Flies are annoying and difficult pests to get rid of. Since flies are attracted to several household items, like food and garbage, they are almost impossible to eliminate. In a now-viral video, a woman shares how she’s had trouble removing pesky flies using an indoor fly trap and washing her bananas.
Before revealing the contraption, TikTok user Sarah Molnar (@happyhealthysarahh) requests viewers not to judge. “Can we openly talk about this and not seem like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what kind of house are you living in?’” Then, she pulls an LED fly trap out of her wall outlet and unveils tiny black specks of dead flies. Although the content creator praises the fly trap, it isn’t completely doing the job. “I wash my bananas. I heard they live in your garbage disposal,” she says. “This thing is phenomenal but those have been flying over my house.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Molnar via TikTok comment and direct message. The video garnered over 216,000 views. Molnar wasn’t alone.
“YES!! they’ve been terrible this year!!!” one viewer said.
“Yes! They are bad this year! One literally flew in my nose the other day?!” a second commented.
“I swear they are coming from outside when I open my windows with screens on them…I have noticed the same this year,” a third agreed.
Molnar felt reassured that she was not the only one experiencing this. “I’m glad it’s not just me,” she replied in the comments section.
However, others noted she was dealing with a different type of fly.
“Those are drain flies. Also trying to get rid of them,” one viewer remarked.
“Drain flies. You need to treat your drains nightly before bed and then cover [them with] plastic,” another stated.
@happyhealthysarahh 🤮 #fruitflies ♬ original sound – Sarah Molnar
Which type of flies do you have?
Both these tiny nuisances can be found inside and cause havoc. However, there are differences between them. Fruit flies have red eyes with brown or yellow dark spots. Drain flies resemble moths, and have a black or brown coloring, fuzzy wings, and antennae, per Champion Pest Control. Moreover, fruit flies prefer to be around decaying food whereas drain flies fester around trash cans, sewers, and drain pipes.
How to get rid of them
If you have fruit flies, dispose of your fruit, empty your garbage, and clean your kitchen. If this works, you have fruit flies. If it doesn’t, you might have drain flies.
There are several methods to eliminate them. According to HGTV, wash your drain with a cleaning solution. Then, you create a mixture with 1/2 cup of salt, 1/2 cup baking soda, and 1 cup of vinegar and pour it down the drain. In the morning, you flush it with hot water. In addition, you can pour boiling water down the drain twice a week or use Drano. If none of these work, contact pest control.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
