Flies driving you Crazy? Make this simple Homemade Fly Trap in the next 5 minutes using a plastic bottle and a pair of scissors. You can have this DIY fly catcher set up and catching those pesky flies in a matter of minutes.
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We are in the middle of a fly plague at our place. I have tried everything including pest spray (I got desperate!). The spray seemed to deter them for a bit but after about an hour they simply came back. It was driving me crazy!!
The fly poop on my ceiling.
The buzzing in my ear. Actually. In. My. Ear.
The flies on our kitchen bench top.
Bouncing off my face. The little critters are seriously brazen.
Did I mention the fly poop?
Enough! It was time to show them who's Alpha in this house. So I began my personal one woman fly vendetta.
Armed with a blunt pair of the kids school scissors and a soda bottle, I made my first of 8 Homemade Fly Traps.
How The Homemade Fly Trap Works
The fly catcher works a lot like a Pitcher Plant (A Pitcher plant is a very, very cool carnivorous plant that preys on flies.
I have one in my kitchen but even though the little fella works really hard, it can't keep up with the fly situation. It needs my help to keep things under control).
The fly smells something irresistibly disgusting and crawls down the bottle funnel to find it. He enters the bottle top and gets stuck in the trap. The end.
I know it's a bit macabre but I feel as if I am giving them a choice. They can choose to go down the trap or not. It's what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.
How To Build A Homemade Fly Trap
STEP 1: Get a Soda Bottle. I picked up 8 of them from my local recycling store. You can use any size but the ones that work the best have a narrower neck like the one below.
STEP 2: Cut it all the way around about two thirds of the way up the bottle.
To make the first cut, just squeeze the plastic together so that you can get the scissors into position. Or poke it with a knife. This works too.
Once you get the tip of the scissors in the newly made hole, you can easily cut all the way around to separate the top from the bottom piece.
STEP 3: Turn the bottle top upside down and place inside the bottom section of the bottle. Use a little sticky tape to hold in position. This is optional, but I would recommend it just in case the dog or kid knocks it over. We don't want that spilling. Oh no we don't!
STEP 4: Choose your bait. You will need some sort of bait to attract the flies into your trap. A little piece of meat or raw fish is brilliant, but anything a little smelly will work. Unfortunately, the smellier it is the more the flies will be attracted to it. If you want to hang it out of the way, you can tie a bit of wire or string to the bottle. I used a hole punch to make holes in the side and bent wire into place.
STEP 5: Set up your trap by adding about ½ cup of water into the bottle and a piece of your selected bait. Put it in position and wait.This is a picture of mine hiding behind the pot plant.
My Homemade Flytrap Review
I must admit I felt a little like McGuyver. Me and skills against an army of flies.
My first fly trap has caught over 40 flies in 8 hours. That's 40 flies less in my house. I am really happy with that. It seems to be the favored trap for some reason. I think the flies get attracted to dead flies in the bottom. ???? The other traps have been scattered in less busy fly zones but have still managed to catch 10 - 20 flies each. That's a whole lot of flies!
Other Fly Catching Options if the Homemade Fly Trap just isn't your thing
I know it's a little gross, but this DIY fly catcher is really effective. If you don't want this hanging about the place, then you can find a few more attractive natural fly catching options available like these below:
