# Phorid Flies from keeping Ts and crickets...



## B8709 (Jul 19, 2010)

I think they're attracted to some dead crickets in my cricket tank. They annoy me when they fly up my nose or land on my sandwhich!
 Wikipedia says "There have been a few reports of phorid flies opportunistically causing human myiasis", which I think means that the flies somehow get inside the body and make disgusting holes to crawl out of or something like that. If that happens, I will die from disgust:barf:. Please tell me that a fly accidently going up my nose won't do that to me! How do I get rid of them? Keep everything clean? Some of my crickets die often before I can feed them to my Tarantulas. So I should routinely clean the cricket tank every day or two?


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## Redneck (Jul 19, 2010)

B8709 said:


> I think they're attracted to some dead crickets in my cricket tank. They annoy me when they fly up my nose or land on my sandwhich!
> Wikipedia says "There have been a few reports of phorid flies opportunistically causing human myiasis", which I think means that the flies somehow get inside the body and make disgusting holes to crawl out of or something like that. If that happens, I will die from disgust:barf:. Please tell me that a fly accidently going up my nose won't do that to me! How do I get rid of them? Keep everything clean? Some of my crickets die often before I can feed them to my Tarantulas. So I should routinely clean the cricket tank every day or two?


I use to have the same problem with flies when I had crickets.. I dont use crickets often anymore.. Get you a colony of B. dubia.. Your fly problem will go away with the crickets..


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## jbm150 (Jul 19, 2010)

I've found picking the dead crickets out as they happen helps.  I don't keep many at a time, buying about 2 doz a week and feeding 'em off quick.  Since doing that, I haven't had any problems.  






Crickets suck


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## Jmugleston (Jul 19, 2010)

If phorid flies are in your cricket bin, you should adjust how you're keeping your crickets. Let the cage dry out and the flies will disappear. Though if they're in your cricket cage, they may also be in you spider cages. 

*Most* the phorid flies that pop up in our collections seem to be scavengers. They don't cause death, but as soon as it hits, they'll find it. Some phorids are a bit more harsh as seen with the decapitating flies (these flies are actually kind of cool in a freaky way). 

I prefer to use roaches as they are much easier to raise and the odor is much easier to control. Flies can still infest roach colonies though so switching food sources may not eliminate your problem. Strict husbandry practices including removing dead/uneaten food as soon as possible and keeping the feeder colonies dry will help keep the numbers down. Stink traps help to catch the adults flies as well. (a small cup with a bit of vinegar/alcohol/etc with a dead cricket floating in it will make a successful stink trap....though it will probably stink to you too......)


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## Bazzgazm (Jul 19, 2010)

I just noticed them in my enclosures, I redid them with new bags of cocofiber and wet them down pretty good, and sure enough about 4-5 weeks later, loaded with flies (well, like 1 or 2 every time i open it.  

I've been letting them dry out and now i'm not seeing them as much, but i'm probably going to just scrap the substrate.


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## Forrest (Jul 20, 2010)

making a "bait cup" for the flies helps to. put the dead crickets in a deli cup with the lid slightly ajar, after 48 hours most of the flies will have flown into the cup. just seal it and pop in the freezer. do this a few times and you'll notice there numbers drop drastically.

Cheers,
Forrest


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## Moltar (Jul 20, 2010)

Another method i've used to significant success is a "bait stickyboard". These flies are attracted to dead, rotting inverts. Take a couple of dead crickets and put them in the middle of a glue trap. Then put that glue trap right on top of the cricket colony. As soon as it starts decaying they'll be attracted to it. Since phorids do a lot of running rather than flying, they try to land just short of the dead crix and walk over to them. Then, of course, they get stuck.

Keep changing them out and keep the bait nice and rotten. The idea is to continue this (and the other type of trap if you want) and simultaneously try to get the feeder colony as clean as possible. Once a generation or two has passed the adults will all be caught in the traps before they can lay eggs anywhere and hopefully the infestation will be wiped out.


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## Fierce Deїty (Jul 20, 2010)

B8709 said:


> I think they're attracted to some dead crickets in my cricket tank. They annoy me when they fly up my nose or land on my sandwhich!
> Wikipedia says "There have been a few reports of phorid flies opportunistically causing human myiasis", which I think means that the flies somehow get inside the body and make disgusting holes to crawl out of or something like that. If that happens, I will die from disgust:barf:. Please tell me that a fly accidently going up my nose won't do that to me! How do I get rid of them? Keep everything clean? Some of my crickets die often before I can feed them to my Tarantulas. So I should routinely clean the cricket tank every day or two?


Oh my gosh... I have a ton of these in my dubia bin.  I didn't know what they were until now.  They are annoying to me too.  Flying up in my face and one tried to go in my ear.  :barf::barf::barf::barf::barf:

I'm definitely going to have nightmares now.  I often dream about my dubia colonies taking over my house.  Now I have another thing "bugging" me.  Ewww.. What if causes myiasis on me... BAAAAHHH!!


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