I hate to bring this up, but is it possible that the worms are parasites from an animal?

Also, does anyone know if fruit flies hurt intact fruit or vegetables? If fruit flys have been on something do you have to throw it all away, or just wash it off?

On another note, borax or Boraxo kills fleas. If you sprinkle it on your rug (with a small shaker of 20 Mule Team Borax), they will all die. You have to keep it up though and eventually would have to clean the rug. I put it on my couch and it's never been the same. Killed the fleas though.

I have tried everything. Then I started getting mad, so everything was personal. I sent the wife and kids away for a day and started experimenting. On the third hour,I discovered something,something that may be working,this may be the solution I thought. Could it be a can of hairspray works. I continued to spray the baseboards,corners and every other aspect of our lives these little pests had infiltrated.I can say that this truly has been a blessing to us. The numbers we had, as to the couple we have now, is remarkable. By the way, I use Suave EXTRA HOLD SHAPING SPRAY. Hope it helps you all, it sure helped in my situation. GOOD LUCK !!!!!!!

Well, I have an update, albeit a disturbing one, on the fly problem.

The pesky gnat problem eventually went away. After some focused cleaning and just plain swatting them, they started to diminish. Yay!

But I figured out what the gross worm/larvae were. For a couple of years now, we have had these strange little bugs crawling around. They are oval shaped, point at the ends, with antennae. They are beetle like but don't have the hard bettle shell and are not segmented. I had noticed more of them this year.

They have striped lines on their body and if you flip them upside down, they don't really have beetle legs but instead, a fuzzy underside of legs.

I have been unable to identify what these bugs are so I don't know how to get rid of them. But I realized the worm/larvae I found were them. Because of the stripes.

I also began to find the larvae shells after they had grown out of them, all around the kitchen. There were like 40 of these larvae shells in one of my kitchen cupboards! I freaked out. Since they are transparent, it was hard to see them. Wow, how disgusting.

And they had managed to crawl into most of the food we had in the cupboards as well. Food that was in BOXES! How the heck they got in there, I will never know. Sealed boxes, for goodness sakes.

I still see a few of them crawling around now and then. If anyone knows what these are, please help!

Mealybugs

Hi,

If they are mealy bugs, just know that it's a common problem. I've been led to believe that they materialize inside the boxes.

I haven't read the link that Ada put on yet, but we've found that if we put the suspect boxes in the freezer after purchasing, the bugs don't ever materialize. I don't know if we're killing their eggs, or what, by doing that.

We put flour, rice, large bags of pasta, etc. in the freezer, products that you won't use up in a short time. Oatmeal is another product prone to the bugs, but freezing stops them.

The joke around here is that at least they are protein!

Thanks for the post.

Lorace

Hi Ada and Lorace!

Thank you so much for all your help. You two are wonderful!

I looked at the pictures of the mealy bugs and sadly, those don't look like the type of bugs that are in my house. They are slightly similar in shape but not at all fuzzy (except for their underside). They are a little more sharp looking, dark gray (or brown) in color and range from 0.5 to 2.5 cm in length. I have even found them crawling on my ceiling - weird!

Any new ideas as to what they are? If I had a camera, I'd find one and take a photo and submit it to www.whatsthatbug.com! LOL. But I can only draw it. It is similar to the mealy bug but not at all fuzzy on outershell and darker. However, I do find that their materializing from inside the boxes makes sense. Your advice about freezing those food items is great. Thanks!!

Cindy

There are lots of different mealybugs, and not all of them are fuzzy. Some are waxy, like the Longtailed Mealybug .

If you have an Agricultural Extension Station in your area, take them one of the bugs and see whether they can identify it.

Cindy,

Glad you're finding help and hope you nail these little critters down.

I notice I wasn't too clear about the freezing bit. I didn't intend that you'd leave them in the freezer forever, which would clog it up slightly.

I've been told that by freezing them about a week would do the trick and I've never, ever had a mealy bug in those items that I've frozen.

