Drain flies are small insects that live in areas with drains or pipes, making them a common household pest and found in commercial areas like water treatment. They are part of the Psychodida family of insects, including sink flies, filter flies, and sewer gnats. Clogmia albipunctata, also known as the common drain fly, is one of the most common drain fly species.
Drain flies are small, pesky insects that can be found year-round due to ideal living conditions in homes. They are often confused with fruit flies and fungus gnats, and are also known by other names such as drain moths, filter flies, and sewer flies. Adult drain flies usually live about two weeks, but newly emerged adults rapidly replace them. They are small, furry, moth-like insects measuring 2 to 5 millimeters long depending on the species.
Drain flies can also be mistaken for fruit flies and phorid flies, as they breed and feed in drains or sitting water and eat decaying debris. They sometimes appear suddenly and mysteriously, becoming a nuisance in homes, rest rooms of commercial buildings, and sewage.
Cockroaches, drain flies, fruit flies, and phorid flies can also be considered drain flies due to their hairy appearance, dense setae on their bodies, and long antennae. However, small insects like mosquitoes can survive rain-drop collisions. Drains can build up sludge that attracts fruit flies and drain flies, and TERRO® offers solutions to deal with these pests.
| Article | Description | Site |
|---|---|---|
| Drain Flies: What to Know | Technically, fruit flies and phorid flies can also be drain flies since they, too, breed and feed in drains or sitting water and eat decaying … | webmd.com |
| Drain Flies (Moth Flies) | Ohioline | Drain flies (also known as moth flies) sometimes appear suddenly and mysteriously, becoming a nuisance in homes, rest rooms of commercial buildings, sewage … | ohioline.osu.edu |
| What Bugs Can Live in Your Drains? | Can bugs live in your drains? They absolutely can. What’s even more unsettling? · Cockroaches · Drain Flies · Fruit Flies · Phorid Flies · Helping control bugs in … | terminix.com |
📹 Why Does This Fly Live in Your Bathroom? Deep Look
Ever wonder how those tiny, jumpy flies got onto your bathroom wall? Well, they came out of your sink drain after growing up …
How To Find A Drain Fly Nest?
To locate potential breeding spots for drain flies, examine areas near drains and sources of standing water. If you're uncertain which drain might be the source, place an inverted clear plastic cup coated lightly with oil or petroleum jelly over the suspected drain for several days to capture flies. Common breeding sites include greasy and clogged drain pipes, storm drains, moist compost, and septic tanks, where female drain flies lay between 30 to 100 eggs.
Pay attention to leftover food, as it can attract house flies, which also lay eggs in similar environments. Regular maintenance and cleaning of drains are critical, as a slimy film that forms in these areas often becomes a breeding ground. Flies can emerge from various other locations, such as tree holes, rain barrels, and organic waste. Observing where gnats gather and using traps like vinegar with dish soap covered in saran wrap can help control their presence.
What Smell Do Drain Flies Hate?
Essential oils such as lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus are effective in repelling flies from porches and outdoor spaces. It’s best to select a scent that you enjoy, which can be utilized as a spray, candle, or in plant form. These essential oils have natural repellent properties due to their strong fragrances. Other scents that insects dislike include pepper, pine, citronella, and white vinegar.
By leveraging these unpleasant odors for flies, you can create a fly-free environment without the use of toxic substances. Flies are known to detest the intense aromas of certain plants, making essential oils like peppermint, eucalyptus, and lavender ideal for this purpose.
To use these oils effectively, consider soaking a sponge or rag in half a cup of essential oil and placing it in a small container to help ward off flies. Additionally, cayenne pepper can be sprinkled in areas infested with flies, as they find its scent unappealing. Other potential repellents include tea tree oil, cinnamon, basil, and even a baking soda and vinegar mixture poured down drains to eliminate the breeding conditions for flies.
In summary, incorporating a variety of essential oils and scents, like rosemary and cloves, can naturally repel flies and enhance your living space. Regular application and strategic placement of these odors can significantly reduce insect presence in your home.
Do Drain Flies Have Nests?
