fruit flies on food

When fruit flies from the Richmond area infest your home, they can drive you crazy. But, are you aware that the fruit flies in your Richmond home probably came from somewhere other than Richmond? Most fruit fly infestations begin as eggs that have been laid on fruits and vegetables. If you get your fruits and vegetables from the grocery store, those products could have come from out of state. If they did, you have foreign fruit flies in your home. At this point, you're probably wondering where we're going with this? Well, it doesn't have anything to do with what state your flies are from. It has to do with how fruit flies get into your home, how they multiply in your home, and how the problem of fruit flies can be bigger than you may think.

Richmond Fruit Flies

It is possible for a fruit fly to come into your home from your yard, but it is unlikely. Fruit fly infestations usually begin with a batch of eggs. There are two reasons you should know this. First, you're not going to prevent fruit fly infestations by making sure all your window and door screens are in perfect condition. Most of the time, these insects won't get into your home this way. So, you shouldn't be surprised when you get a fruit fly infestation even if your exterior is sealed and you have ongoing visits from a pest control professional. Second, it is important that you understand the way fruit flies hitchhike into your home. If you don't, you could get wave after wave of fruit flies. Your infestation isn't just in your home. Once you correct it, you can get another, and another, and another. See how big the problem is? If you want to stop the cycle of infestation, you need to consider prevention methods that stop fruit flies from coming into your home. Before we discuss prevention tips, let's take a look at how fruit fly infestations grow inside your home.

Fruit Fly Eggs

One piece of fruit can have many eggs. These eggs are extremely tiny. At only ½ millimeter in length, you'll need to look closely to see an egg. So, it wouldn't be surprising for you to get some fruit from the store and place it in a bowl on your kitchen island, and not realize there are eggs on the fruit.

When an infestation begins, it can seem like a couple of flies have gotten into your home and have started reproducing. If this is how you see your problem, you may suddenly become overwhelmed at how quickly fruit flies reproduce. While fruit flies reproduce quickly, they don't do it in a day or two. It takes one to two weeks. What you might consider to be reproduction is actually eggs hatching a few at a time. So when a fruit fly infestation begins, you have time to do some things that can prevent a much larger problem.

Fruit Fly Prevention

Put fruit in your refrigerator, rather than on display. The cold temperatures will keep additional eggs from hatching. When you take fruit out, wash it off and enjoy.
At the first sign of fruit flies in your home, consider any potential breeding sites, such as drains, garbage disposals, mop buckets, and trash receptacles. If those flies can lay eggs in a suitable breeding site and newly hatched fruit fly larvae can develop, you'll have even more flies in one to two weeks.

Fruit Fly Control

If you have an infestation of fruit flies, you can wait a couple of weeks and see if it persists, or you can immediately contact Pestmaster® Services for quick relief from those irritating flies. We provide the highest level of pest control services to the Richmond area. We're standing by to help you with all your pest control needs, and to help you prevent a small problem from turning into a big problem.