Do You Want To Know How To Make A (DIY) Homemade Fly Trap By Yourself?
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The summer and beginning of fall brings a lot of great things like fresh garden food, pool parties, and all those awesome BBQs. It also brings flies. I don’t think there is anything in this world more annoying than flies. Here in Idaho we have had weeks of HOT weather, which is perfect for these little guys to keep multiplying!
I have purchased hanging fly traps in the past and they do work. However, I was having to buy them almost twice a week. So I started researching ways to make my own homemade fly trap with items I already had around the house. This saves money and keeps me from having to make another trip to the store.
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DIY homemade fly traps
While the most effective way to get rid of flies is enlisting the help of pest control professionals, there are DIY methods designed to get rid of flies. Homemade fly traps are simple, cost-effective ways to combat flies, although their effectiveness varies. Here are some traps you can make with common household items.
Soda bottle traps
- Clean an empty, plastic two-liter soda bottle.
- Carefully cut the top third of the bottle by cutting near where the top of the label used to be.
- Pour a sweet liquid, like sugar water, in the larger, bottom third of the bottle.
- Turn the top third of the bottle upside-down, making a cone shape, and place it in the opening of the larger part of the bottle.
- Flies will find their way into the bottle but will be unable to get out.
Vinegar and dish soap fly trap
- Use a shallow dish bowl and fill it with an inch of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar.
- Next, add some fruit-scented dish soap.
- You can leave the dish uncovered or tightly covered with plastic wrap. Make sure to poke a few holes in it to attract the flies.
How to get rid of flies outside
If you’re looking to remove flies outdoors, these garden plants do wonders when it comes to repelling flies.
- Basil: It doesn’t require much work to maintain and can survive in any climate.
- Bay Leaf: Grows great during the warmer months and can be brought indoors.
- Lavender: Hang lavender in bundles around your home or yard or simply let it grow in your yard.
- Nasturtiums: This flower keeps more than just flies away such as, aphids, most beetles and squash bugs. It also promotes the growth of other plants, which is why many gardeners plant nasturtiums along the edges of gardens.
- Mint: Grow mint near windows or other openings in your home to keep away flies, mice and ants.
How to repel flies naturally
There are environmentally-friendly solutions to keeping flies away.
- Fill a glass jar with apple cider vinegar and place a paper funnel in the jar. The scent will attract flies and the paper funnel will prevent them from flying out.
- Place 20-25 cloves in lemon halves.
- Put several drops of Eucalyptus oil on ribbon or cloth strips and hang them near doors or windows.
How Ehrlich gets rid of flies
Homemade traps are a simple solution to repelling flies. But, if flies start to become a constant nuisance, it’s best to call a pest control professional that can perform integrated pest management services to eradicate the fly infestation. Our fly experts can properly identify the type of fly, therefore guiding them to fly breeding sites and areas of fly activity. Just because you’re seeing adult flies does not mean you have found the breeding site. It is essential to locate the breeding site to fully eliminate the infestation.
Your Ehrlich specialist will inspect likely breeding sites such as drains, broken tile, and other areas that collect moisture. Once the survey of your premises is complete and the breeding site has been identified, your Ehrlich expert will recommend a fly control treatment program specially for your needs. Depending on the type of fly that is infesting your property, treatment may include one, or a combination, of the following:
- Housekeeping and hygiene recommendations
- Baits
- Dusting powders
- Sprays
- Fogs
- Aerosol mists
- Electronic Fly Killers
Used in conjunction with Exclusion, Restriction and Monitoring practices listed at the top of this page, you will have effective, long-term protection from flies. Don’t take a chance on DIY fly control solutions. These will only prolong your fly problem and add to your stress. Contact us to have a pest specialist come out to your property, bringing your peace of mind and a fly-free environment.
Fly Traps
This is the basic DIY fly trap you see all over Pinterest. The general design seems pretty good. In this container I used store bought fly bait. The container is a 1 litre pop bottle that’s had the top cut off and inserted upside down. The flies can get into the bottle, but can’t figure out how to get out. Then they drown.