Les mouches de drain, également appelées mouches des égouts, se reproduisent dans le film qui se forme dans les tuyaux d'évacuation et les éviers. L'eau stagnante favorise leur développement à l'intérieur de la maison. Elles se développent dans des matières gélatineuses présentant une accumulation de déchets, dans des fosses septiques, des composts humides ou des poubelles sales. Leur habitat inclut des tuyaux d’évacuation, des pompes de puisard, et des zones humides.
Les mouches de drain, qui sont surtout nocturnes, se trouvent souvent sur les murs, les baignoires et les douches. Elles se déplacent en sautillant et peuvent être problématiques lorsqu'elles sont en grand nombre, bien qu'elles ne causent pas de dommages. Pour éviter leur prolifération, il est essentiel d'empêcher leur accès aux drains. Les mouches adultes vivent environ 20 jours et les femelles pondent entre 15 et 40 œufs dans des lieux humides, ces œufs éclosent en deux jours.
L’accumulation de matière organique humide, comme celle des drains mal entretenus, constitue un endroit de ponte idéal. Un traitement localisé comme un spray à la perméthrine peut aider à éliminer ces nuisibles.
How Do I Permanently Get Rid Of Drain Flies?
To effectively eliminate drain flies, a combination of cleaning methods and treatments can be employed depending on the severity of the infestation. Here are some recommended strategies:
- Clean the Sink and Drain: Begin by cleaning your sink and drain with your usual cleaning solution. Regular cleaning helps to reduce grime that attracts flies.
- Boiling Water: Pouring boiling water down the drain can effectively kill drain flies and their larvae. This method disrupts their breeding ground created by slimy film buildup.
- Vinegar and Baking Soda: For a natural remedy, pour a mix of 1/2 cup baking soda followed by 1 cup of vinegar down the drain. This combination creates a reaction that can help clear blockages and eliminate flies.
- Metal Scrub Brush: Using a metal scrub brush can further clean the inside of the drain, removing any stubborn buildup that may harbor flies.
- Chemical Drain Maintainers: Consider using enzyme-based drain cleaners, such as Invade Bio Drain Gel Treatment, to help eliminate both flies and their breeding habitat over time.
Additionally, regular maintenance, such as eliminating standing water and addressing any drain clogs, is essential for long-term control. If problems persist, involving professional pest control services could be necessary.
By focusing on these methods and maintaining a clean environment, most drain fly issues can be resolved within a week, ensuring a more comfortable living space free of these nuisances.
Why Do Drain Flies Keep Coming Back?
Drain flies flourish in environments rich in organic material, particularly in clogged or dirty drains where organic debris accumulates, creating ideal breeding conditions. Regular drain cleaning and pest control treatments are essential to prevent infestations. These pests are notorious for returning, often due to insufficient cleaning efforts, failure to eliminate breeding sites, and surviving eggs and larvae.
Adult drain flies thrive in slow-moving or jammed drains, as these can provide ample decomposing matter for their life cycle. They are typically attracted to standing water and bacterial biofilms within drain pipes, making kitchens and bathrooms common hotspots. Those dealing with recurrent infestations should examine whether there are secondary sources contributing to the problem, such as leaks or damaged pipes.
Effective control measures include using hot water mixed with bleach or specialized products like Invade Hotspot foam spray. Additionally, ensuring proper cleaning of all potential breeding sites is crucial, as improper cleaning methods are frequently the reason for repeat infestations. To reduce the chances of drain flies returning, eliminating standing water and food sources is vital.
Thus, understanding the habits and breeding grounds of drain flies is key for effective eradication and prevention strategies. This guide aims to help readers identify how and why drain flies appear, as well as provide actionable steps to eliminate these pests and stop them from recurring in the home.
What Are The Tiny Bugs In My Sink With No Wings?
If you find small brown jumping bugs in water-laden areas like bathrooms or kitchens, you likely have a springtail infestation. Springtails are tiny, acrobatic, wingless insects that can jump significantly relative to their 1/16th inch size. They thrive in damp environments and can lead to widespread infestations in your home. Additionally, tiny black bugs appearing from your bathtub or sink drains are likely drain flies, also called drain moths or sewer flies, though they generally do not transmit diseases.
You may also notice tiny ant-like bugs in your bathroom, which are typically harmless but can quickly become a nuisance if not addressed. Springtails are commonly found in humid areas, sneaking into kitchens through tiny gaps and hiding in unnoticed places, especially near food sources. The tiny black bugs in your bathroom sink could be drain flies or baby cockroaches. While springtails are often mistaken for drain flies due to their size, they are not harmful to humans.
