how to make a homemade fly trap
Sarah Parker
Updated on May 22, 2026
Instructions for Ziplock DIY Fly Trap
Put a ½ cup of vinegar in the bottom of the cup.Add 2 tablespoons of honey or a few pieces of rotting fruit.Follow up with a drop or two of sweet-scented dish soap.Place a sandwich bag over the top.Use the rubber band to secure it in place.Poke holes in it with a fork.
What is the best bait for a fly trap?
Bait fly traps with apple cider vinegar or wine to catch fruit flies – also known as vinegar flies. A good bait for house flies is 1 part molasses, 3 parts water. This ferments and smells pleasant as long as it doesnt putrify. Many house fly baits use brewers yeast, fish meal, and sugar that ferments in water.
What household items can I use to catch flies?
Use a shallow dish bowl and fill it with an inch of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar. Next, add some fruit-scented dish soap. You can leave the dish uncovered or tightly covered with plastic wrap. Make sure to poke a few holes in it to attract the flies.
How do you make an outdoor fly trap?
Spread honey, syrup, or sugar water around the mouth of the bottle, or fill with decomposing fruit. To hang your trap, punch two holes at the top of the bottle. Then thread a piece of wire or sturdy string through the holes, attach the ends, and hang it wherever you please.
Does apple cider vinegar attract flies?
Why is Apple Cider Vinegar Used to Attract Fruit Flies? Fruit flies are attracted to the carbon dioxide that comes from any type of organic material, like an overly ripe fruit. Apple cider vinegar has a strong sweet odor that leads the fruit flies into the trap because they think its overly ripe fruit.
How do you make a fly trap with a plastic bottle?
Spread honey, syrup, or sugar water around the mouth of the bottle, or fill with decomposing fruit. To hang your trap, punch two holes at the top of the bottle. Then thread a piece of wire or sturdy string through the holes, attach the ends, and hang it wherever you please.
Do flies like sugar water?
Since flies are well known to like sugar, it could just be that flies like beer because they can detect some residual sugar in beer.
How do Pennies get rid of flies?
To make your own fly repellent, simply get a gallon-sized zip-loc bag, fill it half to 3/4 with clean water, and drop 3 or 4 pennies in the bottom of the bag. Once the bag is firmly sealed, it can be hung from or nailed to an eave near a doorway to keep the nasty critters from entering your home.
Does putting water and pennies keep flies away?
According to Wide Open Country, zip-top bags filled with water and a few pennies adorn many restaurants, porches and doorways in the South to keep flies away.
Why do pennies in water repel flies?
The water and the pennies create a prism that reflects colors, and also projects the image of the water. Flies don’t like water, and they don’t like the colors given off from the pennies. Flies have compound eyes so the bags look like a giant body of water to them, therefore they leave.
How do you make a live animal trap?
One Example of How to Make a Live Trap
Dig a hole in the ground that conforms to the size of the nuisance animal, making it deep enough so the animal theoretically can’t climb out.Cover the hole with brush to disguise it.Place the appropriate bait for the animal on top of the brush.
