Help! - Phorid flies invade the spider room

[RVS]

Does anyone know how I can control these? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Lorgakor]

I used fly tape, seemed to work really well. I hung a couple of strips around the cages and I caught a whole lot of them. Now I have none. Well, probably till spring/summer comes again anyway. Just make sure it doesn't have any insecticide on the tape, just sticky stuff.

 

[MizM]

Keep your enclosures dry. They ABHOR dry conditions!

 

[RVS]

Keep your enclosures dry. They ABHOR dry conditions!

Well The problem with this is, I'm dealing with mainly high humidity species, T. Blondi, Asian obligate burrowers etc.

 

[MizM]

With these species, I put roly-poly bugs into the enclosures. They efficiently clean up anything that might develop into a problem later on. This is the ONLY method that I, personally, have found to be effective against the annoying little pesties.

I've found it impossible to keep the T room completely scuttle/phorid free, but they are not harmful to the Ts in small numbers.

As Lorgakor suggested, the fly tape works well, also, they seem to love a glass of cold coffee laced with Carnation creamer. (Flavor doesn't seem to matter!) If I leave my coffee cup anywhere in the T room, I kill hundreds of them!!

 

[RVS]

As Lorgakor suggested, the fly tape works well, also, they seem to love a glass of cold coffee laced with Carnation creamer. (Flavor doesn't seem to matter!) If I leave my coffee cup anywhere in the T room, I kill hundreds of them!!

Wow, that's a very interesting suggestion, I'll give these two methods a try. Thank you both!

 

[Arachnoboards]

Not sure if this will work or not, but I found it to be interesting. One morning I was watching some show (can't remember for the life of me which one) and the discussion of how to get rid of phorid flies came up.

One person suggested to leave out a cup of wine in the affected area. They did so overnight and the next day, *most* were gone. They apparently drowned in the wine.

If you do try this, please let us know if it works. I have been so curious ever since I heard this. But for some reason, I just can't seem to part with my wine.


Debby

 

[MizM]

Now THAT, my dear, is a definite "Must try!" When I open a bottle of wine, there is ALWAYS lots of leftovers. I will just have to open one tonight!

Now, did they recommend Chardonnay, Burgundy, Cabernet, Chianti.....

 

[Arlius]

I imagine this would work, I remember on another thread about getting rid of phorid flies that one member said putting out shot glasses of alcohol (40% type, like bourbon) that they will be rather attracted to it, and die in it.

 

[fleshstain]

Not sure if this will work or not, but I found it to be interesting. One morning I was watching some show (can't remember for the life of me which one) and the discussion of how to get rid of phorid flies came up.

One person suggested to leave out a cup of wine in the affected area. They did so overnight and the next day, *most* were gone. They apparently drowned in the wine.

If you do try this, please let us know if it works. I have been so curious ever since I heard this. But for some reason, I just can't seem to part with my wine.


Debby

i've actually tried this method and it works....my only recommendation is to use a dish deep enough that the tarantula cannot drink from it too....

 

[Arachnoboards]

i've actually tried this method and it works....my only recommendation is to use a dish deep enough that the tarantula cannot drink from it too....

Well I guess I should make myself more clear on this. Thank you for bringing to my attention the little detail I left out.

I do NOT recommend putting the cup of wine in the tarantula enclosure. When I said "affected area", I meant in the same vacinity of the enclosure. Like right next to it or in the same general area. By no means did I mean inside the enclosure. Sorry if it came across wrong. :8o


Debby

 

[Lorgakor]

I also read on the board that leaving bowls of vinegar works. Just so you know, it doesn't! I never killed one fly that way, and it really stunk. I can see the wine working though, normal fruit flies are always attracted to wine, so I can't see why phorid flies wouldn't be. I'll try that when they show up again.

 

[Varden]

Ketchup works too. Very, very well. I took up an almost empty ketchup bottle, unpopped the top and left it there overnight. The next day, I corked the bottle and removed it. I don't have a phorid fly infestation, but there were at least two dozen of the little buggers in there.

 

[Boris Striffler]

Hi RVS,

besides using these transparent "fly cards" like this one: Commercial flycatcher
I would suggest to remove all food remains from the terraria and bring woodlice and springtails into all your terraria. Furthermore I would use natural soil and no artificial sterilized stuff, as this is like an agar plate for bacteria, no natural enemy and optimal medium.
If you have the food for your theraphosids, like roaches or crickets in the same room try to remove them and put them in a different room.

Cheers
Boris

 

[Jmadson13]

Besides the obvious response, which is completely clean the cage.It is wise to control the waste, as others have pointed out. I've found numerous recipes for safe phorid traps as well. One that a friend here on the boards has suggested was a trap made from a small strip of wax paper, vaseline and a leftover cricket or other peice of bait. This seems to work very well and I've hung it in the top corners of my T. blondi cage and my centipede enclosures.
Jamison

 

[RVS]

So, from what I've gathered the flies are attracted to left over food scraps in the T's tanks. Is that correct? I had no idea. I just assumed the flies were feeding off of the peat or sphagnum itself.
I haven't noticed any left over scraps in any of the enclosures, if there are any they must be deep in the spider's burrows.

 

[Boris Striffler]

Hi RVS,

yes, this is correct, the Phorids feed on dead insects or spiders. As the leftovers of Haplopelma are most sealed somewhere down in the burrow, it is hard to clean these tanks completely, so therefor a lot of people use tropical white woodlice and springtails as their little helpers: they're doing the work down in the burrows and don't harm the spider.

Maybe, if the flies come from the soil they're not Phoridae but Sciaridae (or black fungus gnats). The latter are often found in garden earth with a high proportion of compost and can occur in high densities. To my knowledge Sciaridae do not harm the theraphosids but can be quite a nuisance.


All the best
Boris


There's a nice and higly recommendable article on keeping Haplopelma now available in English as well:

VON WIRTH, V. & M. HUBER 2004. Housing specimens of Haplopelma and other tube-dwelling tarantulas. Journal of the British Tarantula Society 19 (4): 107-112.​

 

[tapkoote]

I know this is an old post, but vinigar does work in a shallow dish, covered with plastic sandwich wrap. Poke a few holes with a tooth pick. They go in and can't get find a way out. Put them in the freezer.

 

[EulersK]

I know this is an old post, but vinigar does work in a shallow dish, covered with plastic sandwich wrap. Poke a few holes with a tooth pick. They go in and can't get find a way out. Put them in the freezer.

I can speak from heavy experience when I say that this doesn't work at all. I tried all of the home remedies that are a variant on this (vinegar, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, dish soap, sugar water, wine, etc). None work, they're all myths in my opinion.

The only thing that worked was a fly strip hanging next to a bright light overnight. Combine that with a complete substrate change of any humid species. While you're at it, mix in some peat moss into the substrate - the acidity makes it impossible for fly larvae to survive in the future.

 

[billrogers]

I can speak from heavy experience when I say that this doesn't work at all. I tried all of the home remedies that are a variant on this (vinegar, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, dish soap, sugar water, wine, etc). None work, they're all myths in my opinion.

The only thing that worked was a fly strip hanging next to a bright light overnight. Combine that with a complete substrate change of any humid species. While you're at it, mix in some peat moss into the substrate - the acidity makes it impossible for fly larvae to survive in the future.

I found a way to use vinegar! I have an empty yogurt container I put about two inches of apple cider vinegar. Above that on the sides I put some clear fly paper window strips. I poked holes in the lid. The fruit flies are attracted to the vinegar, go in through the holes, and get stuck to walls or drown. I'll take a pic when I get home. It has caught a ton!