One day they’re not there, the next day they are there, and your kitchen is full of them. It is no surprise that many people believe that fruit flies just appear out of nowhere. But are fruit flies really the product of spontaneous generation, spawned magically from overripe bananas or peaches? Absolutely not!

The truth is that these tiny bugs can smell rotting fruit from miles away. Fruit that is so overripe starts to rot, in the process producing alcohol. And who isn’t attracted to a glass of wine in the evening? Flies, like us, cannot resist the temptation.

Stealthily, they enter your home and fly towards the object of desire, devouring fermenting fruit. And, when done, they lay hundreds of eggs that hatch into squiggly silky larvae in a few hours. A single female can potentially lay 100 eggs in one day!

Larvae grow to become fruit flies in a few days and that period is even shorter during the stinking hot summer days. And – voilà – you have got the answer as to why there is a fruit fly festa in your kitchen! 

By the way, the fruit you bring from your grocer may already be peppered with fly eggs if it is ripe.