How To Get Rid Of Mosquitoes In Drains? A Noob’s Guide!

Do you see swarms of buzzing mosquitoes the moment you enter your bathroom?

Or do you ever wonder where mosquitoes come from despite your home being swanky clean?

If yes, then the chances are that you’ve some unlikely places in your home and yard that give refuge to the mosquitoes.

And two of these places can be your bathroom drain or your catch basin outside your home.

In this post, we’ll reveal how to get rid of mosquitoes in drains and catch basins with some cool methods that you can do right away.

These tips will help you decimate both the mosquitoes and their larvae from the gutters.

The result? A mosquito-free home.

To make it easy for you to follow, we divided the post into two sections –

• Getting rid of the mosquitoes in bathroom drains.

• Getting rid of the mosquitoes in the catch basin.

Before we jump into the processes, let’s make one thing clear.

Mosquitoes need stagnant water to live and lay eggs. They can’t live on flowing water.

The chances of mosquitoes living and breeding in the drains of an unused bathroom are more than in a bathroom that you use daily. Unless the bathroom drains are clogged.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use these riddance process in your primary bathroom. Use these processes in all the drains in your home for better results.

Let’s jump into each of them.

Getting Rid Of Mosquitoes In Bathroom Drains

In this section, we’ll target drains in your bathroom, including the sink drain, the bathtub drain, and the toilet bowl, to get rid of the mosquitoes.

Let’s start.

Step # 1 – Know What Attracts Mosquitoes In Your Bathroom

If you don’t know what attracts mosquitoes in your bathroom, then the entire riddance process will be in vain.

Mosquitoes love warm, dark, and moist places to live and lay eggs. There are a few common, but often ignored, things that are attracting mosquitoes in your bathroom. These are –

• Stagnant water on the bathroom floor. Or your bathroom is wet and moist most of the time in the day.

• Layers of hair and soap scum on the drains. These layers choke the bathroom drain and make the drain pipes a perfect wet and dark place for mosquitoes to lay eggs.

• The bathroom is humid and warm enough for the mosquitoes to remain active. 70 deg Fahrenheit to 80 deg Fahrenheit is the optimal heat for the mosquitoes to have a ball.

Now, when you know what attracts mosquitoes, it’s time to get into the next step, which is…

Step # 2 – Clean Your Bathroom To Destroy The Mosquitoes Habitat.

Yes, it’s time to get on the offensive. So, let’s begin with cleaning the bathroom.

Few pointers to keep in mind while cleaning your bathroom to get rid of mosquitoes –

• Use a bathroom cleaner that has bleach and lavender scent in it. Bleach is a perfect mosquito killer, and mosquitoes hate the smell of lavender. We recommend Clorox with bleach or Gonzo Magic Disinfectant.

• Clean your bathroom furniture like a bathroom vanity, medicine cabinet, bathroom shelves, and linen cabinet with medical-grade disinfecting wipes. These wipes are excellent surface disinfectants that are both bactericidal and fungicidal. Wiping the furniture surfaces with these wipes will clean the surfaces and remove anything that is emitting odor attracting the mosquitoes.

• Check your plumbing inside the bathroom for any water leakage. Fix the leakage if there’s any. Water leakage makes your bathroom moist that makes your bathroom perfect for mosquitoes.

Step # 3 – Unclog The Bathroom Drains To Kill The Mosquitoes And Their Larvae On The Drainpipe’s Surface.

Mosquitoes can’t live and breed on flowing water. The reason mosquitoes coming out of your drains is because water is not passing freely through the drains.

It’s making the drainpipe’s surface moist enough for the mosquitoes to live and breed.

No matter how clean your home is, a clogged drain pipe is not only a breeding ground for mosquitoes but also for cockroaches.

So, unchoke and clean the drain.

And what’s the number one reason that chokes your bathroom drain? Hair and soap scum.

Hair can be hard to remove from the drains, especially from the bathtub drain or washbasin drain because they’re narrow.

But you can easily do it by using a drain opener cum drain cleaner like Green Gobbler. It sinks into the drain clogging, liquefies organic matter like hair and soap scum, and it’s non-damaging to the drainpipes. It unchokes, cleans, and clears your bathroom drains, no matter how wide or narrow they are, instantly.

Pro Tip: You can also use kerosene in your bathroom drains. Kerosene is a great mosquito killer. It kills the larvae and eggs inside the drains. But kerosene won’t unclog the drains.

Step # 4 – Install A Window Screens On Your Bathroom Windows To Stop Mosquitoes Entering Your Bathroom From Outside.

Mosquitoes also enter your bathroom through the bathroom windows. If you have a garden or a yard, then chances are they’re living and breeding there. So, you need to seal off another entry point, which is your bathroom window.

To stop it, you can use a window screen with tiny dense holes to shield your windows. Window screens stop not only mosquitoes but also other kinds of pests like moths.

And window screens neither spoils the look of your bathroom nor stops the fresh air from entering.

Step # 5 – Use A Safe Indoor Mosquito Spray To Eliminate Mosquitoes

Now it’s time to land the final killing blow for getting rid of these bloodsuckers.

For that, use an indoor mosquito spray as Wondercide meant for indoor use, and it’s also safe for your pet and children.

Spray it in the corners of your bathroom, like the hidden plumbing areas of the sink and the toilet basin.

