I will now write a follow-up post to Shower Bugs. I wasn’t going to, but my guilty conscience (for not writing it) was pricked by Jennifer mentioning them again on my sidebar.
(sigh) Why do I have to feel guilty about NOT having written a blog?
Thanks a lot, Jennifer.
Ok. So if you don’t remember my first shower bugs post, you probably should go back and read it for this to make sense. But for a quick recap, we were seeing little, almost pretty flying bugs in our shower – only in the master bathroom, and only a couple.
Our tub is a nice, deep jetted tub – but due to the fact that I spend all of my time chasing a toddler, working two jobs, and, of course, blogging, I rarely find time to soak in the tub anymore. Actually, pretty much never. Which is a shame, since I do love a good soak. So I have maybe taken 2 baths since we moved into this house a year ago.
Since we never use our tub, our jet piping tends to build up some “crud” on the inside, which further prolongs the use, because I’m always afraid that whether I use the jets or not, crud will come out of them when the water rises to that level, and I don’t really know how to keep them clean, since apparently there are miles and miles of jet pipe in the walls of our tub (any tips on this would be helpful).
A few weeks ago, I finally found time to take a bath, and had forgotten about the jet dirt issue. I got in the bath when it was really shallow and just soaked as it filled up. And it’s a very deep bathtub, so that gave me a while.
However, I quickly got out when it got up to the jets, because crud started coming out.
Disgusting.
So then I showered.
Fast forward a couple of nights: For some crazy reason, Chris wanted to take a bath. This never happens.
After his bath, he comes downstairs with a ziploc bag full of water, and says he has a story to tell me.
This can’t be good.
He proceeds to explain that once the tub filled to jet-level, he began noticing crud. No surprise. Then he noticed something moving. And he was able to put together the dots.
Those shower flies? Had laid their babies in our pipes. There were (shudder) shower fly maggots floating in the bathtub. Lots of them. And he had brought some down in the ziploc bag to show me. Thanks, babe.
Although I was disgusted for him, of course my mind immediately went back to the fact that I had taken a bath just two days before.
I. FELT. SO. GROSS.
Once Chris had discovered this “issue”, he of course got out and cleaned out the jets really well (as best as we can clean out jets).
And we haven’t seen a shower bug since.
Nor have I taken a bath since.
Nor will I anytime in this lifetime. Or maybe even eternity.
Wow. That’s pretty gross. I don’t blame you for not wanting to take a bath. That’s ashame that you have that wonderful tub and don’t want to get in it because of the shower bugs baby’s. Gross……
oh friend…nasty. I hate bugs!!!!
Sounds like a good excuse for a Bathroom makeover/remodel to me.
Sorry, Rachel. :) I had no idea it would make you feel guilty. I didn’t know there was a follow-up about the shower bugs. But if it makes you feel better, you have now ruined my fascination/fondness for my cute little shower bugs.
I have no jetted tub, but we used to in our old house. Our instructions said to put a little Cascade in the tub (with water filled up to jet level) and let run for.. 30 minutes, I think.
Preston’s cousin just showed up at our house. He’s a supervisor for Cooks Pest Control. He said those bugs are called sewer gnats. They lay their larvae in the crud that gathers in either the goose-neck of your sink pipes, or in rarely used pipes. He said running some Clorox down your drains twice a week for a few weeks and run some in your jets on your tub as well. My fondness for these bugs is officially squashed forever. Just goes to show that you can’t be swayed to like a bug just because of it’s appearance.
Once when I was a child the bathtub filled up with bugs.It was disgusting.I had nightmares about it awhile after that.