Sorry I was so vague.

Lorace

I have a very bad fruit fly problem in my home and I am going crazy trying to remedy this problem! I have read alot of good tips online but, unfortunately, most are not safe to use around cats such as essential oils, pine sol, fly traps, etc. I purchased flea/tick spray to spray around doors and windows because it was all i could think of that might work yet still be safe. Not so sure it did the job, though. I have been reading alot of tips about 'fly traps' which seem to work in the short term but they are not effective long term. Traps that contain vinegar, fruit, wine, soda...just attract the flies and they fall in and die. But this does not attack the source of the problem. You end up re-filling these home made traps continually and they are not very pleasant to look at in your kitchen. I want to attack the source and cannto seem to be able to do that. I have no fresh flowers, no fruit left outside of the refrigerator, no drain issues (i tried the old 'tape the drain and see if they stick to the tape' routine), so i cant combat this problem! Any advice on what my next move should be if I want a long-term solution?

Have you tried the medicated chest rub product (the ointment with vapors)? I had a bad problem with those pesks and took a plastic lid and rubbed some ointment on it and set it near my fruit in the kitchen. Amazingly they vanished. They didn't drop onto the ointment, I guess the smell was too much for them. It is so nice to have bananas out now without those critters.

I was searching to find info on how to get rid of fruit flies and found all of you and your great advice! Not only does everyone have great ideas, but it makes me feel so much more at ease because it's not an isolated problem. I was feeling like my house was so unclean because I was finding these darn pesky fruit fly/gnats near my drain, but now I know I am not alone! Thank you!

My sister uses a electric paddle she got from brooks-zapit.com. She also uses it for most crawly things in the house.

My sister uses a electris paddle she got from brooks-zapit.com. She uses it for all crawly critters in her house.

Is there any other method besides the applevinger solution?
What else can you use?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

The method that I use to get rid of fruit flies: Take a bottle of beer and dump half of it out. Then add some vinegar and some dish soap. Just let it sit on the counter a day or two. You will be amazed. It really works. I was told that the fruit flies fly inside the beer bottle, become drunk, and cannont fly back out. I'm not sure, but it works!

Sorry I had wanted to reply to this so I registered. Then it got posted as a new subject and I don't know how to delete it.

I've been having a bug problem. They are tiny and fast. I just read some posts. I put some vinager in glasses about 1 minutes ago and nothing yet. I'm gonna try the dish soap one in a minute. These are not just in aone place though. Of course we have a small house. But, they are in the kitchen, living room and computer area. I don't know if they are after food or what. I don't really see them in the bedrroom or bathroom. But, my goodness, they like to fly around my face. My husband hasn't said too much about them. But, then again, he's been working nights and I don't see him much. They are driving me crazy. I guess they have been around for about 2 weeks. I don't know if this makes a difference but, I'm in the area where there was flooding from hurricane Rita. We couldn't get to our house for like 2 weeks except for by boat. It still smells really bad outside. We did have some flood water (not a lot) in the house and some things got wet. There was a smell in the house at first until I cleaned everything up. I could try take a digital picture of some and upload it somewhere and post a link if you think it would help it to be identified. Thanks guys!
Oh, we don't have any plants anywhere. Also, I don't mind spraying something if it will help. I don't have any hairspray. But, I could get some if you think it will help.

Update: They don't seem to case about the vinager. Does that mean they aren't fruit flys?

Wow! What a mess you're going through. The fact that you say they're tiny and fast and go for your face makes them sound like the little pests we're calling fruit flies.

They seem to multiply anywhere where there's dampness and it's a possibility that they're breeding in the damp soil around the house.

I certainly feel for you and can't give you any firm answer not having gone thru this myself. I think, though, that it wouldn't hurt to find a bug spray and try spraying around inside like you would if you were inundated with flies, or something. It might give you some relief anyhow and I'd spray outside, too.

Good luck and please do keep us informed.

Lorace

Hope life gets better for you soon!