How To Keep Pests Out of Drain Pipes

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.