If you encounter these bugs, it may help to fill your sink with hot water and bleach to eliminate them. It's important to differentiate between these insects, as controlling their population varies based on the type. The common bathroom insects include not just drain flies but also psocids or book lice, which are harmless and not related to actual lice. Understanding this insect activity is key to managing and preventing further infestations.
What Are The Predators Of Drain Flies?
Drain flies, also called sewer flies or filter flies, are common household pests that thrive in areas with shallow, stagnant water and organic matter, feeding and breeding on decomposing material. They do not bite, sting, or transmit diseases, and are primarily focused on reproduction; a single drain fly can lay between 10 to 200 eggs in the slimy film found in drains and sewers. Their breeding sites include bathrooms, kitchens, and plumbing areas where organic buildup is present.
Though they are harmless to humans, drain flies can cause significant nuisance, breeding rapidly if not controlled. They are protected by their scaled wings from predators such as spiders, and their small size allows them to hide effectively in pipes. Drain flies usually have a short life span and nocturnal habits that help them evade threats.
To effectively manage infestations, it's essential to identify and eliminate their breeding grounds by cleaning drains and removing organic material. Drain flies are often confused with fruit flies and fungus gnats. Educating oneself on identifying these pests is crucial for implementing effective removal strategies.
While drain flies are not a direct health hazard, they can carry harmful bacteria from the substances they feed on, contaminating food they come into contact with. Homeowners are advised to act promptly if they notice drain flies to prevent larger infestations and maintain sanitation in their living areas. Engaging pest control experts can provide further guidance on prevention methods and control techniques to keep these pesky pests at bay.
How Long Does A Drain Fly Infestation Last?
Knowing the life cycle of drain flies is essential for effective control of infestations. Adult females lay 30-100 eggs in sludge near sewage and drainage areas, and these eggs hatch within 32-48 hours. The larval stage lasts 8-24 days, followed by a pupal stage lasting 20-40 hours. Typically, adult drain flies live for about two weeks. Once the cause of the infestation is removed, existing drain flies generally die within 24 hours. However, without eliminating their habitat, infestations can persist indefinitely.
To check for drain flies in your pipes, you can place tape over suspected drains for 24 hours. If flies are trapped in the tape, you’ve identified the problem area. While males die within a few days, females can survive up to a week and may lay up to 300 eggs daily, allowing a small number of flies to rapidly multiply. Overall, infestations can last about 20 days, corresponding with the full life cycle of the fly. Drain flies are small, about 1/8-inch long, and while they don’t cause damage, they can be a nuisance due to their attraction to decaying organic material and standing water for egg-laying.
To combat infestations, regularly pour boiling water down drains to kill larvae and maintain cleanliness. Thorough cleaning and ongoing treatment can often resolve issues within a few days to a week. However, more persistent problems may require professional intervention and continuous maintenance over an extended period to disrupt the life cycle completely.
📹 How To Deal With Fruit Flies And Drain Flies
Pat Sullivan with Sullivan Hardware has tips on how to deal with fruit flies and drain flies. Read more: …
My boyfriend keeps pestering me that bathrooms with drain flies are dirty and therefore we need more drain cleaner and to wash the bathroom more often, I finally have a article to send to him that proves these guys are harmless and common everywhere. I still flush their larvae though because that’s a bit too gross for me and they tend to grow on the corners.
I think the first time I saw these little guys is when I was working on a broken drain pipe in Hawaii. There were literally hundreds of them around this broken pipe in the wall. I was fascinated with how they walk like robots, taking 90 degree turns and sometimes spinning in circles like a wind-up toy. Super cute! One of the janitor ladies was grossed out by them and called them “sewer flies”. I figured, well they don’t bother humans and they’re doing something good, so what’s the problem? Plus, they’re so damn cute!
