Drain flies look like a tiny unassuming flying insect that will not cause much harm if they are in your home or business. These little flies are brownish black with a fuzzy type of hair that covers their body. Unlike the house fly, they are not good flyers. You won’t find drain flies zipping around your home from place to place. Instead, drain flies tend to hang out in areas where they emerge from. In homes, you will often find them in kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, or around basement drain areas. Restaurants often have a problem with drain flies around improperly cleaned drainage areas.
I had my own experience with drain flies appearing while working on a bathroom renovation in my home. Since the entire bathroom was out of commission, out of nowhere, or so it seemed, the drain flies appeared. The toilet and sink opening directly to the sewage system was an open door for drain flies to come inside of our home. Additionally, without water flowing down the shower drain due to a new ceramic tile being installed, more drain flies began to emerge. Those entry points were soon sealed off, and the hunt began to kill off the pesky bugs.
Drain flies live and breed within the sewage system which means that they feed upon bacteria and human waste. It stands to reason that these pests carry pathogens that can be dangerous for humans. Drain flies in bathrooms will contaminate soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes, or anything else they land upon. In a kitchen, food storage containers, food products, and food preparation surfaces are all subject to the transfer of pathogens from drain flies.
If you are having trouble with drain flies in your home or business, call a Monmouth County, NJ pest control professional like Allison Pest Control.