Fruit Flies in Hisser Enclouser

[MarlonAnn]

Hello all!
I’m having an issue with there being a lot of fruit flies in my Hissing Cockroach habitat. I’ve tried placing a cup of apple cider vinegar with dish soap in the habitat and have only found three in the bottom of the glass over 2-3 weeks. Do you have any suggestions that would be safe for the roach cage?

 

[Pernicious]

Id try rehousing the colony n watching for excessive moisture. I have had the same issue once with my dubias n new subsrate was the fix in my book prob from old food in my case..hope it helps

 

[MarlonAnn]

Is there a substrate that I would be better off using than cocofiber? I’ve been using that for the 6 or so months I’ve had them but didn’t really start seeing any issues until about 2 months ago.

 

[Pernicious]

Any substrate is good really. I like coco fiber as well .but i mix a lil regular soil in aswell top soil potting soil doesn't really matter as long as its not fertilized really

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

Cases of fruit flies in a roach colony are almost always phorid fly infestations unless you’re keeping fermented fruit in there. The latter feed off of moist decaying material, especially dead roaches, and you will need a cleaner crew unless you can dry things out considerably and pick out dead roaches daily.

 

[MarlonAnn]

Cases of fruit flies in a roach colony are almost always phorid fly infestations unless you’re keeping fermented fruit in there. The latter feed off of moist decaying material, especially dead roaches, and you will need a cleaner crew unless you can dry things out considerably and pick out dead roaches daily.

Thank you!
I have been condsidering a cleaning crew for a while but had a few questions.
1. What is a good cleaner crew/roach ratio?
2. Is it safe to have a cleaner crew when there are nymphs in the cage?
3. Do the cleaner crews take care of roach waste?

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

Thank you!
I have been condsidering a cleaning crew for a while but had a few questions.
1. What is a good cleaner crew/roach ratio?
2. Is it safe to have a cleaner crew when there are nymphs in the cage?
3. Do the cleaner crews take care of roach waste?

1: Most species used for cleaners will self regulate in accordance to available food. (dead roaches/excess roach food) If starting with a small amount in a large colony, expect a several months before the cleaner crew breeds enough to keep up.

2: Safe, especially livebearing species. For species that lay ootheca, some loss may occur, but is generally negligible for fecund species such as lateralis.

3. For the most part. An established cleaner crew will quickly process frass into a fine powder and chew molts/dead roaches into a fine substrate. Periodic cleaning will still be necessary, but this “substrate” doesn’t compact and mold as quickly as it does in crewless colonies.

You’re main choices are dermestids (preferably maculatus, other species are capable of flight even at lower temperatures) and lesser mealworms. Dermestids feed almost entirely on dead roaches and so will not normally explode in numbers in a healthy roach colony. Lesser mealworms are generalists and are good at cleaning up leftover food as well as dead roches, but if allowed constant access to roach food they can explode in numbers.