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How to Get Rid of Drain Flies | 5 Easy Ways

November 19, 2019 Vinx Pest Control blog
How to Get Rid of Drain Flies | 5 Easy Ways

No one likes doing the dishes, but you know what’s even worse? Doing the dishes when you also have drain flies! Drain flies are little gnats or moths, and they hang out around your drains for the moisture and nourishment they provide. While drain flies are not harmful to you, they are annoying. To get rid of them, you’ll need to clean and sanitize the drain, getting rid of their eggs and the flies themselves. If you need help getting rid of drain flies you can see our pricing here.

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But sometimes, it can feel impossible to get rid of them! These drain flies reproduce extremely fast, so before you know it, you’re practically a drain fly hotel. Let’s talk a bit more about what drain flies are and how to stop them from reproducing in your home. 

If you have a problem with pests at your home or business, we can help. While our HQ is in Dallas TX, we also have locations in the Charleston SC, and Greenville SC areas including Spartanburg. We also serve Sulphur Springs TX.

What are drain flies?

Drain flies are little bugs that hang out around your drain. But, they go by many names. Some people call them moth flies, sewer flies, filter flies, and even fruit flies. However, they are much different than fruit flies. Though they can look similar, drain flies hang out around your drain and look a bit more like moths rather than flies.

Drain flies are true flies, but they are extremely tiny. At just about 1/8th inch, they can be hard to see if there is only one or two of them. But as they begin to reproduce and hang out around your sinks, you’ll notice them.

The flies lay their eggs in your drain and overflow pipes. This can be any pipe, but you’re most likely to see them in your kitchen sink because they feed off of the sewage and fermented food that hangs out there. However, it’s not unheard of to see them in your bathrooms as well.

What do drain flies look like?

While drain flies are flies, they look a lot like moths. Most of the time these flies are black and brown. They have wings that spread out like moth’s wings and have thin veins on their furry wings. On their heads is a tuft of fur, and they have long antennae that look feathery or striped. Their defining characteristics are:

  • Small body at 1/8th inch
  • Black or brown
  • Striped wings with thin, straight veins
  • Moth-like wings spread out
  • Tuft of fur on their head
  • Straight, feather-like antennae on their heads

What causes drain flies?

Drain flies love the humidity, so you’ll often find them if you live in a humid environment. On top of that, they love being in drains that are contaminated with sewage. This may be your kitchen sink, sewer, septic tank, or even soil. 

When a sink is left alone or not properly sanitized, there can be sewage that is contaminating it. Because drain flies like the left behind fermented sewage, they fly around the drains and eat at it. Then, they reproduce. Unfortunately, they are extremely fast with reproducing. They lay their eggs within two days of being born themselves, and they lay 30 to 100 eggs at a time.

Before you know it, you could have thousands of drain flies in your home, and it can be really difficult to get rid of them. You need to use your sinks and properly sanitize them to prevent drain flies from coming around.

Do drain flies bite?

Drain flies do not bite. Biting or not, no one likes to have bugs in their house. While drain flies are definitely a nuisance, they aren’t going to bite you like some other flies or other flying bugs that you may have.

Are drain flies harmful?

Surely, any bug eating sewage cannot be good, right? Well, as annoying as drain flies are, and as gross as their diets may be, they aren’t harmful to us. There are no cases of drain flies harming humans or causing any illnesses or diseases, so you don’t have to worry about that! Still, they are annoying and may cause you to be frustrated.

How to get rid of drain flies

Thankfully, there are five ways you can get rid of drain flies naturally. These DIY methods to get rid of drain flies can help you stop the reproductive cycle, which will help cut down on the number that you see. If you catch the problem early enough, they can be pretty easy to get rid of. 

