Baking with Drosophila

[pameladean]

No, it's not what you think. But we do have an immense population of fruit flies, both upstairs and downstairs. We are blaming the warm weather, but really, I don't know. Ordinarily, if one wants to get rid of them, one eats or disposes of the fruit in question, takes out the trash, and that's it. These guys are persistent. They are ubiquitous. I was standing on a stepladder moving paperback books from one shelf to another and fruit flies were zipping around my head. They seem curious, like very tiny winged cats. If you are doing something, anything, laundry, washing dishes, bringing in the groceries, one or two of them will come check you out.

I made two vegan pumpkin pies this afternoon, and while mercifully no fruit flies immolated themselves in the filling, they were all over the place. After I had cleaned the blender and let it dry, I went to put the lid back on, and spent about ten minutes shooing fruit flies out. It was like washing windows, where you can't tell which side the smudge is on.

I also made a mince pie, and the fruit flies circled my head like a halo the entire time.

I know one can get traps or improvise traps, but I'm starting to get fascinated with them. I wish they wouldn't literally get up my nose, though.

I hope you all have a stupendous weekend in whatever way suits you best.

Pamela

Comments

[mle292.livejournal.com]

I had a problem with persistent fruit flies once, it was because of a lost and forgotten orange. Once the orange was gone, the flies were gone too.

I'd check behind the fridge if I were you.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Most of the times I have fruit fly problems, it's turned out that a small potato has escaped, rolled behind something else, and expired quietly.

I have memories that are fond now, but not-so-fond at the time of our pantry when we lived in Tanzania when I was a kid. We'd buy a stalk of bananas when the truck came through and hang it up in the pantry, and it would be surrounded by a cloud of fruit flies until we'd eaten them all.

[pameladean]

Yes, these guys really really want our bananas.

I will check for stray potatoes. They don't seem interested in the ones we have in the usual spot, but a well-aged one might be different.

P.

[pameladean]

The top of the refrigerator is too high for me to reach, so we don't keep oranges there. They came in on bananas, which we now (not the original ones, but their successors) keep in a plastic bag. The fruit flies sit on the bag, yearning. It's very pathetic.

P.

[guppiecat]

Years ago I magically got some little grey beetles in the kitchen. I moved them outside, but the next day I got more. After repeating this process for several days, I ceased the relocation process. That's when I learned that they weren't actually sneaking back inside, but were spontaneously generating from the ether.

I thought it was cool to have magical pets, but then they started to die. I named them all Fred, so I didn't feel bad when I had to sweep up dead Freds.

After about a month, there were no more Freds. A year after that, I found a bag in a cupboard that was half beans and half Freds. That's when I learned that they weren't magical after all, and I was sad.

[pameladean]

Of course they were magical. Well, the beans were, because they turned into Freds.

I wonder what the adult form needed to eat.

P.

[momomom.livejournal.com]

I love your story.