Feed Tarantulas Fruit Flies From Outside

Spiders.

If that word sends shivers down your spine, you're not alone. According to a recent BrightNest poll, 85 percent of people Hate spiders with a capital H. But just because the eight-legged arachnids aren't welcome in your home doesn't mean they'll always stay away.

To keep spiders out of sight and out of mind, try one of these natural deterrents before reaching for the chemical spray.

Here are five chemical-free methods to rid your home of spiders:

1. Essential Oils

Essential oils in scents like eucalyptus and peppermint are basically spiders' worst enemy, because they find the intense smells overwhelming. Fill up an 8 oz. spray bottle with water and add about 15 drops of the oil of your choice. Spray the solution in door frames, floorboards, bookshelves and any other small crevices. See ya, spiders!

2. Chestnuts

Believe it or not, chestnuts secrete a chemical that spiders can't stand, so place chestnuts along your windowsills, under the fridge, in dark cabinets and wherever else you frequently see eight-legged enemies. Tip: This only works if the chestnuts are fresh, so it's best if you store chestnuts in the fridge. Switch out your chestnuts on a weekly basis.

3. Vinegar

In addition to keeping colors fresh in the laundry and elminating mold, white vinegar is a spider-fighter, too! To fight arachnids, combine water and a dash of white vinegar in a spray bottle. Then, spritz doorframes, windowsills, under cabinets and anywhere else you think spiders could enter your home (like a doggie door).

4. Citrus

Spiders hate citrus: lemons, oranges, limes – you name it. To spread citrus throughout your house, rub orange peels on any surface where spiders could creep around or fill a spray bottle with water and citrus juice for a natural-deterrent spray.

5. Keep It Neat

Spiders love to camp out and spin their webs in cozy crevices. To prevent this, dust often and keep clutter to a minimum, especially in small spaces like cabinets and drawers. Flatten and recycle cardboard boxes and empty paper bags. Use the hose of your vacuum to clean floorboards by running the hose along where the floor meets the wall and along the edges of furniture.

Now to get rid of those fruit flies!

Fruit flies can do more than ruin fruit salad. They also spread bacteria around your house. Just think, that fruit fly that's buzzing around your kitchen was probably buzzing around a dumpster fifteen minutes earlier.

Follow these 13 steps to rid of them for good:

1. First, know thy enemy. Once fruit flies are in your home, they can live off more than fruit and flowers. Slime inside a sink drain, a dirty mop, and food fermenting in a crack on the floor can all sustain fruit flies. They only live ten days, but in that time they'll leave hundreds of eggs in your home.

2. Now, let's take care of business. Remove access to the food or flowers that are attracting fruit flies. If you have an open fruit bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or a towel.

3. Wash all dirty dishes and make sure the drains are clear of food, especially sweet smelling food. Run your disposal and clear the drain. You can also pour household bleach down the drain to kill any fruit flies that may be breeding in the drain.

4. Wash all dishrags thoroughly in the washing machine and don't hang them up until they're dry. Don't leave them in the sink – the moist, warm environment attracts fruit flies.

5. Be sure all food containers including trash bins and waste-paper baskets are covered. Keep all fruit (if possible) in the refrigerator. Fruit flies that make it into the refrigerator will die from the cold.

6. If you compost, make sure your collection bin is covered and food additions to your pile are buried beneath yard waste.

7. If you store your recycling inside, keep in mind that the sweetness left on empty beer or soda cans attracts fruit flies. Instead, store your cans outside or in a sealed garbage bag or container.

8. If you must keep your food on the counter, place a fan near the bowl and keep it blowing across the fruit. The flies cannot land in a crosswind.

9. Clean all opened containers of fruit juice and vinegar products, including ketchup. Seal them well and, if possible, store them in the refrigerator.

10. Clean your refrigerator door seals with a soft rag and warm, soapy water.

11. If you have flies, make a bowl trap. Put a piece of old skinless fruit or some sweet wine in a bowl (a combination works well, too). Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and poke many small holes in the plastic with a fork. The fruit flies go in and can't get out (make sure the holes are very, very tiny). Then you can release them outside.

12. If you don't want to release them into the wild, add honey and a large amount of sugar to your mixture. The fruit flies wings get stuck in the honey so they cannot fly and drown in the liquid.

13. If houseplants seem to be attracting fruit flies, you're probably dealing with fungus gnats. Fungus gnats usually mean that you have too much moisture, so let your plants dry out a little more in between watering. Letting the plant dry out will kill most of the larvae. You'll know it's time to re-water your plants when the leaves become stiff. Another option is to cover the fungus gnats' larvae with gravel, like black aquarium gravel. Until you're sure the larvae are dead, move your plants outside for a few days.

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Source: https://amybsells.com/2014/07/keep-fruit-flies-and-spiders-outside/