  • Pipe brush: Use a pipe brush to brush the pipe as far as you can go. Brushing the pipe dislodges the eggs and larvae from the pipe. Then, flush the pipe with boiling water and sanitize the pipe brush so you don’t unknowingly keep larvae around.
  • Traps: You can also use a trap with sugar, water, vinegar, and dish soap. Put equal parts of water, sugar, and white vinegar. Then, put a couple of drops of dish soap in there as well. The flies are often drawn to the smell of this soap and then end up in the water.
  • Boiling water: Boiling water can kill the larvae, but it won’t do much for the flies already flying about. Twice a week, pour a pot of boiling water down your drain to dislodge and remove any larvae and eggs.
  • Salt and baking soda: Using ½ cup of salt and a ½ cup of baking soda, sprinkle it in your sink and down the drain. Once you’ve done that, pour a cup of vinegar down the drain. It may fizzle and foam, so be sure your sink or pipe has enough room to let out this excess. Let it keep foaming overnight, then pour boiling water down it in the morning.
  • Apple cider vinegar: For flies already in your home, use apple cider vinegar in a bowl. Pour as much as you want into a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Then, poke a few small holes in the plastic wrap. This will trap the flies.

Call a Professional

Many times, drain flies can be hard to get rid of because they reproduce so quickly. If you seem to try all of the DIY methods and don’t seem to get anywhere, you’re not alone. In that case, it may be time to call a professional. An exterminator knows exactly what needs to be done to stop the reproductive cycle of the drain flies. They have better treatments that work immediately, and the problem will be gone much quicker.

While drain flies may not be harmful to your health, they can cause a general feeling of sickness. No one wants bugs flying around their home, dishes, and food—especially not bugs that eat sewage. To get rid of them quickly and efficiently, call an exterminator and tell them what you’re dealing with.

Conclusion: How to get rid of drain flies

If you’re in the Dallas – Fort Worth areas, you’re not alone. The last thing you want to find while you’re heading out the door to the Rangers Stadium or the Star is a bunch of weird-looking moths. Save yourself the time and trouble by calling Vinx Pest Control.

We’re a locally owned and operated company that knows how to deal with the local bugs—including drain flies! Give us a call today to tell us what you’re dealing with. We’re so confident that we can help that we guarantee our service, so we’ll keep working until we’ve got it handled! With over 200 Google reviews and a 4.9-star rating, you can rest assured we’ll get the job done right!

Still Seeing Pests After Pest Control?

How To Get Rid of Flying Termites

November 19, 2019 Vinx Pest Control Pest control
How To Get Rid of Flying Termites

Being in such humid areas, we often get asked how to get rid of flying termites. If you’re seeing them fly around your home, unfortunately, that often means that you already have a termite infestation. You should call a pest control company immediately to bring an exterminator out. To get rid of flying termites, you’ll have to drill into your walls, apply pesticide, and monitor and bait them.

It’s fairly difficult to get rid of termites without the best product. In fact, termites are notorious for shrugging your DIY methods right off of their shoulders. You’ll need to bring in the big guys, and that’s a termite exterminator. You can click here to see our pricing for flying termite extermination. But, what are flying termites? How do they get into your home in the first place? To learn how to get rid of flying termites, you first need to know how they get there.

What do flying termites look like?

How do you know you’re really dealing with flying termites? With flying ants, flying termites, and other flying bugs that give you the creepy crawlies all over, it can be hard to know what you’re truly dealing with. However, flying termites have these distinguishable characteristics:

  • Boxy bodies that are straight
  • Straight antennae 
  • Long, symmetrical wings
  • Dark tan to brown coloring

Flying ants often get mistaken for termites. If you’re seeing a flying bug that looks like an ant or termite in your home, it’s scary! Thankfully, flying ants are much easier to deal with and cause less damage. You’re dealing with a flying ant infestation if they have:

  • Pinched waists
  • Black bodies
  • Asymmetrical wings that are delicate
  • Antennae that are bent in the middle like an elbow

What do flying termites do?

Flying termites don’t fly for fun. They fly because they’re getting ready to find their new home. And sometimes, your home looks like the best home for them. That means they’ll fly around your house looking for a place to land, mate, and reproduce. Though it’s the king and queen of the colonies that have wings, that doesn’t mean you’re going to see two flying termites. 

You’re going to see a lot more than that. These termites are called swarmers, and they’re going off to become the kings and queens of their own colonies. So, you could see a lot of them. If you’re seeing them inside your house, it’s time to take action—and fast! Even if you see them outdoors, that means there are termites nearby. Though they may be outside of your home, it’s only a matter of time before they get inside.

Are flying termites bad?

