Getting flies out of your house can feel impossible. Leaving out wines and apple cider vinegar and smashing them with a fly swatter can feel like an endless battle. However, one self-proclaimed “DIY Guy” said there’s a way to stop flies from entering your home in the first place.
Recently, TikToker Daddybrownn (@daddybrownn) garnered over 2.9 million views when he shared how a sugar water fly trap placed outside will supposedly eliminate flies before they can infest your home.
Daddybrownn’s video is geared toward teaching viewers how to “make a solution that you can put outside of your door.” According to him, this trap “should attract the flies to go there rather than coming in your house at all in the first place.”
How does it work?
He shows viewers how to make a simple solution using “two parts water, one part sugar.”
“You can put [it] outside of your door, like on the doorstep, or even, like, in a plant right outside your door, and it should attract the flies to go there rather than coming in your house at all in the first place,” he said.
“So the sugar that you just put in there is going to be what attracts them, and then once they land in the water, they won’t be able to take back off, and they’re going to die in there. That should prevent them from even coming in there in the first place,” he summarized.
@daddybrownn #flies #south #thesouth #hack #tennessee #bugs #foryou #lifehack ♬ original sound – daddybrownn
Some viewers were skeptical of the sugar water fly trap.
“My animals would just drink it,” a viewer said.
“Can you show us how to get rid of the ants that are attracted to the water and sugar outside of my front door lol,” a second joked.
“Humming birds will like it to, and dogs, squirrel, cats,moles, mice, etc…” a third agreed.
“That’ll drown the beneficial pollinators like honeybees,” another worried.
Others were grateful for any tactic to combat their fly infestation.
“Thank you need to try this!! I get so many flies .. Need to see video about flies inside of a house,” a viewer said.
“I am so going to try this! Holy moly, just moved to Texas and these flies are crazy,” another commenter shared.
Why do flies infest homes in the first place?
House flies, according to Green Giant Home & Commercial, live around 15 to 25 days. Outside, they sleep in plants, garbage cans, fence wires, and on the ground. Inside, they sleep on floors, walls, ceilings, and windows.
The site says that on warm days, flies are attracted to the cool air from your air conditioning unit. Unfortunately, they are also attracted to warm air wafting out of your home during cooler days.
Griffin Pest Solutions offers a more in-depth explanation of why and how flies infest a home. According to the company, there are five different types of flies that commonly enter people’s homes. House flies are some of the most common pests. They’re 1/8 to 1/4 inches long and live in garbage, especially moist or rotting organic material. Fruit flies are another common nuisance. They are 3 to 4 mm long and live in fermenting liquids, especially sugary ones. Blowflies usually appear during the summer and the spring, while phorid flies—which are similar to fruit flies—are attracted to light, humidity, and garbage.
So, where do they come from? Griffin Pest Solutions says most flies inside a home were likely born there. These pests lay eggs in films of moisture near food sources. Once flies get inside, they lay eggs, which hatch, producing offspring that grow rapidly, feed, reproduce, and lay more eggs.
What should I do if the flies get in my home?
For flies already inside, Real Simple suggests a mixture of apple cider vinegar and dish soap. A second method is using repellent herbs like basil, mint, bay leaves, tansy, and rue. Essential oils like lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, and lemongrass also act as repellents. Using a diffuser or mixing essential oils with water and spraying them in the areas they congregate will also help. Lastly, people can place traps and fly paper around their homes.
However, traps like this are designed to kill adult flies and won’t half the issue once new eggs are laid. To get rid of eggs in hard-to-reach places, TikToker Majda Medved suggests using boiling hot water.
The Daily Dot reached out to Daddybrownn via TikTok comments for more information.
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