this is my favorite bug, when i took a CAD class last semester we had to make a decorated box and these was a drain fly on that. on tumblr im the most well known drain fly fan with my own tag for it. ive spread the love for drain flies amongst my friends. i have a drain fly pin and once i buy more beads i plan to make a drain fly perler. i have a really bad scientific journal thingy about drainflies where they didnt edit out the actual parts of the scanner machine and the text is like a milimeter big. i take it with me everywhere i go. im not even that smart and cant understand most of it but i really love this bug. this article rocks because it has drainfly footage with such high quality. +they have the cutest pupa with bunny ears!!! its really awesome and it makes me sad that other ppl dont like them bc they arent harmful besides allergies and there are some rllly pretty pics of them ive seen. its so cool
When I bought my house a few years ago, I had a ton of them, but I just put a glass over them and slid a piece of flat plastic over the opening and let them out on my back patio. They don’t fly fast, so they’re easy to catch. I hardly have any now, so I guess I caught them before they could go back down the drain and lay eggs. Now, I look out for them when spring comes and if I see any, I immediately catch them and put them outside.
I had (still have) a diy wet/dry sump filter for my turtle’s aquarium and these guys found their way inside of it… I tried multiple times to get rid of them and failed every time, they were just too resilient. In the end, I shut the filter down and went to a canister set up for a short time, while I left the entire wet/dry system outside in the shed over winter (-40°c, Canada). Ended up reusing some bits but happy to say they havent come back. Also glad they didnt find their way into our actual plumbing. Theyd just fly around the house annoyingly.
They’re in my bathroom and I’ve always wondered how they entered. When I saw their pupae first time, I didn’t know what they were. But later my intuition told me that it must be them, and that the flies might be harmless. Thanks Deep Look for this in-depth explanation. Now I know exactly everything about them
They’re cute! And indeed, they’re well-mannered. They don’t land on me or my food, and they stay in the bathroom. I only get one very occasionally. I used to see them when I was a kid and was always curious about them. Note to readers: If you have a lot of them, you might have to be a bit more attentive to keeping your place – and drains – clean.
They are cute as hack! 😍😍😍 Lil fluffy round, all that shape. Cute cute. I have some of them in bathz not many, but some, but i let them be, they don t even poo on walls or buzz you nasty as common flys. I simply let them be. And live. If i would be one of them, i would like to be left alone in my world in peace!
Just to add to this, I had absolutely jazillions of these in a very full (nearly blocked) drain in my block of flats (apartments for the rest of you). They only really were a problem in my flat, as I was on the ground floor, closest to the drain. It was deeply frustrating, drain cleaner did absolutely nothing to get rid of them. Luckily, when my (very much blocked by now) drain was unblocked, they were completely gone. Just a tip for those who’ve used drain cleaner and haven’t seen any improvements!
With the exception of MVPs like Elephant mosquitoes and Hoverflies, diptera are probably the only order of arthropods I find generally repulsive. But even I feel compelled to come to the drain fly’s defence because it is easy to recoil at where and how they live without considering: 1) They help control the microbes that make drain clogs gross and smelly. 2) They are a hard-to-miss bio-indicator that it is time to clean the drains!
I remember, I had these guys everywhere! They were cute, but there were just so many of them. I had to keep putting them in cups and throwing them out my window, many literally stayed there outside of my window and didn’t move. While recovering from surgery, these guys annoyed me so much because I couldn’t catch them and my family hated me because I kept telling them to get them all out. Now I have a bunch of fruit flies. They’re also cute, and each of the many times I’ve found one in my glass drowning, I’ve picked them out, dried them by setting them on a paper towel, sometimes I wet them a little bit before because they look sticky, and then they eventually fly again.
I saw one in my shower today. I knew about them being hydrophobic from a previous encounter where I tried to splash one, so this time I thought to put some liquid soap in my hand before filling it with water to fling at the fly. Sure enough, the soapy water instantly broke the surface tension of their hydrophobic coating. It was kind of amazing to see, with the protective dust and tiny hairs immediately dissolving off of the fly as it became immersed in water, which was clearly a shock to it by the way it reacted. I actually felt kind of bad for killing it, though. I heard that they can possibly lay eggs which hatch larva in human skin, but I’m not sure how true that is… After perusal this article they seem rather benign and I might just ignore the next one I see.
I worked at an indoor fish hatchery for a few years, and these were everywhere. Once I came across a puddle full of the maggots, which were eating spilled fish feed dissolved in the water. I was so grossed out I poured industrial-strength bleach over them. An hour later they were still moving. The adults are pretty cute. though.
