27 Interesting Facts about Gnats

Female gnats can lay up to 300 eggs in a day.

Average life span of gnats are 4 months.

Gnats use fermenting or decaying substance as a medium to breed.

Gnats feed themselves and live on rotten or decay substances.

Not all the gnats bite - Only a few gnats bites and only females in the biting species of gnats actually bite.

Male gnats don’t bite and primarily lives on nectar and flower juices.

Biting female gnats require uses blood as an effective protein for reproduction.

Sometimes biting female gnats will travel more than forty miles for blood to breed

.Gnats are primarily attracted to bright colors

Gnats are also attracted towards Strong scent or odor

Female biting gnats are attracted to carbon dioxide and black moving objects.

Gnats usually appear in your home during winter months

A larva will turn into adult gnat within a week.

Fruit fly gnats are attracted to ripened or rotting fruit and vegetables

Sewer or drain fly gnats are attracted to bacteria, sewage and other organic materials available in drains

Fungus gnats - Got named after they feed and groom the fungus develop in the plants due to over watering

Fungus gnats - can reach from egg to adult within 25-30 days.

Fungus gnats have small head and long antenna & legs when compared to their body size.

Yellow sticky traps are the most effective way to trap the adult fungus gnats

Females of fungus gnat lives only about 10 days

Female fungus gnats lay eggs up to 150 eggs (eggs are Oval shaped and white colored)

Fungus Gnat Eggs can hatch within 2-7 days

Fungus gnat can transmit diseases such as Rhizoctonia (causes root rots, stem rots, damping-off)

Sand Flies are Called “sand” flies because of their color and not the habitat where they live

Only female sand flies transmit Leishmania when they blood feed

Sand flies need blood meal to lay eggs

Sand flies develop slowly - It takes 5 weeks for an egg to develop into an adult fly, whereas it takes 2 weeks for the mosquitoes.