It is common for fruit fly infestations to occur during this time of year. In fact, fall is the time of year that fruit fly populations reach their peak! With all the crops that are still being grown this time of year, there are still plenty of areas for these flies to feed and breed, allowing them to thrive during this season. Fruit flies are especially attracted to ripe or fermenting fruits and vegetables so if you have a garden, fruit trees, vines, or berry bushes on your property, these tiny pests will take notice. Fruit flies can also thrive inside our homes as well. They'll also notice if you bring ripened fruits and vegetables into your Rock Island, IL home, especially if you put them out on display like in fruit bowls, and may invade to gain access to them.
Some of the many foods that attract fruit flies include grapes, bananas, tomatoes, melons, potatoes, and onions. Whether you pick these foods from your garden or bring them home from the grocery store, they can attract fruit flies to your home and provide them with a location to breed.
If you're not aware, having just a couple of fruit flies in your home can quickly develop into a much more serious infestation. This isn't because fruit flies reproduce quickly, however. It actually has more to do with how many eggs they lay. A single egg can develop into an adult fruit fly in about one to two weeks which is pretty fast but it isn't fast enough to explain why you saw one fly yesterday, six flies today, or why you'll find twenty fruit flies flying around your home by the end of the week. The reason why fruit flies populations grow so quickly is that a single female fruit fly can lay as many as 500 eggs during its lifespan. The flies produced by those eggs must then go through the process of developing into adult fruit flies. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae will come out and throughout the week, these larvae will burrow through decaying organic material and molt. After a few days, they will then move to a dry surface and become pupae. A few days after this, the pupae will become adults and take to the air. This process range from slow to fast, which means you can stop these swarms from developing in your home can if you find and eliminate their breeding spots.
Oftentimes, spotting a fruit fly breeding site can be quite easy. It might be the trash bag that was left on the porch too long, a piece of fruit that got dropped into a bathroom trash bag instead of the kitchen trash can, or even an overripe potato in the pantry or ripening grapes in a bowl on the kitchen table. It is important to find every source of fermenting organic matter and dispose of in outdoor trash bins with tight-fitting lids in order to rid these pests from your home.
However, locating fruit fly breeding sites can sometimes be quite difficult. If you need assistance finding breeding sites in your home or help to eliminate the fruit fly infestation in your home, contact us at Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators in Illinois for a free home pest inspection. We'll help you eliminate those flies both quickly and effectively! Give us a call to learn more about our residential pest control options in Rock Island and the Quad-Cities.