Use A Commercial Fly Bait
Commercial Insecticide fly baits are designed to attract flies and poison them with insecticidal ingredients. You will find fly baits in many forms, including traps, pellets, liquids, and window decals.
Keep all insecticidal products such as fly baits out of the reach of pets and children and follow all safety instructions.
What Is The Best Way To Get Rid Of Flies
Getting rid of flies for the long term requires a combination of methods. A good insecticide will kill flies that are currently bothering you, but a new crop will appear in a few days to take their place. Using all of the methods presented here will have the best results over the long term.
Seal up the house and use screens, kill or trap existing flies, use insect growth regulators to prevent the development of new flies, and remove all organic matter that could attract new flies. By combining these methods, you will have the best results.
Youve probably tried many of these methods yourself, and I hope they have worked for you. To be effective over the long term, you need to combine methods that attack the fly at all stages of its life. Then keep at it. Flies will continue to arrive, but if you follow the methods Ive listed above, you wont attract them, and youll be able to get rid of them quickly.
Let me know which techniques you have tried and which ones work best for you. Perhaps you know other essential oils or plants that are effective as fly repellents. Or maybe you use a method that I missed here. If so, please let me know in the comments section. I want to make this guide as complete as possible so that it will be useful in every situation.
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Regain Your Drain: How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies
Solyman Najimi | 2021-07-15 23:39:42 -0400
The smell of icky drains appeals to drain flies. They enter your home through an open window or a cracked basement slab. Once inside, they make a nest inside your drains and breed. By the time you see them crawling near and around the drain, its too late. You’ll look up “how to get rid of drain flies” online or call pest control, and every day wasted is a day for more drain flies to flourish.
It’s frustrating, but homeowners can conquer this unfortunate situation. Learn what drain flies are, why drains are appealing to them, the warning signs, how to remove drain flies, and ways to block them from returning.
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How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies
Home drains are a prime spot for stagnant water or bacteria to accumulate, especially if the sink or drain sits unused. If youve suddenly noticed an abundance of very small, moth-like creatures hanging around your sinks, showers, or bathtub, you may have drain flies. These very common pests can reproduce in just 48 hours, making it easy to find yourself with an infestation in little time.
Unlike some other pest infestations, understanding how to get rid of drain flies can be quick and simple. With a little diligence, you can stop them in their tracks with basic products or pantry items around the house and create a plan to stop them in the future. In this guide, well answer all your questions about how to get rid of drain flies and who to call if you need the guidance of a professional pest control company.
How To Keep Drain Flies Out Of Your Home
Unlike other insects, drain flies have the ability to enter your home through the small openings in your window and door screens. If drain flies smell something they like in your home, theyll find a way to get in.
The best way to keep drain flies out of your home is to clean your drains every other week using a mixture of salt, baking soda, and vinegar, followed by boiling water. Make sure to keep your doors and windows closed as much as possible to prevent them from finding a way to their desired breeding ground.
Lastly, because drain flies love water and sewage, make sure any standing water is removed and the area is cleaned immediately.
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Short Answer How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies:
Here are the ways to get rid of drain flies:
- Clean the drains using Drain Cleaning Gel. Drain cleaning gel is specifically formulated to remove the organic matter from the pipes thereby cleaning the drain fly breeding source.
- Use a Liquid Dish Soap Spray. Dish Soap contains borax, which has insecticidal properties. You could add 7 drops of dish soap with 2 cups of warm water and spray it directly over the drain flies to kill them instantly.
- Set up a Sugar and White Vinegar Trap for Drain Flies. Take a cup and add ¼ cup white vinegar and ¼ cup sugar. Add 5 to 10 drops of dish soap. Leave the cup overnight, and the next morning you would see a lot of dead drain flies in the cup.
- Occasionally spray drains with IGR . IGRs prevent the drain fly eggs from hatching and mutate the larvae so that they cannot pupate. Doing this reduces the chances of any future infestation.
How To Check For Drain Flies
Drain bugs like to congregate around standing water, drain pans, and pipes. If you think you have a drain fly problem, place some tape over your drains for at least one full day, and then inspect the other side of the tape.
For a possible drain fly infestation in your yard, use a plastic cup to cover any open water drains and then check the cup after a few days. Drain flies usually start congregating in the cup as they look for a way out.