Here’s the thing: Flying termites aren’t going to hurt you, but they will hurt your wallet. Not all termites fly, and it’s the king and queen that grow wings and fly off to start a new colony. Once they fly off, they’ll start their colony and mate underground. They can actually live for up to 10 years!

Problem is, if you’re seeing flying termites, that means you’ve had termites for quite some time. When termites fly, they’ve been there for so long that they are starting a new colony. So, if you see flying termites, it’s never a good sign. Termites cause damage to the structure of your home, and with multiple colonies, they could be eating your wood and causing serious damage. 

As soon as you see flying termites, you need to do something about them.

How to get rid of flying termites

This is the hard part. Flying termites are hard to get rid of. Though they may die quickly if they do not find a new home for their colony, they will live a very long time if they do find a new spot. Because of this, they are really hard to get rid of.

It’s not so much the flying termites you have to worry about but rather the preexisting termites. If you’re seeing termite swarmers in your home, that means you already have a problem. These swarmers come once the colony is healthy and well, so you could have termites.

To get rid of flying termites, you’ll have to attack the problem as a whole. You’ll need to find where the exit holes are that the termite swarmers came from. That’s where your preexisting termite colony exists. But, it can be hard to find this if you’re not a trained exterminator. Even after you find this, then you’ll need to saturate the walls and damage with a termite insecticide to stop the colony from reproducing and causing more damage to your home. Because of this, it’s important to get professional help to save your home.

10 signs of termites

Before the swarmers arrive, you may find that there are signs of termites that you have overlooked. Here are some of the common signs:

  • Discolored or maze-like patterns in your drywall or furniture
  • Wood anywhere in your home that sounds hollow
  • Squeaky floorboards
  • Holes in your drywall
  • Windows or doors that won’t open
  • Tiles that are shifting or lifting
  • Mud tubes around the outside of your home
  • Wings around your house
  • Peeling paint that can look like water damage
  • Crumbling wood

What Do Termites Look Like?

What to do if you see flying termites

Sometimes, you may never see the flying termites. You may just see what they’ve left behind, which are wings. If you’re seeing random wings in your home, that means there could have been a termite swarm while you were out. It’s a lot more common than you think. Whether you’re seeing the wings or the actual termites, there are a few things you should do.

First, try and secure one of the wings or termites inside a bag so you can show it to an exterminator. This will let them know exactly what they are dealing with. It’s not always termites, or if it is, there are multiple types of termites and the exterminator needs to know which type you have.

Then, call an exterminator. While you can try to use termite baits, traps, or DIY methods, this is not a pest you want to mess around with. It can take a long time to figure out what works, and in the meantime, these termites are getting stronger and causing more damage. To protect your home and investment, call a pest control company as soon as you see flying termites.

What will an exterminator do for flying termites?

When you call an exterminator, they will first come out and inspect your property. They have to see what they’re dealing with and where the termites are coming from. After the initial inspection, they’ll explain your options. If you’re seeing flying termites indoors, there’s a good chance that you have a colony that will need to be treated.

To treat termites, they may have to cut drywall or open up your walls where the infestation is happening. Then, depending on how long the termites have been there, you may have to do some structural repairs once the exterminator is done.

With a powerful insecticide, the exterminator will saturate the colony and get rid of them all. When it’s all said and done, you should turn toward prevention. With termites, prevention is the best option.

What is a termite bond?

Some people like to get a termite bond. This is a preventive measure with a pest control company where they come out to inspect your property every year and ensure that termites are not infesting your home again. 

Conclusion: How to get rid of flying termites

Termites are difficult to deal with, which is why you should call a pest control company in your area. If you’re in the DallasFort Worth or Charleton, SC areas, call us at Vinx Pest Control today. We provide inspections, termite prevention, and termite control and extermination throughout the entire area including downtown by the American Airlines Center to Flower Mound and Frisco. We also have exterminators across Charleston County in South Carolina. Since we know how important your home is, we offer a guarantee on our work. With over 230 reviews on Google and a 4.9 rating, you can be sure we’ll get the job done!

Flying termites or termites of any kind are no match for our Dallas, Sulphur Springs, Charleston, or Greenville exterminators. 

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