Fruit Flies inside my floor tom!

[joshlovestodrum]

seriously...like a whole f'n colony is running around the rim under the head of my floor tom....i'm planning on getting new heads in about a week anyhow so i'm gonna change that one outside for sure...lol...i just...dont know WHY they are there, i know how they could have gotten there i suppose (through the holes on the side of the drum) but yeah....i've never seen that one before. anyone have this happen?

peace,
JG

[Class A Drummer]

Thats crazy lol. Im surprised your playing hasnt driven them out.

[Vipercussionist]

seriously...like a whole f'n colony is running around the rim under the head of my floor tom....i'm planning on getting new heads in about a week anyhow so i'm gonna change that one outside for sure...lol...i just...dont know WHY they are there, i know how they could have gotten there i suppose (through the holes on the side of the drum) but yeah....i've never seen that one before. anyone have this happen?

peace,
JG

Ohh!! That would BUG me!!
Are your toms made of CHERRY wood??

[burnthehero]

Stop leaving old cereal bowls in your drums and that problem should clear right up.

[zambizzi]

I'd find a big fat spider and toss him in there, see what happens.

[vlcnridr]

Your playing must be really sweet!

Sorry couldn't resist.

While you are in there I would take a look at the wood and make sure they aren't starting to eat the wood or anything else in there. If so, clean it otu as best as possible and then reseal the wood inside.

[Deathmetalconga]

Fruit flies will appear as if my magic if there's anything rotting. Probably someone spilled some food in there.

[7DaysToTheWolves]

That's a bit odd O.o

I did find a spider in my bass drum once though!

[Drummer Karl]

This problem seems to occur from time to time. I have experienced the same thing Josh.

Those flies appeared in my band`s rehearsal room, the appearance seems to depend on temperature, air moisture and a certain "smell". After a year I got a ton of those fruit flies in my floor tom and bass drum. They started to dampen the head...haha. :-)

After some time I changed the heads and never again fruit flies copped up. Strange, maybe they like the smell of fresh wood and glue?

Karl

[SickRick]

I stopped posting here, but this is really interesting because it happened to my set too when it was brandnew (Yamaha Maple Custom). I cleaned it out several times and changed heads... didn't help. After a while they finally disappeared. Happened in the floortom only.

Maybe its something about the finish or so...

Bizarre that it happened not only to me. Gives me a strange good feeling. As said: The set was brand new. It shipped with the flies already in there. back then i thought about getting a new tom, but it sounded great so I didn't really bother.

[rmandelbaum]

funny they do not mention drums

As the name implies, the fruit flies lives primarily on plant material. The adults thrive on rotting plants, and fruits; while eggs are usually laid on unripened/slightly ripened fruit, so by the time the larva develop the fruit will have just started to rot, and they can use the fruit that the egg was laid on as their primary source of nutrition. Drosophila are considered major pests in some area of the world for this reason. (Demerec, 1950; Lutz, 1948; Wilson, October,1999)

[Ironcobra]

Your playing must be really sweet!

Sorry couldn't resist.


That one cracked me up.

I say you get a spider in there as soon as possible. I saw a spider do the famous "spin up their prey and eat them" routine a few weeks ago. It was awesome. That's one of the events which everyone knows about but hardly any people have ever seen.

[drumhead61]

yeah the really sweet playing was a funny! Although others have said this has happened to them I have to mark this one as strange and one I hope does not happen to me...I only plan to share my kit with my son not fruit flies

[crdirtRider856]

Just hang a fly-paper in there, It is quite effective fo muffling that top head. Other than that, I d maybe try scrubbin out the inside and outside of the drum, along with the metal. Maybe something got spilled somewhere and keeps attracting the little pesks. $0.02

[joshlovestodrum]

yeah...i have two young sons, 3 yo and 1yo, and i'm thinking that they probably had juice on their fingers or something sticky/sweet and they got it around on the drum but that still doesnt explain what the flies are doing JUST around the INSIDE of the top rim...its crazy...i'll see if i can get a pic. i'll whipe it down good when i get new heads in about a week. its not a funny thought but when i first noticed them i had a jolt of sheer dread because the first thought in my head was "TERMITES" ...lol....obviously quickly dismissed but it still momentarily freaked me right out.

peace,
JG

[Jsk36]

That's a bit odd O.o

I did find a spider in my bass drum once though! Thanks, now I don't want to check my bass drum jeez.

[mallendion]

OK - it's Friday night and I'm all excited because I plan to go purchase a new kit tomorrow. So, I read some Drummerworld.

Meanwhile, the Mrs. has been complaining because for the last 3 weeks we have had a fruit fly problem.

I can't BELIEVE IT. I never would have guessed reading DRUMMERWORLD would leave me hesitating to buy drums - but somehow ...

Screw the flies - I'll clean out a corner in the garage if I have to.

[joshlovestodrum]

those bugs dont hold me down thats for SURE! :) yeah so maybe i give the floor tom a little extra love (slam, slam, slam, slam) but i'm confident that i can get them to move out pronto. come new head day of course...

peace,
JG

[joshlovestodrum]

Meanwhile, the Mrs. has been complaining because for the last 3 weeks we have had a fruit fly problem.


so btw, when did your "problem" start? I cant remember exactly when but it is probably along your same time line and they just appeared....they are bad above the sink (even though its kept relatively clean most times), in the shower/bathroom area and of course inside my 16'' floor tom...lol. i guess i always thought that if they showed up you just got rid of whatever food was the culprit or what not and there you go....problem solved....this time round' these guys have serious determination/staying power. its annoying.

peace,
JG

[mallendion]

Ditto with ours - they seem permanent. We even left on vacation for 10 days and they were still here when we returned.

I'm used to finding the kids have left 1/2 a soda somewhere. Grapes in their lunch bag, whatever. You find it, throw it and that gets rid of the problem but not this time.

We are seeing them in the exact same places you are. Over the kitchen sink and in the bathroom. I wondered if the bathroom was because of toothpaste and/or certain fruity shampoos. Because I haven't been able to track them down I even looked at the pears and apples underneath the neighbor's fruit trees - nothing. They are only in our house. We both must have gotten the same sort of infected produce.

I remember studying the little buggers in biology class. They have relatively short life cycles so they have got to be living on something in the house. It has to have enough moisture to provide them with what they need for the 7 days or so they are in their larval stage before they pupate. I'm most recently wondering if they came in on grapes and are surviving on a box of raisons somewhere.

I'll let you know if we find them. Best of luck.

[drumhead61]

Are you sure you are not seeing spots before your eyes? LOL, I think it is some type of invasion...we have those pests all the time no matter the conditions they are here on and off at will and it is not my will but thy will be done...little friggin pests! So, I guess all our drums are next...>RUN