Help! Gnats! I have gnats in my house!

furtasacra

These little buggers are making me CRAZY, and I can't seem to get rid of them. This has never happened before.

I have gnats (tiny little biting flies) ALL OVER THE HOUSE. It's recent, and I have no earthly CLUE where the horrid little bastards are coming from.

I keep the dishes washed, and the counters wiped. I take out the kitchen trash as soon as it's full. I rinse and recycle my bottles and cans. Fruit and vegetable parings, tea bags and coffee grounds go in the compost heap, which is about 40 feet from the house.

I also have cats. Cat droppings can attract bugs, but I use clumping litter and scoop daily.

The big thing is, I have NEVER EVER had a problem like this before, and I don't know what to do. I always thought all you had to do to not have bugs was keep your house clean. I live in the land of giant monster cockroaches from hell, and I don't have any roaches. None. But I'm suddenly infested with stupid gnats! I don't understand! Is this some weird global warming thing?

I have put my flour, sugar, cereal, cat food, and everything else starchy or sugary in sealed plastic containers, and cleaned the house like a crazy person, but these #$%^&* gnats won't GO AWAY!

Don't bother telling me to set off bug bombs, I won't do anything that necessitates evacuating the house, because I can't afford it. Besides, they might come back. I have to figure out where they're coming from, and eliminate the source of the problem.

HELP!

driftingfe3s

Do you leave your windows or doors open? They might just like the temperature of your home. Try keeping th doors and windows closed. I guess its okay if the window has a screen on it to keep it open for ventilation.

Maybe try lighting some incense or somehthing like that that will create a smell or light smoke that will drive the gnats away. If that doesn't work there are some insect repellent candles that you may want to try that might ward them off, but still allow you to stay at home.

furtasacra

I figured out where the little monsters were coming from. I went completely ballistic in the kitchen over the weekend, and started yanking everything out of the cupboards. In one of the cupboards, I have some wire bins for storing things like onions, garlic and potatoes. They stay cool and dark, but with air circulating to prevent rot.

An onion escaped from, and rolled under the bin. It didn't rot, or I would have smelled it. However, it shrivelled up, and became a breedery for little nasty buggies.

When I found (what was left of) that onion and picked it up, it simply collapsed into papery skin and a swarm of bugs in my hand. Yecchhh!

I have a GIANT incense stick... I'm gonna take the screen off the window, light the incense stick, and shut the kitchen door, and hopefully that will drive them all away.

furtasacra

After I found the unexpected source of the gnats, I was able to deal with the problem. I apologize for the strange post, it was just an odd thing that really freaked me out.

Coclus

Wow weird I would have said some kind of fruit lying around could be the case and I was almost right...

furtasacra

Hey, problem solved. I smoked the littler buggers out. Moderator, close this thread, please.