If you think your pet may be infested with drain flies, use a fine-tooth pet comb to inspect every part of his body. Make sure to brush the fur back far enough so that the skin is visible.
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Know The Enemy: Facts You Must Know To Prevent Drain Flies From Coming Back
You cant successfully exterminate these annoying insects until you understand what kind of environment they thrive in, what they eat, and how they reproduce.
Heres what you need to know:
- Drain flies go through four stages : egg, larval, pupal, and adult.
- One female drain fly lays up to 150 eggs. Those hatch into larvae. Adult flies will develop within 2-3 weeks.
- Drain flies need humidity to stay alive and reproduce. Larvae also need organic material, such as slime buildup in drain pipes.
- Besides adult drain flies, you must find all eggs and larvae in order to prevent them from reappearing.
- Therefore, you need to have one strategy for exterminating flies, and one for eliminating all eggs and larvae.
- Drain flies are often called sewer flies, filth flies, or moth flies but theyre all the same pests. So dont be confused.
Now lets see the reasons why drain flies keep showing up in your home.
Will Drain Flies Eventually Go Away
Killing adult drain flies is a temporary solution but wont get rid of them for good. Its important to first find the source of where they are coming from and then treat that area. Drain fly infestations typically last up to 20 days, but drain flies can quickly reproduce and restart the life cycle, keeping these buggers a constant nuisance in your home.
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Why Are Drain Flies In My House
Drain flies are attracted to small amounts of stagnant water they find in plumbing pipes, sinks or other drainage areas. The flies feed on tiny amounts of bacteria, algae and sewage, so you can find them gathering around kitchen and outdoor sinks, shower and bathtub drains, basement sinks, sewers and septic tanks. Drain flies love sinks and drains that dont get used much, so if you have a guest bathroom or a shop sink in a garage, drain flies are more likely to find the pool of dirty water they need to feed and breed. They come into your house from the outdoors when they smell water and they set up shop in a drainpipe.
The presence of drain flies doesnt mean you have a dirty house or mucky pipes. Drain flies can pop into a clean kitchen while you are away on vacation. All they need is a little undisturbed water in the crook of a drainpipe and a few days with no human disturbance.
Make A Neem Oil Repellent
Neem oil is a natural insecticide and repellent. Despite its reputation as an insecticide, it is completely natural and safe to use on yourself and pets. In fact, neem oil is considered beneficial to the skin.
It must be diluted before use, however, since the essential oil is strong and can cause skin irritation. Try our Natural Neem Oil Repellent recipe on your skin or use our Neem Oil Insecticide Spray to cover large areas.
- 10-20 drops of neem oil, less if you have extremely sensitive skin
- A few drops of lavender oil or other pleasant smelling oil
- Warm coconut oil
Fill a two-ounce bottle with warm liquid coconut oil and add the other ingredients. Shake and spray on exposed skin.
Spray this mixture directly on flies and in fly-infested areas.
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Discourage Flies With Clove Oil
The scent of cloves is particularly distasteful to flies and will repel them. The scent of clove oil is very strong, so a few drops goes a long way. Use witch hazel to make a spray for your skin, or use water for other surfaces:
Mix ingredients, shake well and spray in areas where flies are a problem.
White Vinegar Salt And Baking Soda
Ready to clean your drain? Mix together ½ cup of salt, ½ cup of baking soda, and 1 cup of white vinegar. Pour slowly into the drain and let it sit overnight. Rinse in the morning with a few cups of boiling water.
Before doing this process, you can use an old pipe brush or sponge to scrub out the drain. This helps remove surface scum and residue that drain flies love.
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Clean Your Drains And Garbage Disposal
Many flies could be attracted to the smell coming from your drains or garbage disposal, but the most interested party is the drain fly.
Keeping your drains and garbage disposal clean is a necessity if you want to avoid the nuisance of drain flies. These pesky little insects that look like teensy, heart-shaped moths are known to invade the areas near kitchen sinks and bathroom drains.
To prevent an infestation of drain flies, it’s important to clean any areas of your home that house drainage systems. Remove debris from your drains and disposal by thoroughly scrubbing with a stiff brush and drain cleaner.
Apple Cider Vinegar Drain Fly Trap
A classic. Fill a cup or small bowl with around six ounces of apple cider vinegar. Add in a few drops of liquid dish soap to the ACV and then mix together. You can also stir in a few teaspoons of sugar to sweeten the deal for your curious house guests.
