Over the span of just a week, my garage became a breeding ground for houseflies. Dozens of them buzzed around, congregating in clumps around the window, their little bodies thudding against the glass as they flew toward the light.
I assumed that they would eventually find their way back outside without much effort from my end, but that turned out to be wishful thinking. Instead, they seemed to multiply, and I started to dread going into the garage.
But it wasn’t until those little buggers found their way inside my house and into my kitchen that I finally reached my breaking point. It was on — and I was taking no prisoners.
My first few attempts at banishing this biblical plague proved futile. There were too many flies to target with a fly swatter or a bug zapper. And I was wary of using harsh bug-killing chemicals that could potentially harm my cat, so I tried a homemade approach instead by combining apple cider vinegar with dish soap in a spray bottle.
This concoction worked to an extent — the liquid essentially drowned the flies, their lifeless carcasses falling to the ground with a sickening crunch — but it didn’t stop a new crop of flies from taking their place the next day.
In a fit of desperation, I decided to buy a few Zevo Flying Insect Trap kits, which I knew my colleagues at Wirecutter were in the midst of testing. These chemical-free traps use blue light and UV light to attract insects to a disposable adhesive pad inside a cartridge that you simply pull out and toss in the trash once it’s full.
I purchased the bigger, corded trap (recommended for open spaces) for my garage and a smaller, plug-in version for the kitchen, paying extra for same-day shipping.
This indoor flytrap and gnat catcher lures in flying pests with blue light and captures them with a powerful adhesive pad. It plugs straight into an outlet.
The Max uses the same blue light and sticky pad to catch flying insects, but it’s bigger, accommodating two adhesive cartridges to catch twice the amount of flies. Its 5-foot cord allows you to place it closer to where pests are congregating.
The Zevo traps require very little setup out of the box: All you have to do is peel the film off the sticky cartridge, slide it into the trap, and plug the trap in. I plugged the smaller trap straight into an outlet in the kitchen and put the bigger, corded one, which holds two cartridges, on the windowsill in the garage.
The traps emit a strong blue light from the moment they’re connected to power. Some research has shown that flies are attracted to both ultraviolet and blue light. Apparently, with the Zevo traps, the glow of the light acts like a beacon, luring the buzzing pests to their death.
But flies aren’t the only bugs drawn in by light. “[The Zevo] is a fairly indiscriminate trap, so you may end up with moths and other beneficial insects caught in the dragnet,” my colleague Doug Mahoney warned me. “But used like this, as a targeted operation in a contained space like a kitchen or a garage, [it] isn’t going to haul in many of those bugs.” To ensure you that don’t draw in more bugs, keep windows and doors closed while the trap is in use.
After I set up the traps, I had nothing left to do but wait; the traps work best overnight, when the house is dark, and the tantalizing blue glow doesn’t have to compete with any other light sources. I went to bed that night feeling a bit anxious — if the Zevo traps failed me, I would have no choice but to call an exterminator.
I quickly discovered the next morning that I had nothing to worry about. The Zevo traps worked shockingly well, rounding up every single one of my assailants overnight. (Luckily, the flies hadn’t been around long enough to lay eggs. If they had, these traps wouldn’t have been much help in eradicating eggs or larvae.) The sticky traps were loaded with dead flies, but thanks to Zevo’s thoughtful design, I didn’t have to touch the mess as I cleaned out the traps. Just like that, their buzzing reign of terror was over.
Just as Doug had warned, though, the bigger trap I set up in the garage caught more than just flies. Moths are most active at night, and like houseflies, they’re drawn to the light. As a result, a few of these nocturnal pollinators got caught in the sticky traps, ultimately meeting their demise. Once the war had been won, I unplugged the traps immediately and packed them away so that they wouldn’t attract any other unsuspecting and undeserving insects.
My Zevo traps have sat on a shelf in my garage, unused, since the Great Fly Infestation of Summer 2024. I haven’t had to plug them back in since, and hopefully, I won’t have to pull them out ever again. But if another plague of flies descends on my house, this time they won’t stand a chance.
This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Katie Okamoto.