I see these all the time in my basement bathroom. I have told my husband they come from the drains (the main drain, and the overflow drain. If water gets into the overflow drain, it doesn’t drain out like it is supposed to. I clean out both drains every week. I use H2O2 afterwards to make sure no sludge is left. I cannot wait to show him this article!!! Now he will finally believe me and not think I’m some crazy germaphobe!
Biofoam, Hot Spot, or high concentrate bleach directly in the drain. Drione, Tempo WP, Tempo Dust, and Delta Dust slight misting of these dust in the surrounding air around the area. If you want “eco” “friendly” then use these dust products Ecovia WD, Sevin Dust, Talcum Powder, Baby Powder, Baking Soda, 50/50 mix Dawn dish soap and water, or 70/91% Alcohol both in a spray bottle.
So that’s what these are! The first time I ever encountered them was in the employee bathrooms at my old job, where there seemed to always be 1 or 2 of them hanging out. They never bothered me so I didn’t mind them, but I always wondered what they were as I’d never encountered them anywhere else. Makes sense now why- they like the bathroom better than the outside!
My mom passed away in 2021 and I inherited her old home in the country. I hope that I’ve finally gotten rid of them. I fought them for months with different bathroom and drain cleaners. I haven’t seen any in about 6 months. Hopefully the return of warm weather in the spring won’t encourage them to appear again.
Yeah, last house we owned had an open floor drain in the basement. Guess what insect was a permanent resident? Luckily I was already familiar with drain flies (also had them in the house I grew up in). Doesn’t hurt that I was fascinated with all things arthropod as a kid. I left them alone as I knew they were harmless.
Very interesting! I have had these for quite a while in my bathroom and was wondering about them. I guess that’s why I also have some spider webs in the corners of my bathroom windowsills! Because of these flies I have decided to leave the spiders alone, as at least some of the flies can be gotten rid of in a natural way.
I’ll tell you my experience, two years back in my university days, my university reopened for like 3 months (last semester) due to covid. I rented a ground floor room for the time being. At first everything was normal, just like a normal room but oh gosh, after a week or two, it happened. In my bathroom, I used to see 10-12 drain flies and the numbers went increasing, they use to hang in the roof of my room. One afternoon after me waking up, I saw hundreds of them on the roof and then I decided to do something on it. I purchased a insect spray, within 10 minutes I sprayed half of the bottle and got rid of them. I took a deep breath and told myself, hell yeah problems’ gone but jeez, it was just the beginning. After waking up the next morning I went to the bathroom and boom, the entire roof was covered with the flies. Now guys this cycle of spraying insect spray continued for 4 days, then I calculated that if I had to continue the spraying, this it would cost me a huge sum, I stopped it. In India, we use to have insect repellent incense sticks, those are very cheap. I started using that, my bathroom didn’t had any windows for the flies to move out so I had to keep the bathroom’s door open, the flies would take shelter in my living room, if I burnt a stick in the bathroom. I had to lit 4 sticks all together in every corner so that the flies have no other choice but to move out through the living room’s window. This was working good but damn in my 14th day of doing this same shit again and again I was tired as hell.
Back in childhood they were plenty around the house, near bathroom. But now i dont see them anymore. Perhaps because we didnt use that much chemicals that we flushed down the drain back then. Now every product we use has more sanitizing agent in them. Maybe it kills them off. I dont know if its a good thing. Our environment become more inhabitable to creatures that were once abundant.
I bought a washer from a guy who had was running a store out of a barn. My chick asked to use the bathroom and she went in and came straight back out. Besides what you’d expect filth wise, the walls were quaking from the thousands and thousands of them that lined the walls. Mostly on two away from the light, near solid floor to ceiling. It was like in a nightmare where the whole wall is alive and moving. I’ve always reviled them so it wasn’t that cool. I just thought yuck, glad I can pee outside.
I hate the,,, “this is NOT a moth (good ☺️) these are FLIES (bad 😡) that live in gross slime ugh” sentiment cus no, ‘classic’ flies are considered gross because they get in your food, not because there’s an inherent grossness to being a fly (these ones are cute imo). Not that grossness is a moral failing for animals either! Can’t we learn about animals neutrally? Do we really have to do this performative dance over how gross they supposedly are?
