About Flies

Houston, we have a (fly) problem.

I don't know why I'm telling Houston, because the problem is HERE in my apartment, in Austin. 

The worst of it was last week. Anytime I entered the bathroom or kitchen there were 2-3 flies. I poured boiling water-vinegar down all the drains, I cleaned everything, and now all of the fruit is the fridge, nothing that isn't sealed remains on the counter. 

Bugs stress me out. Initially I went into ogress mode and told James he could never put a plate in the sink without rinsing it again (ever!), but then he pointed out that our upstairs neighbors just moved out.

A word about our former upstairs neighbors: Based on what we could hear, they were essentially nocturnal and did not have jobs. Around the time we'd be going to bed, they would start making scraping noises as if they were moving all their furniture, and they did this on a regular basis. Sometimes when I woke up at 7 or 8, I could hear them still playing music or fighting. 

They must've moved out in a hurry, because last week I saw the maintenance workers hauling bags and bags of trash out of their unit. No joke, one thing that was removed was half of a Taco Bell sign, and no I was not surprised by that AT ALL. One of the workers was nice and offered me their dining room chairs, which are sturdier and more comfortable than our IKEA ones. 

So my new and improved hypothesis is once our dirty nocturnal neighbors moved out, the flies had to travel down the pipes for more fertile turf. 

Besides the boiling vinegar-water drain thing, the Internet told me to fill a cup with apple cider vinegar and dish soap. The flies are attracted to the smell and then they land on the soapy liquid and can't fly away. We caught four this way.

Looking to speed things up, we went to HEB and bought RAID fly ribbon. Do not buy this product. 

I'm so annoyed, I wanted to tweet this at the RAID company, but apparently they're not into social media. The only reason to buy RAID fly ribbon is if your space is so filled with flies they can't help but run into the tape. It's essentially glorified packaging tape in a fancy RAID container. Ugh.

The tape has been up in the bathroom and kitchen for almost a full day now and hasn't caught anything. So I refilled a cup with vinegar and soap plus half a banana and I've already caught at least one more fly that way. 

Also - that thing about catching more flies with honey than vinegar? Total bullshit. I caught zero flies with honey. Honey is about as useful as RAID fly ribbon. 

I have a friend who has lived in this complex for 5 years and at one point had a neighbor who was so dirty they bug-bombed her building 4-5 times and still couldn't get rid of the cockroaches until management kicked the people out, so I suppose I should count my blessing that all I have is a few flies. 

Friends and family, I welcome your pest tips.