Quickly Eliminate Fruit Flies In Bathroom Drains

Fruit flies coming out of bathroom drains are a sign that they are breeding in the gunk, choking the drains.

Cleaning the bathroom and its drains is essential to eliminate fruit flies. 

You’ll also need to use preventative steps to prevent fruit flies from returning. 

This guide shows you how you can do both. 

Let’s dive in.

Fruit Flies – Identification

Fruit flies are tan or yellowish with black markings on their abdomen. They have a pair of reddish eyes and transparent wings. Their bodies are oval-shaped and grow up to 1/8 inch in size.

Fruit flies don’t bite or sting. But they can transfer germs to your food. 

Many small flies in the bathroom, such as drain flies (also known as sewer gnats), fungus gnats, and phorid flies, can trick you into thinking they’re fruit flies.

These flies are black and of similar sizes. They share the same breeding grounds in the bathroom as the fruit flies. 

So, the methods to eliminate fruit flies in the bathroom drains will also help you to get rid of these tiny flies. 

Reasons for Fruit Flies In Bathroom Drains

Food wastes, especially rotting or overripe fruits in the garbage disposals, moist areas, and the slime choking the drains draw fruit flies into the bathroom. 

Like drain flies, fruit flies will sneak inside the sink, shower, and bathtub drains to lay their eggs on the gunk blocking the drains.

The waste choking the bathroom drains are moist. 

These wet wastes develop molds. These molds are food sources for the larvae, known as maggots, that hatch from the fruit fly eggs.

The larvae feed on the molds until they reach the pupae stage, where they lock themselves into a cocoon for a few days before emerging as adult fruit flies from the drains. 

That’s why you notice fruit flies popping out of the drain holes or gathering on the bathroom walls, ceilings, and fixtures. 

Eliminate Fruit Flies In Bathroom Drains

Thankfully, you can eliminate the fruit fly problem in the entire bathroom if you eliminate these flies, their eggs, and larvae in the bathroom drains.

Here’s how you can do it. 

Clean The Bathroom

Start by giving your bathroom a thorough cleaning with soapy water. Clean the bathroom sinks, fixtures, and storage sections too.

Use a mold cleaner to remove molds and fungi on the bathroom floor, walls, shower grout, and bathroom fixtures.

These molds and mildew are food sources for many bathroom pests, including the larvae of gnats such as drain flies and fungus gnats.

Clean Drains With a Drain Cleaner or With Baking Soda and White Vinegar

Cleaning the shower drains, and the drains of bathroom fixtures like bathroom sink and bathtub is a vital process to get rid of fruit flies in the bathroom.

Mix 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup salt with 1 cup white vinegar for the home remedy. Pour it down the drain and cover the drain holes with a drain cover. 

Let the mixture sit for a few hours and then flush with hot water.

The acidic nature of white vinegar and the desiccant nature of baking soda and salt kill the fruit fly larvae, adult flies, and their eggs in the drains. 

Please don’t use bleach, as it can damage your plumbing.

Yellow Sticky Traps

You can keep yellow sticky traps in the bathroom, especially underneath sinks and fixtures. 

The bright yellow color attracts the flies. They get stuck when they sit on the sticky side of the yellow sticky trap. 

Keep the traps for 24 hours. And dispose of the traps with fruit flies stuck on them the next day.

Apple Cider Vinegar Trap

You can make a homemade fruit fly trap with apple cider vinegar and dish soap.

Take a bowl or shallow pan and fill it half with apple cider vinegar. Add two tablespoons of dish soap and stir the mixture well.

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and affix it with a rubber band or duct tape. Poke a few holes in the wrap with a toothpick.

Your trap is ready. 

Keep the trap near the drains and underneath the bathroom sink for 24 hours. 

The fruity smell of apple cider vinegar draws the fruit flies. 

When they enter the trap through the holes in the wrap, the sticky nature of the dish soap entraps them, causing them to drown.

Throw away the mixture with dead fruit flies the following day.

Preventing Fruit Flies In The Bathroom

Regular Cleaning: Clean the bathroom and its drains to ensure that fruit flies to ensure that the bathroom wastes don’t attract fruit flies and other bathroom insects.

Reduce Moisture: Leaky pipes underneath sinks and bathroom fixtures increase the dampness levels of the bathroom.

The moisture spreads to the walls and floors, forming molds and mildew, food sources for flies and bugs.

So, fix the water leaks and ensure no stagnant water issues in the bathroom.

Installing an exhaust fan or a dehumidifier in the bathroom also helps reduce humidity levels.

Sealing Cracks: Fruit flies can sneak inside the bathroom through the vents, windows, and cracks on the bathroom’s windowsills.

Caulk those cracks with a silicon-based sealant to close the entry points.

Treat Potting Soil: The damp soil beds of potted plants in the bathroom are breeding grounds for gnats and flies.

Treat the soil with a mixture made from equal parts of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution and water.

It’ll kill any eggs and larvae active in the soil.

Use Natural Repellents: Things like peppermint and lavender oil are bug repellents. You can spray them in the bathroom every other day to keep flies and bugs away.

Your bathroom smells nice, too!

Fruit Flies In The Kitchen

The fruit flies in the bathroom can be a spillover from the kitchen. 

Food wastes and rotting or overripe fruits and vegetables in the kitchen draw the fruit flies.

When the infestation in the kitchen becomes severe, these flies spread to the rest of the areas of the house, such as bathrooms and bedrooms.

So, inspect your kitchen for fruit flies and treat your kitchen if you find an infestation. 

Fruit Flies Coming Back? Here’s Why

Fruit flies in the bathroom drains can go deeper into the P-trap, a U-shaped pipe that sits underneath the drains and consistently holds a little water.

If fruit flies are coming back, then they must be laying eggs in the P-trap. 

You can hire professional drain cleaning services to inspect and clean the P-trap for a long-term solution.

Also, decaying organic matter in your yard is a perfect breeding ground for fruit flies. 

A fruit fly population explosion outdoors will make these flies get indoors. 

You’ll continue noticing the fruit flies in the house if their breeding grounds exist outside the doorstep.

So, keep your outdoor area clean and garbage-free to prevent fruit flies from breeding there.

Hiring a pest controller is the best solution to eliminate a severe fruit fly infestation.