It’s kinda weird that I’ve suddenly had a problem with these that started about a week ago, but I never googled or searched for anything related to them whatsoever on my computer or phone, and suddenly this article pops up in my recommended articles. Gonna guess it’s just a certain time of year or something and there are other people having the same problem as I am. They usually go away on their own at some point in my experience, so I’ll just bear with it for a while.
That’s a public health inspector. Dealt with these a lot. Restaurant owners with just poured bleach down to drain to fix the issue and that will do nothing. If you ever have these don’t want to get rid of them, use an expanding phone cleaner down to drain to take care of the circumference of the pipe and do it at every floor. Drain as well, not just regular plumbing
I’ve always thought they were cute, but as a housekeeper and someone that can’t stand flies zipping around me or landing on me in the comfort of my home, I can’t suffer them to exist. I know she said they’re not interested in landing on us, but even if they’re not particularly interested in it, they do it a hell of a lot. Especially when I’m lying in bed. (I had 2 other male roommates that weren’t nearly as clean as me, so battling these in the summer was a long war)
My office building has these. Not in huge numbers, but there’s always at least one around, chilling there on the wall. The most I’ve ever seen at any one time has been six. They gross me out a little, but since I have to tolerate them at work, I’ve become somewhat more tolerant of them. It would be another story entirely if they were in my house. If that was the case, I’d be buying DrainO by the ton. Unless they’re willing to pay rent, I don’t want them inside my home!
I hate these things! We get them in our kitchen and bathrooms during the warmer months, which is most of the year here. I pour bleach into our drains to try to keep the flies from reproducing there, but it doesn’t keep them away for long. We don’t see them in large numbers — just one at a t, usually — but it seems like as soon as you swat one, another will come along in a day or two to buzz around the house. Just so annoying to have those tiny little flies around.
This gave me a new opinion of these guys. They always disgustes me because I knew they were coming out of the slimy drain. They are also so slow compared to houseflies and would leave a black smudge when smashed. Now that I know they don’t really spread pathogens, I’ll probably leave them alone unless there are too many gathering.
i have an story about this flies and why i hate them. When i was a kid, one day in the shower i noticed a black, disgusting, maggot looking crawling worm in my foot (all my life my mind has rejected maggots so bad). I got traumatized to the point of obsession, i started to stare on the floor every time i got a shower and at that point there were no way back. They were everywhere, in the corners of the shower. After that i refused to take showers for a time, so my parents got worried, so i told them… aaaand they didn’t believe me, they didn’t see them and also didn’t make an effort to look for them because they tough i was lying to skip taking baths, which was understandable considering my history of disdain for baths. To make the story short, i spend the next 5 years of my life with OCD. Later in life i discovered that i was not crazy but those worms where the larvae of this flies, which i was familiar with because they where common on the bath, so i started to kill the flies and the worms started to appear less and less frequent. My sister started seeing them too and then i was not so crazy any more…
I had already figured out where those buggers came from. It’s a good idea to get rid of them since they may not land on you personally, they still gunk up the areas around pipe exits and they can spread mold. I do find it funny that they almost look cute under a high res camera, irl they’re just docile mini moths.
We once had an infestation in our downstairs bathroom that wasn’t really used after my brother moved out. I tried everything to get rid of them. The water in the toilet wasn’t even turned on! Eventually I sealed the toilet up with plastic wrap over the bowl (lifted the seat up to apply to the bowl.) On the rare occasion I would lift the lid to check, the bowl would be full of hundreds of them, dead. They never really got into any of the other pipes. They were disgusting though. And they’re attracted to the color white for some reason.
Yuck, i hate those things. I had piranhas and they must have had eggs that hitched a ride and showed up after feeding them minnows. . They then ended up in my filter. All types of foreign life ended up in my tank and i had to empty and clean it. Those were the only fish my pirahnas refused to eat. Got them at a live bait store and they probably got them from a ditch somewhere. Its giving me the chills now…
|…why not let them have it?”. Sure, as long as they don’t fly back up into your house, anyway. I expect that gunk is also congealed everything, from toothpaste to soaps to grease (plenty still gets rinsed off of dishes and cooking tools, even if you aren’t dumb enough to just pour the stuff down the sink), etc.