The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #118260   Message #2555084
Posted By: Helen
02-Feb-09 - 05:30 AM
Thread Name: BS: Joy's Handy Snail Trap. Music related
Subject: RE: BS: Joy's Handy Snail Trap. Music related
Necessity is the mother of invention. That's why I'm reluctant to throw out nifty bits of packaging which might inspire me to invent something useful.

I make a neat fruit fly trap out of a plastic softdrink/soda bottle. Take the bottle cap off and discard it. Cut all around the bottle about half way up. (Kitchen scissors are good for this.) Put about half a cup of water, some pieces of fruit or a few cut up pieces of banana skin, and maybe a little bit of sugar into the base half of the bottle. Invert the top half, with what was the top of the bottle now dropping into the lower half, keep it firmly together and wrap some duct tape around the join so that it is nice and tight. The fruit flies are attracted to the smell of the fruit and fly down into the bottle but cannot find the way back out again. It works for ordinary flies as well.

There needs to be enough height between the fruit and the hole in the top to prevent the critters from just flying straight back out again, so you don't need a lot of fruit. Just enough to send the smell out to attract the fruit flies.

Or you could buy a store-bought one for about $10 or $20. More fun making your own, though.

And my cockroach trap is simple too. A wine bottle with a little of the wine still left in the bottle, even a teaspoonful is enough. Red wine works better than white wine. Beer is good too. Wipe the inside top of the bottle with a little oil to make a slippery slide and put it somewhere where the cockies will find it. They go to the top of the bottle, try to get to the lovely smelly wine, and fall in. End of story.

Neither of these are music related, unless you serenade the cockies with a mournful rendition of La Cucaracha. I don't know which songs would make good serenades for fruit flies, or snails.