Are you looking for a way to get rid of those small black flies hovering around your drains? If yes, you have come to the right place. Here you will find information regarding how to eliminate drain flies properly.
Home drains are the hotspot for standing water or harmful bacterias to accumulate, especially when the drain and sink are unused for several weeks, months, etc. If you begin to notice some flies hanging around your bathtub, sinks, or showers, it can indicate drain flies.
What Are Small Black Flies?
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The small black flies are also known as drain flies, which are more likely to hang around and infest near your sinks, showers, drains, or bathtubs. You should know that their body is usually covered with a lot of hairs. However, if crushed, they are likely to leave a powdery smudge.
Most people confuse these tiny flies with phorid fly, fruit fly, or sphaerocerid fly, which are also among the infesters for drains. However, you should know that these tiny black flies also have different names like filter flies, sewer flies, or moth flies. They are likely to reproduce in 48 hours, which means they will infest the area in a short period.
What Causes Small Black Flies?
These small black flies really enjoy standing water that contains sewage and bacteria. That means you can find these bugs around your kitchen sinks, bathtub & shower drains, basement sinks, septic tanks, sewers, and soil that contains sewage.
In addition, these pests are likely to lay off eggs inside the drains and pipes because these are attracted to compost piles, wet buckets & mops, and storm drains with still water, birdbaths, etc.
Are Small Black Flies Harmful?
In simple terms, tiny black flies are not harmful to humans, but you should know that they live inside moist places where bacteria and sewage is already piled up. Usually, they are not disease-transmitting hosts, but they might transfer some diseases with them in a group. According to recent studies, they have not caused harm to humans, even if you have some serious infestation in your home.
How Do You Know If You Have Small Black Flies In The Bathroom?
You may have spotted these tiny black flies hovering around your home and don’t know how to identify whether you have drain flies or moth-like flies. You can use some ways to check if your home is infested by these tiny black flies or not.
Duct Tape Test
In this test, you have to cover the opening of the drain with duct tape and keep it covered for a whole night. When these tiny black flies try to come out at night, they are likely to get stuck on the tape when moving out.
It will help in eliminating some populations of these flies and helps in determining the infestation. This way, you can quickly identify the flies in your drain and know how to get rid of them.
Inspect The Larvae
Some species of small black flies usually lay their eggs on organic material, which get deposited at the end of the drain. To check whether your drain is infested with drain flies or not, you should remove the cover and scrape some material out from the drain. You should look for tiny, tube-like larvae, and if you are not able to find any, that means they are laid deep inside the pipes.
How To Get Rid Of Small Black Flies In Bathroom
To eliminate the drain flies, you have to determine the degree of infestation. After that, you can take a chemical or natural route to eradicate these small pests. In most cases, you can easily get rid of these flies by using the common items found under the sink or in your kitchen.
Natural Ways To Eliminate Drain Flies
To naturally eradicate these flies, you can flush down the water to remove larvae and prevent them from coming back. Or you can use the below-mentioned management and preventative tactics to handle the infestation.
Boiling Water
One of the easiest methods to get rid of drain flies is to pour hot water through the drain twice a day to ensure those won’t return if the water did not remove all the organic material.
Vinegar + Salt + Baking Soda
Mix up all the items to create a cleaning solution and pour it down through the drain overnight. You should know that when vinegar is combined with baking soda, it expands and covers more areas. Therefore, you should leave the solution until the morning and wash it off with boiling water.
However, if natural remedies don’t work, you can use a traditional drain cleaner to remove the organic material from the pipe. You should ensure that it is safe to use or not.
How To Prevent Small Black Flies In Bathroom
You know that drain flies are always looking for places like sewage and sitting water filled with organic material. To prevent these small black flies from infesting the area again, you must clean drain pipes with water or, in intense cases, clean chemicals daily.
If you have a drain that goes off for weeks or months without use, you should cover it with a stopper. You can also take some other preventive measures to prevent future drain flies.
Preventative Measures
You should keep an eye over the still water outside the drain or in other areas of your home. Don’t be lethargic in cleaning dirty mops inside the water buckets and keeping a healthy system.
You should look for the early signs of infestations, even if you notice some drain flies coming out from nowhere. Taking preventive measures like pouring chemicals and baking soda & vinegar solution with boiling water would make it easier for you to prevent these tiny bugs.
Final Words
Now you know how to get rid of small black flies in your bathroom, and if you notice any infestation around your home, you can easily handle it.
