Bananas or Other Fruits
Our kitchen fruit fly trap is designed for multi-bait usage....
April 7, 2019
Choose a Section:
Quick Start Guide / Assembling / Re-opening / Choosing the Best Lure / Recycling & Disposal / FAQ
Quick Start Guide
One
If your trap arrived already assembled, open it by gently squeezing with two fingers where the top and base parts snap together.
Two
Next, decide on a lure. We think ripe banana or apple cider vinegar are the best options. There are plenty of other options outlined below.
Ripe banana. Cut a 3/4” (2 cm) piece, mash it with a drop of water and dish soap and place it in the small clear lure cup. The riper the banana, the better it will work.
For an extra boost, add a generous pinch of dry instant yeast and a pinch of ground-up vitamin C. Yeast promotes fermentation which is what attracts fruit flies, and vitamin C acts as a preservative to keep the banana from browning.
Apple cider vinegar. Remove both clear plastic parts, fill the base halfway with the vinegar and add a drop of dish soap.
Three
Then, assemble your fruit fly trap and place it where fruit flies are a problem. Depending on your lure it can take a day or two for fruit flies to discover it.
Assembling Your Fruit Fly Trap
Assemble your fruit fly trap in the following order.
1 Top (yellow)
2 Divider (clear)*
3 Lure cup (clear)*
4 Base (yellow)
*when using liquid baits like vinegar, remove and dispose of (recycle ♳) the two clear parts 2 and 3.
To Open Your Fruit Fly Trap
A gentle squeeze with two fingers where the top and bottom parts snap together will 'POP' it open.
Resist the urge to try and pry the top off like a lid.
Choosing the Best Lure
The eek‑o fruit fly trap is designed to work with traditional homemade lures like ripe banana or apple cider vinegar—things most people already have in their kitchen!
We designed the eek‑o fruit fly trap for those who appreciate a simple, natural, eco-friendly approach to fruit fly control but don’t want an old jar covered in plastic wrap messing up their nice kitchen.
Liquid: Apple Cider Vinegar
Our kitchen fruit fly trap is designed for multi-bait usage....
April 7, 2019
Bait Booster is Open Source!
Our eek-o Bait Booster Powder is no longer for sale; we made...
April 7, 2019
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bait: What if I don't have a banana?
Any Fruit the Fruit Flies Like Will Do
Fruit flies probably came into your house because of something they like, usually it’s a piece of fruit. If you can identify what the fruit is that should work great as the bait. But if you can’t figure out what your fruit flies are after, banana is the best catch-all fruit. And most houses have one or two bananas lying about so they are convenient to use.
Try Using Apple Cider Vinegar Instead
Another bait option is the tried-and-true apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish washing soap. With this option your flies will quickly expire in the sweet smelling liquid. If you are looking to terminate your flies quickly this is the way to go.
My fruit fly trap is not working. What should I do?
“My eek-o is not collecting any flies”
It can take up to a day for flies to find eek-o and go inside. It’s nature, so therefore not entirely predictable. But you should start to collect some flies after about 24 hours.
“Its been a day, but still nothing”
Flies are attracted to the strongest scent in the area and it may be that you have some very ripe fruit which is overpowering the eek-o bait. Try putting away any really ripe fruit, which will then allow eek-o to get noticed.
“… Still nothing”
Your flies may be conditioned to look for a particular fruit. Bananas are a good catch all, but if the flies in your area have a one track mind they may only be looking only for a local fruit. Instead of a banana, try using the fruit you already have that you can see the flies are drawn too. That, combined with putting the ripe fruit away for a few hours, will allow eek-o to better do its job.
How often should I change my fruit fly trap?
If you are using a fresh fruit bait with eek-o’s activator powder you should change your eek-o at least once a week. Either recycle the old and put out a new one or clean out the old one and prepare a new bait to put in it.
