Stan Hartwick wrote in
:

Jinge wrote:
For the past few months I have had ever increasing little black flies
in my home and they appear to be living in/around some of my
houseplants. They are really annoying. Does anyone know what they are
and how I can get rid of them? I'm keen on remedies which are not
going to harm my newborn.

Thanks.

It is possible that you have fruit flies (drosophila melongaster), but
it really makes no difference what species of fly you have as the cure
is the same. If you have a dog, great. If not, find a neighbor who
has one, preferably a male. Obtain an ounce or two of urine from the
dog. How you collect it is your problem, but once you have it, dilute
it at a ratio of one ounce of urine to one pint of water. Put this
mixture in a spray bottle (a used Windex bottle or anything similar
will suffice) and spray a fine mist in all the rooms that have the fly
problem. It will smell a little odd for a few hours, but will
eliminate the flies with no harm to you or your family.

I was reading an article in a scientific journal* about how some ancient
Meso-american cultures used jaguar urine to repel mosquitoes and biting
flies. According to the recipe found, the instructions were pretty much
the same as above - dilute the ingredient in water, and spray a fine
mist around the desired area. I believe they used some modified kind of
blow-dart tube for spraying. Anyway, due to uncertainties in
translation, the researchers still aren't sure whether the mist actually
eliminated the insects or just caused the people in the area to leave.

* American Journal of Archaeobiology, April 2004, "Fifth century pest
management practices of the Pinchuu-Ixtal Basin", Legg, Poulan U. and
Ettiz A. Yo-ke.