Cover in plastic wrap, securing the wrap in place with a rubber band so its sealed along the edges. Poke a few holes in the top with a toothpick or the tip of a knife the holes should be just big enough so the drain flies can enter. This apple cider vinegar trap also works great for capturing other types of gnats and fruit flies.
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Further Drain Fly Control
Luckily, drain flies dont bite. They actually pose very little threat at all. Theres much speculation that because of where drain flies hang out, they
carry all sorts of bacteria and harbor disease. However, theres very little evidence to back this up . What there is evidence for is that if you have a large drain fly infestation, you are at risk of developing bronchial asthma from breathing in dust and body parts from dead drain flies. Its pretty unlikely but possible. Mostly, theyre just annoying little pains the ass. Not just inside the house, either. You will probably want to be getting rid of drain flies in the outdoors too. Look around for any decaying matter or standing water. Start with the gutters drain flies love clogged gutters. Theyre also pretty big fans of bird baths, outdoor ponds, old tires filled with water, and compost piles. Also, make sure your air conditioner is draining properly.
Are Drain Flies Always In Drains
Not necessarily! Have drain flies indoors but no drains nearby? There may be something else damp or even mildewy attracting them. Check for signs of where the drain gnats seem to be coming from. And try cleaning in all of those household nooks and crannies, such as the back corners of counters, along baseboards, window sills, around air vents, on the top of your refrigerator, and anywhere else that seems appropriate.
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Remove Rotting Organic Material
Flies like bottle flies like stinky, smelly, nasty things. Things like spoiled food waste, rotting yard debris, and, of course, dog poop.
If you’re noticing lots of flies around your home, inside or outside, it will be important to address any sources of rotting materials so they will be less attracted to your property. Flies are known to travel 1-2 miles in search of stinky meals. Don’t let your house become a pit stop.
Inside, aim to address areas like:
If there are outside sources attracting flies to your property, it’s only a matter of time before they make their way inside. Outside, you can:
- Pick up dog poop: This goes without saying, but certain flies like poop and will hang around in large numbers if there’s ample poop in your yard
- Move your outside trash bins: Ideally, keep your trash and recycle bins away from the house to avoid drawing flies in
- Enclose your compost: Consider purchasing or building an enclosed compost space that makes fly access more difficult, and if that’s not possible, try to keep it as far away from the home as possible
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Make A Homemade Trap Using Apple Cider Vinegar
If you’re still spotting flies around, create a simple yet effective homemade trap with apple cider vinegar and some plastic wrap or cling film . Cleaning with vinegar won’t leave a bad odor, and ACV is a natural way to kill these pests.
How to:
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S For Getting Rid Of Drain Flies
There are a number of ways to remove drain gnats. While were going to look at how to get rid of drain flies specifically, some of these methods will also help eliminate fruit flies, fungus gnats, and other types of related small-winged insects.
Essentially, youll want to kill the drain flies at the source by cleaning your drains as well as setting traps to catch those still flying around. From there, keep an eye out to see if your treatment was effective! If drain flies persist in large numbers despite repeated DIY attempts, it may be time to call an exterminator or plumber.
These natural ways to get rid of drain flies are often just as effective than chemicals. As tempting as it may be to pour bleach down your drain, it can cause damage to your pipes, a septic system, and may even create a tox gas if it mixes with other cleaning fluids already present in your drain, such as vinegar.
Below is a list of natural ways to remove drain flies quickly and effectively so that they wont come back! Note that while putting out traps gets rid of drain flies, they wont target the source directly.
Its important to clean out any drains or areas where you think the drain flies may be coming from. This helps remove the drain fly larvae and eggs, in addition to cleaning excess scum, grime, and gunk from the pipes and around the drains surface.
First Figure Out Where Drain Flies Are Coming From
This is usually pretty easy. If you see one, theres a good chance that theyre coming from the nearest drain. To find out for sure, grab a piece of tape, lay it sticky side down covering about ¾ of the drain in question, and continue checking it for the next few days. If they are coming from that drain, there should be flies stuck to the tape.
Note that drain flies are especially attracted to any drains that have residual moisture in them. A partially-clogged drain or pipe is a favorite, as is a drain or pipe that always seems to have a slimy coating. The flies need that moisture and mineral concentration to live and breed. If you suspect a pipe or drain is always a little wet, start there.
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