Why seven days? The reason is that the life cycle of a fruit fly is about seven days, so after a week you may find that another crop of flies are appearing. Of course they will already be captured and out of your way, but since the fruit bait is all natural and subject to decay, it will tend to get a bit messy if you leave it too long.
Even if you are using another bait, like vinegar, beer or wine, it’s probably a good idea to freshen up your eek-o on a regular basis. Just like changing the sheets, a week is a pretty good way to mark the time to do it.
Is my fruit fly trap recyclable?
Please don’t throw eek-o in the rubbish. Recycle!
We have designed eek-o to be fully recyclable. In fact you can toss the whole thing into your recycling bin once you are done with it. eek-o is made from plastic type “PET” which is recycling code No.1.
So don’t send your eek-o to the landfill. Recycle it so it can go on to make more eek-os and other great sustainable plastic products.
How should I prepare my trap for a second use?
Reuse is one of the great things about eek-o. You can use is one, two, three times; sometimes more, which makes eek-o one of the least expensive fruit fly control options on the market. We want you to get the most use possible from your eek-o so please be careful that you do not damage it while washing.
1. If your eek-o contains live bugs, dispose of them following one of the following methods: catch and release, water dunking or the big freeze (see the next section for more details on the three disposal methods).
2. With the bugs gone or recently demised, rinse the bait out of eek-o and gently wash with liquid dish soap and water. Dry with a soft towel or set aside to air dry.
3. Now prepare another portion of fresh fruit mixed with eek-o’s bait activator powder; or another bait that you prefer. Snap eek-o back together and you ready to collect your next load on tiny uninvited house guests.
How can I wash my fruit fly trap to use it again?
Reuse is one of the great things about eek-o. You can use is one, two, three times; sometimes more, which makes eek-o one of the least expensive fruit fly control options on the market. We want you to get the most use possible from your eek-o so please be careful that you do not damage it while washing.
First, never put eek-o in the dishwasher. It is not made to withstand the heat of a dish washing cycle. And even when you wash it by hand, use only lukewarm water. If you wash it with water that is too hot the parts will warp causing them to not fit well together. And that opens up routes of escape for your fruit flies. And nobody wants that! Once you have them trapped you don’t want them getting out again.
It worked! Now how do I get rid of the bugs I caught?
We designed eek-o to accommodate a variety of philosophical approaches. The standard approach to the disposal of unwanted bugs is “kill the buggars!” To each their own, but we at eek-o would like all our customers, including those with more gentle leanings, to have a great experience, all the way from capture to removal.
That’s why we designed eek-o to be easily opened and re-closed. It enables multi users to save you money by getting several loads of bugs captured with one eek-o. But more importantly to some, it makes it possible to practice the “catch and release” method for getting rid of your unwanted bugs.
1 Catch and Release:
Once your eek-o has done its job, take it 100 yards or more from your home and pop it open. You will find that the occupants are very anxious to leave and flee immediately.
There is no danger of any lingering on you or even nearby. That’s the last you will see of them. It is very unlikely that they will ever find their way back to your home. There are too many other tasty options in the vicinity to distract them.
Fruit flies are part of the food chain. So by putting healthy, non-toxic, mischievous bugs back into the outdoors you are helping keep nature in balance.
2 Water Dunking
If you prefer to terminate your problem quickly, hold eek-o under the tap until it is about quarter full. Hold it securely so the two halves don’t come apart and shake vigorously until everything inside is waterlogged. In the sink, pop it open and wash the contents down the drain.
The last step, and this is very important, is to run some hot water down the drain. If the conditions are right fruit flies can quit happily breed in your drain, but with a good wash down with hot water, they won’t stick around.
3 The Big Freeze.
To reuse your eek-o, or if you are throwing into recycling and want to make sure no bugs escape in the process, the big freeze method is easy and effortless
Simply place your eek-o in the freezer for about 20 min. In that time all your bugs will have gently expired, never to buzz about, land in your wine or cause havoc in your house again.
Remember, When you are ready to throw eek-o away never put in the rubbish, always in recycling.