What is a Drain Fly?

If you were to ask an exterminator what’s your best defense against any pest, including the drain fly, they would tell you that education is the number one top defense. So, it is important to know what drain flies look like, how they behave, what they eat, how they reproduce and signs that they are present in order to know how to defend your home against them.

Let’s start with what drain flies look like. They are about 1.5 to 5 mm long. They have a light gray or a tan body color and their wings are a lighter color. They appear to be fuzzy because their body and wings have long hairs on them. When they are sitting still they fold their wings over their body.

What about behavior? What do they feed on? Drain flies like hanging out in the bathroom, in the kitchen or around basement walls. They tend to be the most active during the night. They don’t bite, which means that they also don’t transmit any human diseases. They eat sewage and organic materials.

How about reproduction? They lay their eggs anywhere they can find decomposing organic materials. A new generation of drain flies is produced within one to three weeks.

So, how do you know if your home is also home to drain flies? The biggest sign that you have drain flies is when you see them sitting on your bathroom walls or somewhere close to their breeding materials. It is also possible to see their larvae wriggling inside the breeding matter.

So, what can you do if you figure out that you have drain flies in your home? All you need to do is pick up your phone and call pest control services. When Slug-A-Bug comes to take a look at your drain flies, they can recommend the best solution for getting rid of them. They will also work with you on a plan to keep them gone.