your FRY. They love it, soft and very easy to digest. It's a very popular food for the poisonous frog keeper.
Jimmy

10-17-2003, 08:33 AM
My wife trying to put vegetable to feed the red wrigglers and accidentally open the wrong box which I culture fruit fries for my frogs. All were escaped when she opened the lid a few days ago. There are fries all over the house. One even woke me up at 3am in the morning singing in my eye. This morning I found an empty Gatorade bottle with the lid open loaded with fruit fries inside. I closed the lid and found my daughter had taken off the one way valve for faster delivery of the fluid. I'm going to get a few more bottles and just punch the valve out to trap those free frying fruit fries.
Jimmy.

Mr. Limpet
10-17-2003, 10:56 AM
Very good idea, and the price is perfect for the DIY crowd. I have had some serious infestations where you turn your head when you open the bin to avoid the swarm. This should do the trick just fine. Paul.