How To Get Rid Of Mayflies In Your House

Keep reading, as I will be giving tips on how to get rid of mayflies.

Having a dip in the pool could be a world of fun. You get to enjoy the water while doing some exercise at the same time. However, the presence of mayflies could cut your party short!

Mayflies are attracted to aquatic areas such as the lake, river, other forms of standing water, and of course, your swimming pool.

Facts About Mayfly Control

Understanding mayflies and their habits will help you get rid of them if they ever show up around your yard.

They may be called Mayflies, but they’re not flying. They are drawn to water and they make a good meal for fish and other bigger water creatures.

Mayflies are also attracted to certain types of lights, especially white fluorescent lights, so if you have any around your building, they may hang around those areas too.

They usually appear around May, which is how they derived their names in the first place. They could show up earlier though, but it depends on the particular species of mayflies or the weather conditions in the area.

The females lay their eggs in the water and die soon after. The males on the other hand die right after mating.

Luckily, mayflies do not bite or sting, they don’t spread diseases either. They are just an eyesore in your pool or around lakes close to your home.

How To Get Rid Of Mayflies Completely

The recommended means of getting rid of any insect infestation is to call a professional pest control service. They will come over and assess the situation, after which they will determine the best steps to take to remedy the situation.

This of course will cost you a decent amount of money.

If you aren’t willing to spend the extra but getting rid of the pests, then follow these tips below.

• Inspect Around Your Home

Locating where they are or where they maybe are the first step to getting rid of them. If you notice a significant number of them around a certain area of your home, then go round and inspect other areas to know exactly where they are lodged.

After identifying their new areas, you can proceed to the next step.

• Remove All Standing Water

I have mentioned earlier that mayflies love spaces with water, freshwater to be precise. If you have patches of standing water around your yard, then you can expect to have some mayflies there.

Causes of standing water in your yard would most likely be a leaking pipe (or pipes). Locate the leakage and have it fixed as soon as you can.

When the water gets dried up, the mayflies will no longer have a place to lay their eggs and they will leave soon than later.

• Set Traps

If there are mayflies around your swimming pool, then draining away all the water won’t be a good idea, since that will mean you can no longer swim. There is a way around this though, and that would be to set traps!

There are different kinds of traps you could put in place to catch the mayflies. One of which is the bottle trap.

Here’s what you’ll do.

Get a plastic bottle, about a liter, will do. Make sure the bottle you use is transparent so you can have a clear view of the flies you catch.

Get a pair of scissors and cut off the top of the bottle. Cut the part where the bottleneck connects with the rest of the bottle. Turn the cut-out part upside down and stick it into the rest of the bottle.

Doing this will give you a funnel-like construction.

Pour some water into the empty bottle and add some sugar to it. The mayflies will smell the sugar, and being that they are attracted to water, they will fly straight into the bottle.

The trick here is this – the mayflies can get in, but they can’t get out!

Place the bottle trap I areas where they are very active, this will give you a better chance at catching as many as you can.

Leave the bottle overnight and check on your trap the following day. If the bottle is full, it means the mayflies would’ve drowned inside the bottle or suffocated due to congestion.

Take the bottle to a place where you can properly dispose of the dead mayflies and put it back in its former position.

If you check on the bottle trap and you find that it isn’t full, then leave it until it is filled up before you empty it.

The good thing about this means is that it is very practical, you require only a few items to prepare the trap, and it doesn’t require the use of chemicals so it is eco friendly!

There is a downside though. If you are dealing with a large number of mayflies then one bottle trap may not be enough. You need to set as many as required to get the job done. This will require a lot more work on your part.

Another type of trap you can set is the glue trap (or gum trap). This requires a piece of cardboard with glue all over the surface. You can buy one or make one yourself.

Remember, mayflies are attracted to light so you need to place it in areas where there is light.

Get as many glue traps as you need and place them all around the areas with light. As the mayflies are drawn to the light, they will eventually perch the glue trap and will be stuck.

Check on the trap regularly to monitor your catch. If the glue trap isn’t full, it means there’s space for more mayflies. Leave it until it is filled and there is no more space.

You can take the glue trap off its position so you can dispose of the mayflies and then place it near the light again. Keep doing this until all the mayflies in your yard are gone.

This has the same advantage as the bottle trap, being that you only need a few items to set it up. It is also free of the use of chemicals so it is safe for the environment.

It has the same downside, being that it is suitable if you only have a few mayflies to deal with.

Bug zappers are another ideal trap you can put in place to kill the mayflies. Bug zappers have lights that the mayflies will be attracted to. Once they fly and perch on it, they will be electrocuted instantly.

You will find as many that have been killed laying on the floors of the areas where you set the zappers in the morning.

• Introduce Natural Predators

Don’t forget that mayflies serve as food to some fish and other aquatic creatures such as frogs. If you have a pond near your home which attracts the mayflies, then introducing some natural predators to the pond will help you reduce their numbers.

As they lay their eggs on the water, the hungry fishes or frogs will have the chance to feast on them.

This method of extermination is quite slow, as the predators can only eat as much as their bellies will allow. Then again you can introduce as many as you think will get rid of them faster.

How To Prevent Mayflies From Creeping Into Your Home

Mayflies are usually outdoor creatures, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make their way into your home if they get too close or find an opening.

Below are steps with which you can keep them at bay.

• Seal Off Spaces In-between Your Windows And Doors

Mayflies are not tiny insects, so it would be fairly easy to see off those tiny spaces around your doors and windows which they can use to gain access to your home.

• Reduce The Amount Of Light Around Your Home

Since mayflies are attracted to light, then they would fly towards the lights near your patios and front door.

Moving the position of the lights to areas away from your home is the remedy. The farther away the lights are away from your building, the farther away the mayflies will be from your home.

• Cover Your Pool

Since draining your pool water is not a viable option, you can get a tarp and cover it up whenever it is not in use, which I assume will be most times.

If the mayflies cannot access the water, they will be less interested in remaining in your yard.

An extra tip here is to keep your pool or pond clean at all times. If there is debris or algae growth on the surface of the water, it will equally attract the mayflies.

Conclusion

Mayflies are harmless to humans, yet they are uninvited guests that should leave. I hope this article on how to get rid of mayflies has been helpful.