The Difference Between Fruit Flies and Drain Flies
Posted by Mosquito Squad
September 3, 2025
One day you spot a squadron of fruit flies in your home, circling the fruit bowl; the next day, fuzzy moth-like dots hop around your sink. These common kitchen and bathroom flies are different insects: fruit flies and drain flies. Knowing the difference between fruit flies and drain flies is the first step to kicking them out for good.
Mosquito Squad Plus® is here to walk you through how to identify and get rid of fruit flies and drain flies. We’ll show you what attracts them, where they breed, and the simple steps that work – plus when to call our fly control pros for stubborn cases.
Quick Identifiers: Fruit Flies vs. Drain Flies
What do fruit flies look like?
› Small – about 1/8 inch long
› Yellow-brown body with large red or dark eyes
› No visible antennae
› Transparent wings
› Fast, direct flying and hovering over food
› Common around produce, compost, and trash
› Appear in drains only if there’s fermenting residue in the disposal or pipes
What do drain flies look like?
› Tiny – about 1/16–1/4 inch long
› Moth-like gray body with small eyes
› Visible antennae
› Short, fluttery flights; they often rest on walls near sinks and showers
› Commonly come out of sink or shower drains
Where Do Fruit Flies Come From?
Females enter homes through cracks around windows, doors, or other entry points. They lay eggs on fermenting produce, sugary spills, and even empty soda cans. Sugary fermentation is #1 on the list of what attracts fruit flies, like bruised peaches and ripe bananas. A single ripe banana can launch a full-blown fruit fly infestation. After that, fruit flies in the home usually show up in less than two weeks.
Do fruit flies live in drains?
Sometimes. Sticky food film inside garbage disposals or slow pipes can host eggs, spawning unwanted sightings of fruit flies in the drain. If you catch a glimpse of fruit flies in the bathroom, they’re usually emerging from a partially clogged shower or sink. Both fruit flies and drain flies can take over your bathroom.
Where Do Drain Flies Come From?
The flies that are most likely coming from your drain and plumbing are drain flies. Adult drain flies enter homes through any gaps they can find, including pipe entry points. Then each female fly lays 30 to 100 eggs in the slimy biofilm that lines plumbing pipes. Worm-like drain fly larvae hatch and feed on bacteria in the pipes. Once they start flying, they are commonly misidentified as “gnats” in the sink drain.
Can Drain Flies Hurt Me?
The good news is that they drain flies don’t bite or sting. The bad news is that heavy numbers of drain flies can spread microbes from the drain to countertops and other surfaces, triggering allergies in sensitive people. Think of drain flies as sanitation red flags – annoying but manageable with quick cleaning and treatment.
Fruit Flies and Gnats – Are They the Same?
They are different. The term “gnat” is sometimes used as a blanket term to refer to fruit flies, fungus gnats, and a variety of other tiny flying insects. Gnats, like fruit flies or drain flies, are a type of fly, but gnats are their own species. This broad usage of “gnat” has led to significant misidentification issues, where people use the names interchangeably despite the insects being different species and requiring different steps for prevention.
Read more: Where Do Gnats Come From?
How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
Follow these steps to help get rid of fruit flies:
1. Find the food source. Remove ripe or spoiled produce and wipe away juice and other residue on the counter. Starving them out is the fastest way to get rid of fruit flies.
2. Beat them with heat. If you’re wondering how to eliminate fruit flies in your drain with common ingredients, try this simple DIY fruit fly removal method. Pour 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup baking soda into the drain, followed by hot white vinegar; leave this to sit overnight, and flush it out with boiling water the next day.
3. Set a fruit fly trap. A jar of apple cider vinegar plus a drop of dish soap makes a classic apple cider vinegar fruit fly trap. Cover the jar with plastic wrap with pinholes punched in the top so there is no chance of escape.
4. Clean and monitor. Empty traps daily and keep your house clean. If adult flies keep appearing, repeat cleaning until numbers crash.
5. Prevent them from getting in. Call your local pros for a Squad Fly Control service, and we’ll help deter fruit flies from entering your space.
How to Get Rid of Drain Flies
If you have fuzzy flies around your drains instead of tiny flies with large, red eyes around old produce, use these steps to help get rid of drain flies:
1. Scrub the drains. A stiff brush scours pipe walls, destroying some of the eggs and larvae of these airborne intruders.
2. Use enzymes and heat. Use bio-enzymes to digest drain slime. Pair this with nightly treatments of boiling water to help kill drain fly larvae.
3. Make a DIY monitor. Put clear tape over the drain to act as a cheap drain fly trap. Check each morning for stuck adults.
4. Reduce moisture. Fix water faucet leaks, and dry sinks and bathtubs after using them to eliminate the flies’ water source.
5. Inspect all wet zones. Look beyond the sink and bath drains! Inspect floor drains, fridge drip pans, and sump pits, as any damp sludge can shelter and attract flies.
6. Get professional help. If the swarms stay stubborn, ask our professionals to apply targeted outdoor treatments to help mitigate outdoor fly populations for several weeks.
Stop a Full-Scale Fly Siege – Call the Squad®
DIY traps and drain cleanouts can calm things indoors, but if outdoor fly breeding continues nearby, they are likely to keep coming back. That’s where Mosquito Squad Plus® steps in. With our Squad Fly Control service, we target flies outside the home to reduce the populations that wander inside.
Whether you’re battling fruit flies or drain flies, remember that a clean environment, smart traps, and professional backup will help you have less flies around your home. Ready for peace at the produce bowl? Request a cost-free quote online or call us at (877) 332-2239, and help reclaim your home from pests.