Shoppers Say This Under-$4 Fruit Fly Trap Is the Best

Everyone has a traumatic story involving fruit flies. Here’s mine: During grad school, I left campus for the summer break. When I returned to my apartment after two months away, I realized I’d accidentally left some bananas sitting out. I’m not going to get too graphic, but it took me a long time to clear out those fruit flies. I tried everything, from building my own traps with vinegar and soap to spraying toxic, smelly fumes all over. I even tried putting up some of those super ugly sticky pads. It was gross, and I vowed never to let it happen again.

Since then, I’ve been proactive about preventing fruit flies from taking up residence in my apartment. Fortunately, a couple years ago, my wife found the ideal fruit fly traps. They’re just over $3 apiece, and you have to do next to nothing to get them set up. They’re amazing. 

Terro Fruit Fly Traps, 4-Pack

These small traps have holes in the top, which you simply fill up with a non-staining liquid bait. Once flies enter them, they cannot escape, and there’s even a small window near the bottom where you can see how many you’ve succeeded in removing from your kitchen (or anywhere in your home where you have this problem). I even appreciate the effort to make them look like cute, little apples — it helps the vibe, for sure. 

In any case, these are not only a quick and cheap response to fruit flies, but something I’d recommend just leaving out near wherever you keep fresh produce. If you’re anything like me, you probably have a rotating assortment of fresh fruits, veggies, herbs, and more that don’t go in the fridge. From the person who cooks at home daily to forgetful grad students who can’t be bothered to check if they’ve left out bananas before leaving the state, everybody lets something sit out for too long at some point. Stop the problem before it starts for just over $3. 

Over 10,000 people have given these fruit fly traps a five-star rating at Amazon. One shopper confirmed these work quickly, reporting, “I had a serious fruit fly problem in my kitchen, and after using these, they were gone in a couple of days. They’re easy to set up and very effective.” Others took similar paths to mine, with one saying they had a severe fruit fly infestation that vinegar/soap bowls and electric traps failed to mitigate. “[Those were] not nearly as effective as the Terro traps,” they wrote, explaining that in a side-by-side comparison, their bowl trapped one fly while the Terro trapped over a dozen.

Fixing a fruit fly problem, or just trying to prevent one? You won’t have a better shot at success than when you grab one of these under-$4 traps.

Shop More Fruit Fly Solutions at Amazon

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