Drain Fly Larvaes in the house.. can't find source help! (washer, windows)
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I have been googling, and found out what I am dealing with (drain fly larvaes, there were flies in july, but maybe because it's december we are occasionally finding larvaes only) but can't find a solution.
During the spring and summer I have been away overseas in belgium. I rented a place while living there which had a lot of drain flies in the house. When I returned home, around the this time we started having drain flies flying around the house - which we never had before (we just had occasional smaller fruit flies, and what is flying around now looked exactly like the ones back in belgium).
I am worried that some drain flies were trapped in my carrier and then when I opened it once I returned home, it hatched these larvaes somewhere.. I spotted the very first drain larvae in my room, and then found more later near the puppy resting place near our washroom. The larvaes I found both in my room and near the puppy place were on the floor, haven't seen any in the sink. These larvaes are definitely new to our house, we have lived here for nearly 10 years and only have this one other type of small but scary bug that we catch.
Since I can't find the source of larvaes or eggs(?), I don't know what to do other than maybe using the drain cleaner that is usually used for clogged food down all the drains and toilets. But what if it was hatched not in the drains but somewhere else in the house? It's a modern condominium, no basement or anything. Also, I was going to pour the Liquid Plumr Pro into the sink, but it says not for use in toilet. Should I just use my regular cleaning product for toilet? I haven't seen larvaes inside the toilet though. Our house back home is kept very clean, we vacuum everyday, especially because we have a dog. I am freaking out, and can't sleep at night..please help!
In short, unless you carried something rotting, gooey you probably didn't transport them. They're not like roaches or bed bugs in this.
They prefer shallow water or very wet organic solids, dirty garbage containers, wet lint under the washing machine, standing water in plant saucers.
You can inspect for swarming or just close up a few areas such as the bathrooms, the laundry room.
They can come from outside conditions too. Perhaps there were drain flies outside ...check swarming there...and a door or windows were open during a warmup and they got indoors.
Sometimes, even the cleanest homes have something stuck in the garbage disposal where they will then nest.
If you have a friend with a great nose sensitive to wet mildewy smells or even a hint of garbage, call them over.
I concur with clutchrider, best way to get rid of them is the hair and grease drain cleaner (high-concentration lye, comes in a black bottle covered with a plastic bag). Get rid of the crap they're feeding on and reproducing in and you get rid of them.
Bleach kills one generation but they'll be back if you don't remove the gunk.
Thank you everyone, city-data is pretty amazing. I'm surprised how many answers I've received so fast! We poured drain cleaner and covered it, hope to catch the source but so far nothing's coming out. Then we're gonna try to tackle other places, we throw out garbage and compost daily so hope we find something in the drains. Thank you!
They can be in septic tanks. And around washing machines and plants. If you close your bathroom doors and laundry room doors and open them later you you will see if there is a swarm or at least feel better if there is nothing at all and you have eliminated that.
Another thought. Did you bring in plants from outdoors for winter? Or are there doors or windows open in summer/fall without screens, or doors that are open a whole lot, like with kids forgetting to shut them. This way bugs can come in already in the plant soil or come in themselves and burrow in your plant soil. All is well till about this time of year. Then in the middle of the night you hear things moving around in the area of your plants. And in daylight you see lots of little flying tiny things. You can even see the soil moving. And pets can be intriqued by those pots. We did this in the past. Wound up changing the soil on some good plants completely, washing the roots and plants etc. But a pain unless the plant is really important to you.
...bugs can come in already in the plant soil or come in themselves and burrow in your plant soil. ...
I have a lot of indoor plants and, for a time, I was buying organic potting soil. OMG, the millions of little flying bugs that hatched shortly after I had used that potting soil in @ 20 pots was unbelievable.
They were in every room, even ones that have no plants. I'd put 5-6 of those yellow sticky-stakes in each pot and, within a day, the strips were entirely covered with the bugs. I finally had to re-pot all the plants with a potting soil that was treated with some kind of industrial-strength bug killer.
I have a lot of indoor plants and, for a time, I was buying organic potting soil. OMG, the millions of little flying bugs that hatched shortly after I had used that potting soil in @ 20 pots was unbelievable.
They were in every room, even ones that have no plants. I'd put 5-6 of those yellow sticky-stakes in each pot and, within a day, the strips were entirely covered with the bugs. I finally had to re-pot all the plants with a potting soil that was treated with some kind of industrial-strength bug killer.
That stuff should have a warning. Actually, seems like there were more bugs than normal even for outside pots with our soil.
[quote=cully;32777740] RE: They can be in septic tanks. "And around washing machines" and plants.
Hi, I know this is an older post, but I am suffering with drain flies and also suspected washing machine - but I read about pouring things down the drain - but we suspect they aren't in drains. I did think washing machine - but how would one treat or try to prevent around washer ? The washer is in a small kitchen - tough to see if they are under the machine, but i don't think so since we've had these before, and the washer is newer than the problem - so that being said - is there a spray or something to use around the washer ? I see no accumulated water - and I've taped over the standpipe and found no "glued" flies the next morning, yet see the damn things flying around. Total mystery to me. We did try the orange citrus stuff down the drains ( our kitchen is directly around wall from bathroom ) and shares the same water circuit. So the drain cleaners, hot water baking soda/peroxide have been used. I hate to use the bottled box store powerful things down the drain because they end up in the environment. But....I have used Zep in the tub with a back up ( not fly related ) issue , and find it better than drain-o, etc.... These stupid flies make the house feel "dirty" - they land on the table during dinner, etc....annoying little buggers.
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