How to keep bugs from coming up the shower drain

Pests such as insects, can not only live in your drain pipes, but they can breed inside the pipes by living off the waste that you toss into your sink. It’s not a pleasant thought to consider, but unless you enjoy having insects including gnats, fruit flies, cockroaches and more breeding in your drain pipe and then finding their way into your kitchen or bathroom, you need to put a stop to them before they have a chance to multiply. Thankfully, keeping these pests out of your drain pipe is an easy process. 
Insects thrive in drain pipes because they usually have a steady source of food and water. Small bits of fruit, vegetables and other food as well as hair and trash that make it into the drain combined with the water from the spout becomes a staple diet for these pesky insects and helps ensure they have the right conditions to breed.

Types of Pests that Breed or Live in Drain Pipes

Fruit Flies: People often think that fruit flies are gnats due to their appearance, but these tiny flying pests have small red eyes and prefer to lay eggs in rotting material inside the drain, trash cans or other areas where overripe fruit and vegetables are laying around.
Drain Flies: Drain flies look like moths and are very small with hairy bodies and wings. They can breed in your drain pipe, sewer, septic tank and even in dirt outdoors that has had sewage leak into it. 

Cockroaches: Whether it’s the kitchen or bathroom, cockroaches need removed quickly as they love to hang out inside the drain pipes to breed and live where it is dark, humid and out of sight of the humans in the home. Eventually, the cockroach will leave the drain pipe and move around the home in search of new sources of food. 

Rats: No one ever wants to walk into their bathroom to find a rat trying to crawl out of their toilet, but it happens! Rats are great swimmers and have been known to swim a mile or more. While scouring for food in the wild, they often find sewers where they can easily climb into drain pipes and find their way right into a nice warm home where an abundance of food awaits them. Rats often require a licensed pest control service for rodent removal. 

Keeping Pests Out of Your Drain

It’s important to complete a little routine drain maintenance to help keep pests from breeding. First, clean your drains at least once or twice each month with drain cleaner. 
If your drains are slow to drain, use a plunger and unclog them. Chances are that when drains begin to drain slowly you have a buildup of hair, food and other waste that attracts insects. Once the drains have been cleaned, try using a drain screen to keep them covered so insects cannot crawl inside to lay eggs.
For stubborn clogs, it’s a good idea to call a licensed plumber to avoid damaging your drains and to have the clogs removed professionally. A plumber will help you safeguard against problems that you might not even realize you have, and they can take steps to ensure your drains are in proper working order. (source: AnytimePlumbing.net)
For larger pests such as rats, there might not be an easy way to prevent them from finding their way through the sewer, into the drain and eventually into your bathroom via the toilet, but it will help to keep all edibles secured in airtight food storage containers in areas of the home that are not easily accessible to rats. 
For larger pests such as rats, there might not be an easy way to prevent them from finding their way through the sewer, into the drain and eventually into your bathroom via the toilet, but it will help to keep all edibles secured in airtight food storage containers in areas of the home that are not easily accessible to rats. 

Ridding Your Home of Pests

Even with proper routing maintenance and taking steps to keep things clean and pest free, it is important to have a pest control company come in to make sure the pests are gone and decrease any chance of them returning. 
A pest control technician will come out and complete an inspection to check for signs of pests including insects and rodents and they will know the proper steps to take to protect your home. It’s best to have seasonal pest control throughout the year to prevent pests year-round. For instance, during the fall and winter spiders and mice are typically problem pests while ants, cockroaches and crickets are found inside during the spring and summer. 

Can bugs live in your drains? They absolutely can. What’s even more unsettling? These drain bugs, which are technically “insects” can also breed inside your pipes, feeding on any available organic matter — such as grease, hair, food waste and even toothpaste — and laying eggs in the gunk that collects in your plumbing.

But is there any good news? Yes! Getting rid of these insects is relatively easy. The process begins with identifying the kind of insect that's taken up residence in your sink drain or shower drain.

Cockroaches

Perhaps the most common type of drain bug, some species of cockroaches often thrive in bathroom and kitchen drains, which can supply them with a reliable source of both food and water. Drains also often serve as entry points for these cockroaches looking to share the comforts of our homes. Not only do cockroaches like the food we eat, they also like dark, secluded places and humid environments.

Drain Flies

Drain flies are sometimes called "moth flies." While they are members of the order Diptera — the true flies — their hairy bodies and wings make them resemble moths. They are dark in color (brown or black) and quite small, measuring one-sixteenth to one-quarter of an inch in length. Drain flies breed in drains, sewers, septic tanks and soil that has become contaminated with sewage.

Fruit Flies

Fruit flies are year-round nuisances that are constantly foraging for overripe fruits and vegetables. They resemble gnats (measuring about one-eighth of an inch in length) but some species can be distinguished from other small flying insects by their red eyes. Fruit flies lay their eggs in fermenting material to assure their young (larvae) have a consistent food source. Fruit flies are often also attracted to garbage receptacles and kitchen drains, or anywhere they might find damp organic matter.

Phorid Flies

Often confused with fruit flies, phorid flies sport a unique "hump-backed" appearance. Another unique characteristic is that they tend to run before they fly. They’re also more likely to live in moist soil. In fact, phorid flies are remarkable burrowers and can dig up to six feet underground in foraging for their preferred environment. That means that any organic material (especially backed-up sewage) that accumulates in your drains can become a potential phorid fly breeding site. Therefore, you definitely don't want these unsanitary flies in your home.

Helping control bugs in your drain

If you can unclog and clean a drain, you can help rid your home of many of these insects.

First, determine which drain or drains are harboring these insects. For example, adult drain flies love to feed and breed in slow-moving or clogged drains because they provide plenty of decomposing material in which to lay their eggs. If any of your drains are noticeably backed up, chances are those are the source of the problem.

If your initial inspection isn't enough to identify the affected drains, make an “X” over each drain opening in your home using a strip of stickier than average tape. Be careful not to completely cover the drain. Most insects found in drains are nocturnal, so leave your tape traps in place overnight. Check the tape the next morning for any insects that have become stuck in attempting to exit your drains.

Next, clean out your problem drains once a month. Remove any sludge, hair, food waste or other buildups. When using products to clean the drains, be sure to follow the label instructions for use and safety precautions.

To help prevent insects from making their way back into your drains, clean them once a month and consider covering them with drain stoppers, drain covers or metal drain screens.

However, if you're seeing these insects in your home, you may have a bigger problem on your hands than just dirty drains. That's where a pest control professional can help. Contact Terminix today to have a trained technician inspect your home for these and other pests and recommend a customized solution for you.

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