Fly bait is the most important part of your fly traps. If you can’t find something more attractive than either your steak or chicken poop then you’ll have no luck catching flies.
The store bought fly bait cost $10 for enough to fill only this one bottle. But it was store bought fly bait. Bait made specifically for flies which they were charging money for. So I was pretty sure it was money well spent.
As you can see the container contains no flies. I could have filled it with hair and I would have had better luck. That would be a big old FAIL on the store bought fly bait for your home fly trap.
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THIS is the DIY fly trap #2.
A mason jar, a paper cone and the secret fly bait ingredient … a raw shrimp allowed to rot in the sun for days until it has the putrid smell of liquid internal organs. Or of course, the smell of raw shrimp allowed to rot in the sun. Pest control isn’t pretty and doesn’t smell pretty.
For this trap just add water until the jar is around 1/3rd full making sure the shrimp is covered with water and place a cone made out of plastic or construction paper (plastic is obviously better for outdoor use) into the jar. The bottom of the cone needs to have a small opening where the flies can get into the jar, but won’t be able to make their way out.
The third DIY fly trap was the fly strip.
The fly strip cost a couple of dollars and dangled sadly from my window frame enticing no flies at all, just hanging there like a limp tongue.
I wanted to make sure I gave all the fly traps a good shot so I kept them all out for a week. This is how things had progressed after 4 days.
Fly Trap Results
Gross photos follow:👌
After 4 days it was pretty clear that the rotting shrimp was the only way to go in terms of bait. I experimented with different baits including fermented chicken feed, raw sweet corn and actual chicken poop. The rotting shrimp was the winner by a shrimpboat load.
The only issue with the enticing smell of rotting shrimp was the vile smell of rotting shrimp. If you place your container up high enough (above nose level) you miss most of the stench but given any kind of downward breeze you suddenly feel like you’re walking through a rotting whale carcass. By day 7 I was pretty sure I would have to try something else because I couldn’t stand the stench of the shrimp no matter how well it worked. Then a funny thing happened. By days 8 and 9 the trap was so filled with flies they actually suffocated the smell of the shrimp. Yet somehow the stink was enough to continue to attract the flies.
Home Fly Trap on Day 14
After 14 days I couldn’t smell the shrimp at all and the jar was almost full.
After 20 days it stunk again. Stunk like the guts of a hot monkey. But the stink could have been the mass grave of flies as well.
To save myself some grief and whatever happens to be in my stomach, when it comes time to remove the jar I just tie a plastic bag around my head, put a lid on the jar and throw the whole thing in the garbage.
Just kidding. I don’t tie a bag on my head. I’m an excellent breath holder on account of my cat’s horrific gut issues when she – coincidentally – eats seafood.
The best practice for placement of fly traps is to actually put them AWAY from the area the flies are in to lure them away from the deliciousness of the chicken shit. The point is to draw the flies way from the coop, not keep them in it.
What is the best home remedy to get rid of flies?
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The best way to get rid of flies around your house is to use TWO methods.
- Parasitic wasps (really just tiny little flying things that are in no way as menacing as their name alludes to) will kill most flies before they even become flies. The wasps kill them in the larvae stage.
AND
- A DIY fly trap like this (or you can buy a similar sort of trap)
How Do I Get Rid of Flies In My House?
Well, I’ll tell you … a bottled filled with stinking, rotting seafood probably isn’t the best way. But if you fill a bottle with some non stinking fly bait like the liquid recipe below, it won’t be quite as offensive. This recipe won’t work nearly as well as rotting flesh but it will work to catch some flies.
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 2 Tbsps sugar
- 1 Tbsp dish soap (the dish soap breaks the surface tension of the water and vinegar, making the flies unable to use it as a launching pad when they fall in it)
Use the same method for the DIY fly trap made out of a glass bottle above, but use a smaller water bottle.
If you have a great fly bait recipe, leave it in the comments below. Obviously, I’d love to hear about the maggot stories.
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