Experimentation with damnable VERMIN
I'm having a problem with flies right now.
I'm doing my dishes every day, keeping up with the garbage, and I've had a few days that were spent in the throws of sanitation rampages. So, while your first inclination to hearing "I'm having a problem with flies right now" may be to sling accusations about me wallowing in filth, let me assure you that I am not living in a filth level that is unacceptable, according to the FDA, CDC, or World Health Organization. I think they're getting into the house from the outside. I have previously had problems of this type with bees, until I constructed my Beezooka™ (a story for another time).
So, I am going to tackle this problem... with SCIENCE!
A sixth grader in Pennsylvania conducted an experiment to find out which type of sweetener fruit flies would prefer. He tried sugar (white stuff), saccharine (pink stuff), aspartame (blue stuff), sucralose (yellow stuff), and stevia extract (green stuff). He noticed, though, that the stevia extract killed all the flies.
Now, some details: Before anyone gets their panties in a wad, no, it won't kill you. The stuff is still Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the Food & Drug Administration. Also, the fly-killing chemical, the sugar erythritol, is specific to the brand TruVia. PureVia and store brands do not have this sugar.
Now, I am being accosted by big, black house flies rather than teeny little fruit flies. But still, I am going to experiment to see if I can rid myself of these pests with a simple, non-toxic remedy. Tonight, I have set up two small containers of TruVia solution, one in my kitchen and one in my living room. I'm going to see if I can kill the little buggars that way.