I like refillable fly traps as my stinky traps. The bait in the old trap n toss disposable traps used to also come in a small opaque bottle that I could find at any feed store. About one tablespoon of the super stinky liquid would result in a trap filled with flies in a matter of days. I can not find the stinky stuff anywhere. I bought this https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/starbar-fly-trap-attractant/horse-livestock-fly-traps?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI06Khu4zy4gIViKDsCh0bkg8YEAQYBCABEgJO0fD_BwE and it has not worked at all. Does anyone have a source for good fly trap attractant?
The Starbar pouches work great for me. Not sure why yours isn’t working?
I totally missed that it’s the starbar product in the OP. Obviously too early for me. How are you using it that it’s not working?
There’s some good info about different baits at the bottom of the page here:
https://www.rinconvitova.com/fly%20traps.htm
Is this the liquid you’re looking for?
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F273840759487
Thank you so much Smikie! I will absolutely order the liquid you found and try some of the baits offered in the link. I have no idea why the Star bar dry pouches are not working. I added them to the traps and added the requisite water but they are not attracting a single fly. I even added a second pouch to each trap and nothing is being enticed in yet. I will order the small packs of liquid and keep my fingers crossed!
@george did they dissolve?
I bought new traps last year and they came with those pouches. The packaging said something about don’t open, film dissolves…so I just tossed them in. But there WAS outer plastic packaging that was impervious to water, and I had to unwrap them. Worked fine once I did that, duh. But the instructions really weren’t clear! Maybe you have the same problem?
Simkie, yes, they did dissolve the coating, good idea for trouble shooting. They made the sort of salmon colored slurry, are hung at the right height and in a high fly area but are without flies. I am stumped but I will follow your advice regarding the bait information and order the small packs of liquid. I am a huge believer in trapping flies in addition to predators and have been very frustrated with my lack of success this year. I appreciate the help!
I would contact the company to let them know you are having issues.
Simkie and Jawa, I wanted to update you that I called Starbar and they are in the process of trying to figure out if I got a bad batch. We went over other possible reasons for failure and eliminated them so it looks like it’s not user error. Simkie, I tried the trick you posted a link to about the shrimp. It worked really well! The guy at Whole Foods was confused when I asked for two shrimp but they did attract some flies. I had to go to a feed store I had never been to before and found the old attractant that I had used for so long. 1tsp. In along with my shrimp and one of them or both is working because my traps are absolutely crawling with flies. This is the product I like in case anyone is having similar issues:
http://www.southernagriculture.com/fly-trap-attractant-by-farnam/paaaiappgbegljap/product
Jawa, a bottle is 4oz which is 24 teaspoons. I use one to two teaspoons per trap depending on the size of the trap. Even with many traps most bottles in the past have lasted for years.