argh! Tiny little black flies!!!

FranknFurter

Tiny things, but a hoard seems to have gotten into the house!
Literally seeing one every few mins, killing about 6 an hour.
Are we the only ones to be plagued like this at the moment?

b

Rollo Tamasi

wash yourself?

*Angel*

Only walked into them outside... makes me glad now.

zuma

Im not sure about tiny black flies....but Im currently being pestered by winged vermin myself in my bedroom.....not sure what they are though....but they might be similar to what are attacjhing you!

The Hill Billy

The Gardening/DIY folks may be able to help.

delly

THe last month or so has seen a lot of different mass infestations, maybe its the time of year or something. There could be a dead rat or bird stuck somewhere that may be the cause. Knew someone who had a dead bird stuck in there chimney and came down early one morning to find the living room covered in blue bottles.

The Hill Billy

Have you gotten any new house plants or re-potted existing ones recently?
I re-potted a chilli plant last year put it on the kitchen window sill.
Within a few days there were loads of the little black beggars everywhere.
Turns out they were in the potting compost & when it was watered & put in a warm place they hatched.

ScottishDanny

They might be fruit flies, check your fruit and veg stores and make sure nothing has gone off. When I was a student we had an outbreak of them when someone had forgotten about a bag of spuds in the back of the kitchen cupboard. They're harmless but annoying

Gandhi

Sounds like fruit flies. Some solutions are listed here:

http://www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2003-07-11/curiousEye/body.html

I've used number 2 and it worked great. Amazing how many of them you catch. Check for any rotting potato peels or scraps that could be lying behind the fridge or somewhere, or they will just repopulate within a few days.

Debracd

Definitely sounds like fruitflies! We had them last year because a potato fell in behind the veg rack in the press and rotted:o I went on a cleaning spree one day and discovered them in the press. Fowl little things they are, and they seem so slow but they're fast enough to evade the Raid!! A good clean out got rid of them anyway!

Best of luck

Deb

FranknFurter

Definitely sounds like its fruitflies then.
I guess tonight we go a-huntin for somthing hiding somwhere rotting, funny thing is I dont see more in one particular place, but hell, worth doing along with a good hepa-hooverin!

When we had cats we almost never had huge insect problems, nothing better for killing anything moving than a nice playfull kitty!

b

Lex Luthor

delly wrote:

THe last month or so has seen a lot of different mass infestations, maybe its the time of year or something. There could be a dead rat or bird stuck somewhere that may be the cause. Knew someone who had a dead bird stuck in there chimney and came down early one morning to find the living room covered in blue bottles.

PHUCK...worst nightmare:eek:

r3nu4l

I had a similar problem once and discovered that they were indeed hatching from my potted plants.

I simply took the plants outside, got rid of the flies inside then repotted the plants.

Do you have a small bin for compost materials containing fruit and veg peelings? They could be in here too. Either leave the bin outside at all times or simply empty the bin more frequently.

Another thing might be to clean any of the presses you store fruit and veg in.

Hope it helps.

AdrianR

Delly wrote:

Knew someone who had a dead bird stuck in there chimney and came down early one morning to find the living room covered in blue bottles.

Do I know you:rolleyes:


FranknFurter, Also make sure there isn't any stagnant water lying around outside near the house, this will attract midges which will breed there. Could be Fruit flies as said though.

delly

AdrianR wrote:

Delly wrote:
Do I know you:rolleyes:

Since I don't know anybody in Leitrim, I doubt it

Debracd

Hmmm Do I know ya?? I was told a similar story only just the other day! Strangely enough by someone with a Del in their name:eek:

Though it could all be a huge coinsidence

Deb

delly

Debracd wrote:

Hmmm Do I know ya?? I was told a similar story only just the other day! Strangely enough by someone with a Del in their name:eek:

Though it could all be a huge coinsidence

Deb

Yes, a coincidence, thats all it is, a big coincidence....#muwahha, hahhahaha# (evil demonic laughter)

Debracd

Hmmm some further stalking is required:cool:

AdrianR

Since I don't know anybody in Leitrim, I doubt it

Hmmm Do I know ya?? I was told a similar story only just the other day! Strangely enough by someone with a Del in their name

It must be a common problem, happened us twice, the landlord didn't put a grill on the chimney after the first time.

Tigerlily 123

FranknFurter wrote:

Tiny things, but a hoard seems to have gotten into the house!
Literally seeing one every few mins, killing about 6 an hour.
Are we the only ones to be plagued like this at the moment?

b

I think these tiny minute little black flies are thunderflies or thrips do you live near fields or crops they are harmless but get everywhere, to stop them coming in to your home you have to shut all doors and windows, i am at work and have hundreds of them all over the office.

FranknFurter

Nah, we found out what it was tho, potato's believe it or not.
More accurately, peelings that had only been in a kitchen bin for 48 hours! :eek:

Just throwing out the peels didnt fix it though, they were already flying about, we had to hoover every inch of the house (literally) with the vacuum, since then we have seen about 4

b