Fly invasion???! Do flies attack Ts?

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I am in no way looking to be rude or out of line. But it seems like something is very wrong for these mysterious T deaths and fly invasions to keep happening. And you do not have the funds to fix the issue it’s seeming.
Perhaps sell your collection until you get a job? Then can start over fresh and fly free. Best of luck.

I considered that but I’ve never shipped Ts and with cold weather I cannot learn how to do it or afford heat packs etc .
I’d have to sell locally and I’ve tried in the past to no avail .
I’ve killed the flys off before . But I froze some of my dubia the survivors of the outside cold were fly free .
I have too many dubia to do that now.
If I could locally sell some roaches bring them down to a manageable number is Be!fine .
Looks perhaps it was an old tank with clumps of too soil could a T get hurt on this ‘!?
My dad won’t let me run my space heater he’s afraid of bill going up.
It’s possible basement feels cold could be 60 degrees.
I wouldn’t sell mt pokies , And I am allergic to irritating hairs of my new worlds . so I cannot wrangle them out of-there tanks event , if I learned how to shipment them .
Its like playing tag with a pit viper or mean venomous snake . Those hairs are devastating.

Still couldn't find anything sharp that could had cut it , could it had had a wet or bad molt.? Unless it climbed to top of cage and fell no way it could had hurt itself.
I had a small log in there but felt it nothing sharp, poor critter .
Maybe it got too cold? Weather is getting warmer now though, it's so depressing to lose another favorite T. Maybe top soil irritated it? Not sure why it didn't re web after rehouse . I couldn't find what caused it's injury .

Sorta...I took a rubbermaid container, nested that into a larger one, and then sealed in a zip lock bag. All the flies died. I only had about 20, you have some serious issues going on over there. You'd need a garbage bag perhaps.

So I could put one of my roach colonies ina. Garbage bag with tiny holes in it for air or something and kill these flys off ? Then do the others colony. I can’t freeze the flys numbers too big this time .
Maybe put one colony in My bedroom to separate it .!!!??, inside an bag .
Can’t afford mealworms til spring probably, for 3 day shipping or whatever I cannot afford 1 day I’m broke.

 

[Phia]

I've had fruit fly infestations before. I was able to get rid of them by
-changing the substrate
-keeping the substrate dry, maggots need moisture
- and the secret weapon - springtails will outcompete maggots. A good amount of spring tails in moist enclosures does the trick

I personally cannot stand any form of wiggle worm so .... I've always acted immediately upon seeing maggots. I do believe maggots took one of my M. balfouri slings when it was 1/4" and vulnerable, but I have no proof. The maggots could just be the effect and not the cause of the little guy's death.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I've had fruit fly infestations before. I was able to get rid of them by
-changing the substrate
-keeping the substrate dry, maggots need moisture
- and the secret weapon - springtails will outcompete maggots. A good amount of spring tails in moist enclosures does the trick

I personally cannot stand any form of wiggle worm so .... I've always acted immediately upon seeing maggots. I do believe maggots took one of my M. balfouri slings when it was 1/4" and vulnerable, but I have no proof. The maggots could just be the effect and not the cause of the little guy's death.

You use substrate for dubia colonies?
Or you mean tarantulas cages ?
I cannot afford buffalo mealworms right now but I’d like some someday for my dubia colonies.

 

[Phia]

You use substrate for dubia colonies?
Or you mean tarantulas cages ?
I cannot afford buffalo mealworms right now but I’d like some someday for my dubia colonies.

Tarantula cages! My solution for my dubia colony is kind of rogue. To eliminate the maggots I make sure the poop level at the bottom doesn't get too high and I don't provide a standing source of water. There's no gels or anything like that to increase the humidity to maggot levels in there. What I do for water is provide a few leaves of lettuce every other day, or an apple, or a banana. I only provide as much wet food as the dubia can eat in a couple hours entirely. For their main food source I use rabbit food.

I did have maggots in there once. And mites. Not the bad kind, thank god. But any mite in too much number freaks me out. So I did a complete rehouse + flour bath for all my dubia around 6 months ago. No issues since then!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I

Tarantula cages! My solution for my dubia colony is kind of rogue. To eliminate the maggots I make sure the poop level at the bottom doesn't get too high and I don't provide a standing source of water. There's no gels or anything like that to increase the humidity to maggot levels in there. What I do for water is provide a few leaves of lettuce every other day, or an apple, or a banana. I only provide as much wet food as the dubia can eat in a couple hours entirely. For their main food source I use rabbit food.

I did have maggots in there once. And mites. Not the bad kind, thank god. But any mite in too much number freaks me out. So I did a complete rehouse + flour bath for all my dubia around 6 months ago. No issues since then!

I think there phorid flys see them scurrying or running more so then flying . Rabbit food for roaches is it cheap by bags ?they definitely attacked my fireleg.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Anyone else got advice to kill these kantevelous flies ? From the underworld,

 

[Demonclaws]

Thoroughly clean and dry your roach colonies. Stop feeding wet food for 2 weeks. Post a picture too. We can't help you if don't follow our suggestions. Since you don't have a job, maybe spent some time separating the roaches from the infested dirty egg cartons and containers and start fresh. Remember, keep it dry!

