Where Do Fruit Flies Come from & 3 Ways To Get Rid of Them

Fruit flies, biologically known as Drosophila melanogaster are pretty common in the United States. Belonging to the family drosophilidae, the abundance in nature make’s us wonder where do fruit flies come from?

Before getting into the details of fruit flies and where do fruit flies come from, let us learn about the substances that attract fruit flies. A common phenomenon noticed when studying the life of fruit fly is a state called infestation. It has a habit of embedding itself into edibles or organic matter for nutrition and shelter.

Apart from being a wildly present species, fruit flies are often considered as tiny nuisances. With the power of spontaneous generation, it makes it really difficult to get rid of fruit flies. Fruit flies are considered very unhygienic, therefore knowing where do fruit flies come from may help you in eliminating it.

If you have a habit of leaving eatables around, you’re maybe inviting trouble as well as fruit flies. The important thing to keep in mind is that the more rotten stuff is left out, the more will be the contamination.

Instead of having to deal with the pest problem using chemicals afterwards, it’s better to stop them from breeding. As they say prevention is better than cure, you should try to avoid the things that attract fruit flies. Learning about the life cycle of fruit flies will help you understand where do fruit flies come from.

Where Do fruit Flies Come From

Fruit fly also known as Drosophila melanogaster has a three-step life cycle. It takes 2 weeks time for fruit flies to complete the metamorphosis into an adult. The life span of a fruit fly is of several weeks.

Where Do Fruit Flies Come From Naturally

Stages Of Metamorphosis

An adult fly infests itself into a suitable fermenting fruits, cleaning rags, cider vinegar present commonly in our household or even into old sponges. After 48 hours of being born, a fruit fly becomes active and is ready to produce more small flies.

The three stages involved in the metamorphosis are egg, larva and pupa.

Fruit Fly Eggs

This stage in the reproduction of fruit flies lasts for about 8 days. The adult fruit flies lay their eggs in a fermenting fruit or other organic material. This process is done usually in the late summer season.

Larva Stage Of Fruit Flies

After the adult flies lay their eggs, the next state refers to the formation of larva. This stage also lasts about 8 days and takes place within the fruits and vegetables present inside trash cans.

Later the larva crawl to dried areas for the fruit fly infestations.

Pupa Stage Of A Fruit Fly

In the next phase, the outer layer formation takes place which is followed by hardening of the case. In the internal part of the pupa, the development of small flies starts.

Breaking Of Pupa

After the development of young fruit fly, the outer hard layer of pupa breaks into a small hole. This enables the young and immature fruit fly free into the open. At first the fruit fly appears to be lighter in color but with the progression of time, it turns dark.

This leads to the increase in the fruit fly populations. The fact that a young fruit fly can lay eggs in a small period of 2 days makes it very difficult to get rid of fruit flies.

Adult Fruit Flies

Adult fruit flies dwell on rotten materials and can survive anywhere from fermenting fruit to apple cider vinegar to empty bottles. Most common places where we find fruit flies are houses, in a grocery store, trash bags, recycling bins, vegetables or any kind of food.

Thinking about the fact that it has a life cycle of only 2 weeks, you might wonder if the fly problem will solve itself. The truth is the opposite, as more time passes a single fly leads to a number of them, and they keep on increasing. So, instead of leaving the problem to solve itself, take the matter in your own hands and do it yourself.

Fruit Fly Infestation

Fruit fly infestation refers to the incorporation of the fruit fly into a decaying fruit or a substance. Organic decaying or fermenting materials attracts fruit flies. Common fruit fly infests itself for laying eggs. Fruit flies may also infest themselves into overripe fruits, food waste, contaminate food, garbage disposals as well as in organic materials.

The purpose of fruit fly infestation is that it provides fruit flies a favorable environment to breed and suffice. Other than organic materials, fruit flies also dwell on fermented substances such as beer, wine and alcohol.

3 Ways Of Getting Rid Of Fruit Flies

The University of Kentucky college states that the best way to get rid of this pest problem is by eradicating the sources. Sources may vary anywhere from ripe fruits and vegetables to any form of rotten food. Pests and insects need to be eradicated from their source so that they don’t come back

Listening to all this talk about pests reproducing quickly, you might wonder how difficult it would be to get rid of them. Lucky for you, we have few steps that you can follow to restrict it.

For you to actually understand how important it is to get rid of pests like fruit flies, you firstly need to understand the harms that fruit flies cause.

Problems caused by fruit flies.

Pests like fruit flies are known for contamination of food materials. Apart from the direct harms, it can cause:

1. Salmonella
2. Food poisoning.
3. Contamination of water leading to water – borne diseases.

Learning about the problem’s that fruit flies can produce encourages us to stop them from contaminating our household.

Simple Steps To Get Rid Fruit Flies 

1. Dispose any fruit or vegetables not in use.
2. Cover or get rid of water collected in containers. Seal the containers with a rubber band.
3. Using pesticides to eradicate pests. Use chemical fly spray.

Fruit flies are a disease inducing species, so it’s in best to get rid of them before they harm our health. Following such steps you can easily get rid of these tiny nuisance from your homes. Given that the procedure could take some time, but it’s necessary to start as soon as you can. The longer you let them be, the longer it will take for you to get rid of them.