You are brushing your teeth or doing number two when you hear a buzz buzz around your head. A simple clap of the hands might take care of that one fly, but what happens when you spot at least a dozen more swirling around your drains or hovering on the walls near your shower? Along with the cue comes the realization that, yep, you’ve got a fly infestation on your hands.

If I were living in this nightmare, I would have gladly used every trick to get rid of these pesky fruit flies. Here’s why: Once they have found warmth and comfort in your bathroom, these fruit flies can reproduce at an amazing speed. When the eggs hatch, the huge mass of larvae will then feed on the drain sludge and eventually as they hatch into adults, they will lay more eggs. The cycle will go on and on and you might end up with severe infestations that can take up to five-six months to get rid of.

If you want to make your bathroom a less hospitable environment for these flies, I suggest you try the following tricks.

Getting Rid of Fruit Flies

Remove All Attractions

Once you have identified the access points of the fruit flies, cover these suspected areas with clear packing tape. If the access point is a drain, experts recommend uncovering it once or twice per day and then pouring boiling water down it. This should stop new flies from coming into your bathroom.

DIY Fruit Fly Trap

You can eliminate the remaining flies with a quick homemade trap. Combine some drops of dish soap with water and three tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Pour the mixture in a disposable cup, cover it with plastic wrap and secure it with a rubber band. Pierce the plastic cover to make a few small holes and place the cup in the bathroom.

You will notice how instantly the fruit flies will be attracted to the contents of the cup. Once they’ve made their way inside through the holes, they’ll be trapped and won’t be able to get out in the same way they got in – they are not that clever.

Get Rid of Any Damp Clothes and Avoid Old Rags and Mops

After showers, towels usually go on the bathroom rails. But, when you always forget to fetch it, you get several in-use towels floating around the bathroom. It’s better to hang your towels outside and let them dry completely before keeping them away.

Avoid using old rags and mops to clean bathroom tiles and bath tab. Your bathroom might look clean and dry but you’ll notice the fruit flies are still hanging around. This is because of the accumulation of dirt and particles on the rags and mops that ferment to attract flies. Or, because you have used the same rags and mops in the kitchen.

Don’t Pee in the Shower

When we were kids, we did it all the time. Many of us still do it and I can’t blame them – what do you do if you have lathered up your head with shampoo and suddenly got the urge to pee?

However, since this socially suspect yet environmentally-sound behavior is said to attract fruit flies, it’s advisable to urinate in the right place.

DIY Drain Cleaner

To kill sewer gnats or fruit flies breeding in your drains, clean them out with boiling water or boiling white vinegar. This should kill any larvae inside the pipes and destroy the type of habitat preferred by the flies. You can also use a drain snake to mechanically clean the pipes and remove any debris that the flies are attracted to. After that, cover the drain with duct tape for 24 hours – any remaining flies should stick to the tape.