Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Robot_Teacher]

http://img155.imageshack.us/i/wingedbugs4.jpg/
The Korean house fly that replicates by the hundreds.

http://img523.imageshack.us/i/wingedbugs5.jpg/
Notice the green tape? I went nutz with it, but it didn't prevent blocking the fly source. Gawd, where are they coming out of? This is just a small view of the problem.

Back in March I noticed a few in the bathroom I don't use, sucked them up with my vacuum, and couldn't believe what I was seeing 2 weeks later when I opened the door. 100's of em'. I have 2 bathrooms. And then as the weather warmed, I noticed more and more, but sucked them all up every weekend and some of which are escaping into the rest of my home when I vacuum them out. So many nights, I've been taking the vacuum to suck them all out and then bleach out the bathroom, but they return by the hundreds by the next day. I've studied all possibilities of their source and just don't get it. The more I fight them, the more they come back. Last Saturday, I took green tape and sealed the drain hole, cracks, and all openings, but they returned despite this bathroom being completely dry and clean. I closed the sink drain, taped off the taps, drained the toilet tank, and there's nothing more to possibly do as I can see. The window is sealed shut and the door shut, but when I look, it's hundreds of little black winged ones every time. So many come out that after a week, I find hundreds dead on the floor in there as there's no food source. I'm baffled where they come from and tired of cleaning them up. That didn't work so I shut off the toilet water valve, took the lid off, and now have a dry tank since I suspected they could be breeding in there yet the bathroom wreaks strongly of chlorine bleach and clean as a whistle. How they're replicating by the hundreds in this bathroom eludes me. I noticed as I combat them more and more, they're getting faster to elude my swats and coming in full force. I can't seem to find any bug bombs or spray at the local stores so I was hoping that sealing the bathroom off in all ways possible and sucking them all out with the vacuum would work, but they're determined to survive.

Any of you seen these annoying insects? I live very clean and these guys seem to do too well on bleached surfaces and in dry places with so few resources for them like my living space. When I kill them all by conventional means, they return in full force within a day or two. Now the weather is warm, they're in full force and getting to the rest of the house and I find em' resting in my coffee cup in the morning and around in various places and then at night when I turn off all the lights, a few bother me in front of my movie.



Your help is greatly appreciated!

[Leafs42084]

man, I really feel for you

if this was happening to me, i'd be so freakin stressed out!

I think ive seen them in korean washrooms before, but just like one or two. I think they call them "haroo salee".... which basically means "lives one day". Probably because they dont live very long

have you considered maybe just buying raid spray and spraying everywhere in your bathroom?

[xCustomx]

I had some flies in my bathroom two weeks ago and most of them were around the drain on the floor. I boiled some water, threw it around the drain and wall, and haven't seen a fly since.

[Robot_Teacher]

Where can get Raid or other effective spray? I've been looking in my small local stores and can't find any. Might have to wait until I get to the Emart again?

They're not coming out of the drain as I have the drains sealed shut and there not coming out of the drains in the kitchen and small bath which are open and in use. I know it takes 2 things to procreate bugs; water and organic matter, both of which seem to be absent. This is really weird. Drains were my 1st prime suspect, but that's not it.

[Demonicat]

This works wonders on ants and crawling insects, but it may work on flies too. Pour some piles of nutrasweet where they seem to congregate. They will eat it and die VERY quickly, just after bringing it back to their next and offspring.

[cwaddell]

Ah I hate those things.

I guess it's luck of the draw with apartments and areas. My last place had a real problem with them, but I haven't seen a single one in my new place.

Like yourself, I was baffled by how they were managing to get into the old place. I think I noticed a drop in population after pouring boiling water and bleach down the drain though. And I used to leave a bowl over the drain while not in use. But then again, I never noticed one fly on the bowl when I lifted it up.

It's a mystery for sure. Good luck with that!

[aphase]

I get those some times in my bathroom but its always one or two. I noticed they like high humidity areas. I also noticed that when I spit listerine on them while taking a shower it kills them instantly and disolves their soft bodies.

I heard they like to eat molds/mildew. Anyways one possible solution would be to leave a open bottle of wine in the bathroom. Not a bottle full of wine, but a bottle with a little bit left in the bottom. If their anything like other tiny flies, they'll fly in there and get trapped and die a drunken death (and melt if its anything like their reaction to listerine)

[moosehead]

that really sucks - I've had a few at a time but never that many - tho I've heard of others that have - they definitely do seem to come up the drain - try the tips others suggested - bug spray can be bought in most larger dept stores, some small stores too.

make sure you aren't using a sweet smelling soap or shampoo - sometimes that attracts insects as it's using a fruity scent -

[bassexpander]

Try hanging a bunch of clear plastic gloves filled with water from the ceiling.

That used to be a common site around Seoul... seemed to disappear a few years back.

[PeteJB]

Hm, they seem to live off just about anything in my experience. I usually get rid of them by pouring boiling water down the drain, keeping all food rubbish outside of the apartment and catching + disposing of any bugs I see. Can someone recommend a good bleach brand, btw? For actually putting down your toilet. They don't seem to use it much here.

[espoir]

[nobbyken]

You could try putting a few of those plastic dehumidifiers (the plastic Hippo things piled up on supermarket floors).

Try spraying vinegar on the walls?

The looked a little bigger than the moisture bugs we got last year.
A family member stayed at our home for 2 nights while we were on vacation, and they closed a bedroom door when they left. A little corner got damp and moldy with many wee bugs/flies which bit too.
Sorry I can't be of more help, hope you find a good method of treatment.

[KoreaninKorea]

Try bleaching your mirror. They might be growing behind there. Also look for anything else that they could hide behind.

[Robot_Teacher]

PeteJB is right. They're drain bugs! Eww yuck gross disgusting. Despite taping my drains shut to test if it were the drains, the sink drain is not sealed to the floor as it's just a tube going to a hole that easily came apart when I cleaned it a few days ago. It's not Western plumbing despite looking so similar.

I poured boiling hot water down my drains 2 days ago and sucked all the bugs away with my vacuum for one last time and now there are no newbies.

I won!

[ChinaBoy]

MOVE. Who would live in such squalor?