What To Do About Moth Flies Inside Your Louisville Home
You walk into your kitchen and find tiny flies all over the place. Upon closer examination, you realize that the flies in your kitchen look like little, fuzzy moths. You have yourself a moth fly infestation! But what does that mean? Should you be concerned? And, most importantly, how do you get rid of a moth fly infestation? One option is to take action and call Action Pest Control. We are your Louisville pest control experts.
But if you'd rather deal with the moths yourself, we have some suggestions to help you solve most moth fly problems if you don't mind rolling up your sleeves and doing some hard work. Join us as we take a close-up look at moth flies in Louisville and discuss moth fly prevention and control strategies that effectively address moth fly problems.
Is This A Drain Fly Or A Moth Fly?
Moth flies and drain flies are not different pests; they are two names for the same pest. These names reveal quite a bit about these flies. They emerge from drains and they look like little moths, but they are must filthier than moths. Moth flies are filthy insects because they hatch in rotting organic matter found in drains and stagnant water. They are already contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria when they take to the air as adult moths.
An adult moth fly is 1/5 to 1/6 of an inch long, furry-looking, and a dark gray color. While difficult to see, a moth fly has segmented antennae that look like thirteen tiny balls stacked on top of each other. The wings of a moth fly have a cleft, just like a moth.
Moth flies make short flights in the air. They're not great fliers. You can tell a moth fly from a distance because of this behavior pattern. Often, the moth-like appearance of moth flies is all that is needed to identify these pests properly. No other fly looks like a moth fly.
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What Are Moth Flies Attracted To?
Moth flies don't live long, so they continually look for suitable locations to lay eggs. What appeals to a moth fly? A damp habitat with rotting organic matter. It is no wonder they're attracted to drains. They're also attracted to damp conditions around your home and areas where plant matter is decaying. But, the greatest place on earth for a drain fly is likely to be your trash receptacles. The scent of dirty receptacles can attract moth flies from a distance.
Another attractant to consider is light. Many insects are attracted to light, and moth flies are not an exception, even though they spend most of their lives in the darkness of drains. If you keep lights on near entryways, moth flies may zip right into your home when you open the door. Keep lights off or consider replacing exterior white lights with yellow lights. Insects can't detect yellow light and are not attracted to it.
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Five Ways To Get Rid Of Moth Flies
Moth flies often become a problem when Louisville residents go away on vacation and leave their homes unoccupied. If you have a small infestation due to leaving your home unoccupied, you should be able to deal with it on your own.
1. Use a fly swatter to swat the adult flies.
The most obvious solution for flies is to swat them. While this only addresses the symptom, not the source, it is an essential step. For a small infestation, a fly swatter is all you need. When you're done swatting the flies, wash the dust with a disinfectant to prevent bacterial illness.
2. Use a vacuum to suck up the adult flies.
If you have a lot of flies, it may be necessary to bring in the heavy artillery. A vacuum can get this frustrating job done. After sucking the flies up, dispose of the vacuum bag outside your home. Clean the areas where the flies were crawling around to address contamination.
3. Locate breeding sites in your home.
After eliminating the adult flies, search for breeding locations in your home. Coat clear plastic cups with vegetable oil or petroleum jelly and place them over the drains in your home. You may also use clear plastic bags. If you have infested drains, you'll capture the adult flies. The flies fly up into the cups or bags and get stuck.
It takes about 10 to 15 days for a moth fly to complete its lifecycle at 70° F. So, be patient. You may have to wait a few days before you find flies in your traps. Put the cups or bags over your drains at night and remove them during the day when you need to use your drains.
Inspect mop buckets, the floor underneath your refrigerator, and other moist and potentially unsanitary locations. These are where you'll find moth flies breeding.
4. Address breeding sites.
Moth flies spend most of their lives in the larvae stage. The larva of a moth fly is a wiggly worm. You need to destroy these wiggly worms if you hope to stop moth flies from emerging from drains and other breeding sites you've uncovered within your home.
- Pour boiling water down the drains to wash down any gelatinous organic material in your drains.
- Keep running water down your drain to flush stagnant water and materials down the drain.
- Clean unsanitary locations and reduce moisture to make them unusable as breeding areas.
- Use a stiff brush to clean out the scum in pipes and the sediment inside your drain traps.
- Check to make sure your drain traps are holding water. Repair them if they are not.
- If needed, you can use a biological cleaner to clean your drains. Follow all manufacturer's guidelines or have a licensed pest professional handle drain cleaning for you. When you hire a professional, your professional will do a lot more than clean your drains. It is well worth the money to get this tough job done right.
There are a surprising number of places moth flies can breed. In all cases, moisture and bacteria are present. We don't know what potential breeding sites may be found in or around your home. Use this information to make this assessment yourself.
5. Prevent new flies from getting in.
The last thing you want is for new flies to get in and replace flies you've removed or destroyed. Once you've successfully dealt with the flies in your home, set your focus on keeping flies out. Moth flies can find breeding sites outdoors during the summer months.
- Inspect your exterior and look for stagnant water resources. Address conditions that create stagnant water by performing tasks such as cleaning out clogs in your gutter system.
- Pour out containers that capture rainwater. Any drain flies in these containers will dry up on the ground in the hot sun.
- Remove leaf litter, grass clipping, plant clippings, and similar organic debris.
- Clean out garbage receptacles and address any gelatinous organic matter. Doing so will remove breeding sites.
- Move trash receptacles away from exterior doors. When moth flies investigate your trash receptacles, they won't be near exterior doors.
- Only keep exterior doors open as long as needed. Moth flies can fly right into your home through an open door.
- Inspect your window and door screens. Repair any rips or holes and make sure there are no gaps around the frames.
- Inspect exterior doors and seal gaps. Replace weatherstripping and door sweeps and align double doors.
- In locations where rotting organic matter has sat on the ground and soaked into the soil, remove soil. Moth flies can use contaminated soil for months or years.
These five steps may address your moth fly problem if it is small and isolated to areas you commonly use. Continued trouble with moth flies is evidence of a chronic problem. Contact a licensed pest management professional if your moth fly infestation is chronic.
