Drain Worms and How to Get Rid of Them
If you’re seeing worms crawl up from your shower or sink drain, chances are that they are drain fly larvae. Drain flies are also known as filter flies or sewer flies. The larvae and flies themselves will eat a variety of decaying organic matter, such as plants, foods, or even animals.
If they’re coming out of your drains, it means that there is either a buildup of scum on the walls of our pipes or something in the drain that they are directly feeding and breeding on. To effectively remove these worms, the drain pipes will need to be cleaned. How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies
Get Rid of Drain Worms: The Steps You Should Take
- Spray a liberal amount of aerosol insecticide for any flies in the rooms where you have seen the worms in the drains. Alternatively, you can use traps, or DIY methods to get rid of, contain, or kill these flies.
- Use a flathead screwdriver, or any other appropriate tool, to remove the drain cover in the affected drain. As a precaution, you may want to treat all of the drains in your home, but this is not usually necessary.
- Remove any debris from the drain. You can use a toothbrush or other tools to accomplish this. Make sure you remove any hair, fur, fungus, or other organic material that may be used for feeding or breeding grounds by the gnats and worms.
- Using hot water, scrub the sides of the drain. Use a plastic bristle brush or similar scrubbing utensil to effectively scrub the walls of the drain. Follow this up by additionally rinsing the drain with any remaining hot water.
- Replace the drain cover. Spray the room with your aerosol insecticide once again, or set up fresh traps.
After following the above steps, wait two or three days. If the worms reemerge from the drain, purchase a commercial drain cleaner. Make sure that you follow the application instructions of the drain cleaner.
The best way is to start by boiling water. Once the water is boiling, you’ll pour it down the drain. Make sure that you’re careful so that you can avoid any burns or splashes with the heated water. Wait for approximately thirty minutes, enough time for the pipes and drain to cool back down. Then apply the drain cleaner.
Be sure that the drain cleaner you purchase can remove debris, scum, and any other possible factors that would affect or promote gnat and worm population growth. You are trying to destroy an infestation, not just clean the drain.
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