Fruit flies are tiny insects that we often see in our houses, especially in the kitchen. They can sneak into your home through very small openings and seem to love flying around our fruit and sometimes even landing on us. Have you ever wondered why fruit flies seem so interested in you, sticking to your food, clothes, or skin? Let’s explore the reasons they might be trailing you.
Check out these 7 common things that might be drawing fruit flies to you:
Table of Contents
1. How You Smell
Fruit flies have a great sense of smell and they love the fragrance of ripe or rotting fruit. Your body or perfumes might have smells that remind them of these fruits. Even products like lotions, deodorants, shampoos, and soaps have smells that might be really attractive to fruit flies. If these smells are fruity, flowery, or sweet, fruit flies will likely be drawn to you.
2. Your Breath
Your breath can also attract fruit flies, especially after you eat or drink something sweet, like fruits or sugary sweeteners. Fruit flies are attracted to the carbon dioxide you exhale and the sweet smells on your breath. Bits of sweet food in your teeth can also attract them, so brushing and flossing after eating sugary or acidic foods and keeping good dental hygiene is important to keep them away.
3. The Food You Eat
If your diet has a lot of sugary foods like fruits, juices, sodas, pastries, candies, and syrups, you might be giving off sweet scents and secretions that fruit flies love. Sweet smells may come from your skin or sweat if you eat a lot of sugary foods, making you very interesting to fruit flies.
4. Open Drink Containers
Leaving open cans or bottles of sweet drinks like soda or juice in your house can send inviting scents into the air that attract fruit flies. If you drink from these and some liquid drips onto your mouth or hands, even the smallest amount can make fruit flies come over to you, trying to get to the sweet droplets.
5. Garbage & Leftover Food
Leftover food, scraps, and garbage are like magnets for fruit flies. These things smell very strong and attract fruit flies. If you touch food waste like peels or cores, the scent can stick to your hands and make fruit flies think of you as a food source, so they’ll come to you looking for more.
6. Moisture On Your Skin
Fruit flies need water, so they’re attracted to damp places. A body that’s sweaty from working out, wet from the shower, or has lotion on it can attract fruit flies because it’s moist. If you often sweat a lot or have damp skin, fruit flies might land on you to get to the moisture. Keeping your skin dry and clean helps keep them away.
7. Smells From Fermented Foods
Fruit flies also are attracted to the smell of fermented foods like vinegar, pickles, and alcoholic drinks. They like the distinctive scents produced by yeasts and bacteria in these foods. If you handle or eat fermented foods often, their smells could linger on you. Plus, gases from the fermentation happening inside your gut can come out through your breath or sweat, and fruit flies can smell that too.
Conclusion
Fruit flies look for sweet-smelling, moist, and fermenting places because that’s where they find their food. If you give off any of these scents, fruit flies will naturally come to you thinking they might find food or a place to lay eggs. Watch out for fragrant foods, drinks, cosmetics, and body smells that might make you an attractive target for them. Stay clean, brush your teeth, wash your hands, do your laundry, and try to eat less sugar to make yourself less appealing to these bothersome insects. With some care, you can stop wondering, “Why do fruit flies keep following me?” and start to get rid of them for good.