Pro Tip: If you live in a humid place then you can use a humidifier to reduce humidity in your bathroom. It’ll make your bathroom inhospitable to the mosquitoes because mosquitoes need humidity to live. A humidifier is a secret weapon to get rid of mosquitoes.

Getting Rid Of Mosquitoes In Catch Basins and French Drains.

Another important place for the mosquitoes to thrive is outside your home. And that’s your catch basin and its drain.

Before we get into the mosquito riddance process from the catch basin and its drainpipes, you must know the purpose of the catch basin.

If you have a big yard or garden, then a catch basin can be an essential part of your landscape drainage system.

If your home is old, you must have a catch basin in your yard because they were the drainage essential before the 80s.

The drainpipes that connect the catch basin are known as French drains. The French drains carry the dirty water from your home to the sewer through the catch basin.

So, why did the French drains pass through the catch basin instead of directly going to the sewer?

It’s because the catch basins “catches” the solid wastes and debris in the dirty water passing through the French drains.

The debris settles down at the pit of the catch, allowing the free exit of dirty water from your yard or garden to the sewer.

So, the catch basin’s pit is wet and dark, protected from direct sunlight, making it a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Catch basin is always full of mosquito larvae and a cesspool for all kinds of dangerous pests and bugs unless you clean it.

The best part is cleaning a catch basin and getting rid of mosquito larvae inside the basin isn’t a challenging task.

Here’s how to get rid of mosquitoes from the catch basin.

Step # 1 – Pour Some Kerosene And A Few Mosquito Larvicide Tablets In The Catch Basin

It will help if you don’t clean the catch basin’s pit until you’ve killed the mosquitoes, mosquito larvae, and the mosquito eggs floating on the stagnant water in the catch basin.

It’s because if you clean the pit first, then the mosquitoes will escape. They can either enter your home or go somewhere else to breed. So, it would be best if you killed them right there.

To do that, pour some kerosene in the catch basin and drop 2-3 larvicide tablets.

But why to use kerosene on stagnant dirty water? There’s a scientific reason for it.

Mosquitoes can walk and lay eggs on stagnant water because of the surface tension of the water’s surface, meaning that the water’s surface can bear mosquitoes’ weight and larvae.

Kerosene makes the water’s layer too weak to sustain the mosquitoes’ and the larvae’s weight causing them to sink in the water and die.

Larvicide tablets also kill the larvae of mosquitoes. These are effective on a muddy and filthy catch basin pit full of debris.

Using kerosene and larvicide tablets together on a catch basin is deadly for mosquito larvae and mosquito eggs.

Step # 2 – Cover The Catch Basin To Stop The Mosquitoes From Escaping

You don’t want the mosquitoes to escape. You want to murder them? Right?

After the first step, cover the catch basin’s lid (like with a wooden slab) so that the mosquitoes can’t escape.

Keep the lid covered for at least 2-3 hours for the maximum effect of kerosene and larvicide tablets.

Step # 3 – Clean The Catch Basin’s Pit Of Its Debris And Dead Mosquito Larvae

Now it’s time to clean the catch basin. Remember the catch basin not only harbors mosquitoes but also sewer roaches.

Clean the catch basin thoroughly, its pit, and its walls, and remove all the debris.

You can use dish soap or detergent powder to clean the catch basin. Don’t forget to spray a disinfectant after cleaning. It’d be best if you drop 3-4 mothballs in the catch basin in the end.

The debris has dead larvae and mosquito eggs, so don’t forget to wear a mask and gloves during cleaning.

Pro Tip: Some people fix a window screen or a piece of fabric at the end of the French drainpipes facing the catch basin. They think that it will stop the mosquitoes from entering and nesting on the catch basin’s pit.

It’s a terrible idea. Never do that.

The screen will stop the debris from getting into the catch basin. It will choke the French drains causing massive damage to your entire landscape drainage system.

As we mentioned earlier, mosquitoes can’t live in drains where water is flowing. They need stagnant water to live and breed.

Why Do Mosquitoes Lay Eggs On Stagnant Water

Many species of mosquitoes lay eggs on stagnant water because their larval instars are aquatic. It means that before they turn into a complete larvae they need to be in the water to survive.

Once they become a complete larvae, they can live on the surface of the water because of the water’s surface tension. Then they molt into adult mosquitoes.

Female mosquitoes can lay eggs on stagnant water in plant axils and in tree holes.

That’s why it’s very important to kill mosquitoes in stagnant water to keep mosquitoes away from your home.

Conclusion

Drains, especially bathroom drains, and catch basins are two of the familiar places where mosquitoes live and breed to infest your homes.

If you’ve got a choked drain in your bathroom or a bathroom that you don’t use often, then mosquitoes can easily live in them.

These drains are moist, and water doesn’t flow freely through them.

It makes them a perfect place to live and lay eggs inside the drain on the drain’s surface.

In this post, you’ve got to know some easy-to-follow-steps that you can do right now to get rid of mosquitoes from the drains and catch basin.

You also got to know some cool stuff like larvicide tablets, indoor mosquito spray, and effective disinfectants that you can use to land a killer blow on these mosquitoes.

Do you know that mosquitoes can even breed and legs in the swimming pool?

To know more on it, read our post on how to kill mosquito eggs and larvae in pool.