Fly infestation? Found eggs in the waterdish...

[ThisMeansWAR]

Ok, so I'm kinda freaking out here. I was just tidying up in the enclosure for my P. sazimai juvie and found a waterdish that was soiled - and containing around 30 microscopic eggs. My heart sank and I started panicking, are we talking an infestation originating from a feeder? Nematodes? Phorid flies? Have they infected my dear T? Needless to say I am replacing all substrate and cleaning out the Kritter Keeper. Does anyone have any experience or input? I attempted to search the forums but "eggs" naturally only gives threads on egg sacs.

For the record; this dish was pristine two days ago so we're not talking neglect!

Thanks in advance

 

[boina]

Sorry, but that's.... poop, as in tarantula poop.

 

[KezyGLA]

Thats just jobby

 

[cold blood]

LMAO, another urgent alert for poop.

 

[EulersK]

Even if they were flies, you really don't need to worry about them. Once you start getting phorid flies or fungus gnats, you'll never get rid of them. But they're only a nuisance, not a danger. I have fly traps set up all around my T room.

 

[ThisMeansWAR]

w000t?? I know what poop looks like, I've had T's take a dump on me before. Besides, that feces is water soluble isn't it? I'm not saying I don't believe you it's just that I'm flabbergasted. I can see that there's crap in the dish, the white muddy substance. But in addition there's these miniscule rice-grain looking things that look exactly like fly cocoons. Anyway, I'm relieved. And so is my T (geddit? Relieved?)

EDIT: @boina + @KezyGLA + @cold blood + @EulersK - thanks for taking the time to reply! I'm glad there's no chestbuster that will explode out of my tarantulas... I've been watching too many Attenborough documentaries about megaparasites...

PS: Check out the series, "Life in the Undergrowth" by BBC

 

[KezyGLA]

Flys are a real pain. I am abroad visiting family for few weeks. I set up about 20 traps in the T room. Hopefully they are gone by the time I return.

As for the poop, you know what to do

 

[darkness975]

Even if they were flies, you really don't need to worry about them. Once you start getting phorid flies or fungus gnats, you'll never get rid of them. But they're only a nuisance, not a danger. I have fly traps set up all around my T room.

@ThisMeansWAR Phorid flies could be a potential problem, but still remote.

 

[KezyGLA]

Are phorid flies really an issue? What damage can they cause? I think I saw something somewhere about them but I thought they were harmless

 

[JoshDM020]

Its poop. If i hadnt cleaned it, id post a pic, but if you find it before it dries theres one of those little grain things in there every time. It helps observe if they squirt it on the glass for ya.

 

[Ungoliant]

I can see that there's crap in the dish, the white muddy substance. But in addition there's these miniscule rice-grain looking things that look exactly like fly cocoons.

Chalky muck plus tiny rice-shaped grains is often how it looks when tarantulas poop in their water dishes. (I noticed this most often with my old female Avicularia avicularia, who often used the dish as a toilet. I can also see grains in the poop when Avics spray the glass walls of their enclosure.)

 

[JoshDM020]

Chalky muck plus tiny rice-shaped grains is often how it looks when tarantulas poop in their water dishes. (I noticed this most often with my old female Avicularia avicularia, who often used the dish as a toilet. I can also see grains in the poop when Avics spray the glass walls of their enclosure.)

Exactly the species i had to clean. She likes to paint, i suppose.

 

[EulersK]

Are phorid flies really an issue? What damage can they cause? I think I saw something somewhere about them but I thought they were harmless

@boina has more information than I do, but they appear to be harmless. I think it's a case of "mite madness" - people thought mites were bad because their dead spider was covered in them, but rather the mites were just attracted to decaying matter.

 

[cold blood]

@boina has more information than I do, but they appear to be harmless. I think it's a case of "mite madness" - people thought mites were bad because their dead spider was covered in them, but rather the mites were just attracted to decaying matter.

Basically, if phorid flies are "attacking" your t, it means your t already had issues.

 

[Andrea82]

w000t?? I know what poop looks like, I've had T's take a dump on me before. Besides, that feces is water soluble isn't it? I'm not saying I don't believe you it's just that I'm flabbergasted. I can see that there's crap in the dish, the white muddy substance. But in addition there's these miniscule rice-grain looking things that look exactly like fly cocoons. Anyway, I'm relieved. And so is my T (geddit? Relieved?)

EDIT: @boina + @KezyGLA + @cold blood + @EulersK - thanks for taking the time to reply! I'm glad there's no chestbuster that will explode out of my tarantulas... I've been watching too many Attenborough documentaries about megaparasites...

PS: Check out the series, "Life in the Undergrowth" by BBC

I got this scare as well a couple if years ago. Whelp, little beasties in the water, oh nooooo!
Oh. Wait. It's just poo.

 

[KezyGLA]

Thankyou for clearing this up @EulersK @cold blood

I have had flies for years since keeping more tropical Ts. I have noticed they like moss. They are a pain in the neck sometimes.

 

[boina]

The problem with Phorid Flies is that there are so freaking many species, really thousands of them. A few of them are even parasites (mostly of bees and ants), but they are rare and I haven't heard of any tarantula parasitic ones.The ones you usually find in your tarantula enclosures are detrivores. The larvae live in moist earth and eat decaying plant matter (as in moss, for example) and the adults run around, eat some more decaying organic matter, and are generally a nuisance. In moist enclosures they are impossible to get rid off without pesticides, but they are not harmful.

 

[Nephila Edulis]

I've never actually had a problem with flies, so even if it were the eggs/pupa of a fly I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Nephila Edulis]

The problem with Phorid Flies is that there are so freaking many species, really thousands of them. A few of them are even parasites (mostly of bees and ants), but they are rare and I haven't heard of any tarantula parasitic ones.The ones you usually find in your tarantula enclosures are detrivores. The larvae live in moist earth and eat decaying plant matter (as in moss, for example) and the adults run around, eat some more decaying organic matter, and are generally a nuisance. In moist enclosures they are impossible to get rid off without pesticides, but they are not harmful.

I heard that Phorid flies can stress out larger inverts (mainly roaches from what people have been telling me). If they can stress a larger animal then they must be harmful/annoying for larger animals in some way

 

[vespers]

@boina has more information than I do, but they appear to be harmless. I think it's a case of "mite madness" - people thought mites were bad because their dead spider was covered in them, but rather the mites were just attracted to decaying matter.

Basically, if phorid flies are "attacking" your t, it means your t already had issues.

Much like mites, phorid flies were sort of 'demonized' by Stan/the TKG. Pages 228 and 229 talk about how phorids are a threat to T breeding and business, with claims of phorid maggots eating adult tarantulas alive. He also claimed every WC Theraphosa was infested with said maggots. I have not personally experienced any of this, in either scenario. But many on the forum here were spooked by the idea of mites and phorids several years ago because of it.