Your Ts are dying from something else. Phorid flies feed on decaying matter, they do not attack Ts.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Thoroughly clean and dry your roach colonies. Stop feeding wet food for 2 weeks. Post a picture too. We can't help you if don't follow our suggestions. Since you don't have a job, maybe spent some time separating the roaches from the infested dirty egg cartons and containers and start fresh. Remember, keep it dry!

Your Ts are dying from something else. Phorid flies feed on decaying matter, they do not attack Ts.

K I will not lost any Ts sense , was possibly a. Bad molt or post molt injury miss my T tho . What’s even weirder is it had water so didn’t dehydrate.

Thoroughly clean and dry your roach colonies. Stop feeding wet food for 2 weeks. Post a picture too. We can't help you if don't follow our suggestions. Since you don't have a job, maybe spent some time separating the roaches from the infested dirty egg cartons and containers and start fresh. Remember, keep it dry!

Your Ts are dying from something else. Phorid flies feed on decaying matter, they do not attack Ts.

Do I need to put bin in. A trash bag? If so how do you do ventilation without ruining the bag??

 

[sasker]

Not trying to be a pain in the neck, but it seems to me that you should really reconsider your husbandry. The first picture of this thread (with the B. boehmei) does not instill confidence about the way you keep your collection. What's with all the wood chips and pointy rocks in the substrate? What is wrong with normal top soil that also allow your tarantulas to dig?

Such fly infestations should have been eradicated long before it became a problem and this should not remain a problem for so long. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Restart your roach colony by throwing out all the old substrate/egg cartons, thoroughly cleaning the container you keep them in. Dubias are hardy, keep them dry (as has been suggested numerous times before). Be tidy and create a clean environment for your tarantulas and roaches. There is no excuse not to do this.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Not trying to be a pain in the neck, but it seems to me that you should really reconsider your husbandry. The first picture of this thread (with the B. boehmei) does not instill confidence about the way you keep your collection. What's with all the wood chips and pointy rocks in the substrate? What is wrong with normal top soil that also allow your tarantulas to dig?

Such fly infestations should have been eradicated long before it became a problem and this should not remain a problem for so long. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Restart your roach colony by throwing out all the old substrate/egg cartons, thoroughly cleaning the container you keep them in. Dubias are hardy, keep them dry (as has been suggested numerous times before). Be tidy and create a clean environment for your tarantulas and roaches. There is no excuse not to do this.

I no longer keep any rocks in my T cages , what’s a good alternative to tree bark ? I’ve used plastic food containers for hides such as , sour cream containers . I have enough new egg cartons to replace all my old ones .

 

[sasker]

what’s a good alternative to tree bark ?

You mean for substrate? Considering your situation, I think plain old top soil is your best option. It's dirt cheap and the most natural thing to use. You could even use garden soil (depending on where you live and how clean the soil is). Tree bark for substrate is just wrong. As for cheap options for hides, you can use terracotta pots. Just carefully knock out the bottom. and use the curved sides. Just be sure to chip off any sharp edges. Personally, I prefer cork bark as it is cheap and it doesn't rot. Looks nice, too! But I understood that it is relatively expensive in the US.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

You mean for substrate? Considering your situation, I think plain old top soil is your best option. It's dirt cheap and the most natural thing to use. You could even use garden soil (depending on where you live and how clean the soil is). Tree bark for substrate is just wrong. As for cheap options for hides, you can use terracotta pots. Just carefully knock out the bottom. and use the curved sides. Just be sure to chip off any sharp edges. Personally, I prefer cork bark as it is cheap and it doesn't rot. Looks nice, too! But I understood that it is relatively expensive in the US.

I’ve used top soil mostly but it’s hard to soften it up well enough, some people said my soil looked too rough .
So now I try and soften it up any tips ? What happened to cheap vermiculite for mixing Home Depot wants sooo much now for it . I used to get it way cheaper!!! 80%top soil ,20% Vermiculite was my favorite .
I can no longer afford anything but top soil or eco earth bricks .
My legs hurt bad something cheaper then vermiculite I can mix wiTh topsoil to make it lighter ??
Sadly I missed lots of pots thrown out by A neighbor they were cheap ones not quality ones like you described.

 

[sasker]

If you have difficulties finding top soil that is nice and loose, go for eco earth bricks. They are very good for digging, at least better than that chunky stuff you appear to be using now.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

If you have difficulties finding top soil that is nice and loose, go for eco earth bricks. They are very good for digging, at least better than that chunky stuff you appear to be using now.

Yeah home depot near me sucks , I could check Lowe’s , what ever happened to vercimulite coming in big cheap bags now it’s tiny bags cost a lot .
Last time eco earth was too wet how do you dry it quicker? But use enough water to get maximum coco from it .

 

[sasker]

Last time eco earth was too wet how do you dry it quicker? But use enough water to get maximum coco from it .

I usually poor boiling water over chunks of this stuff, but not so much that it is soaked through and through. I then break up the drier cores of the pieces i used by hand and mix it with the wetter outer layer. What you get is a slightly damp mixture that takes little time to dry. It just takes time. If you had made some of the stuff a week ago, it would have been ready today.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

If you have difficulties finding top soil that is nice and loose, go for eco earth bricks. They are very good for digging, at least better than that chunky stuff you appear to be using now.

Yeah Is eco earth good using on top of topnsoil so it’s softer on a Ts underside?
What’s the name of clean up crews for Dubai’s a type of beetle or something?
That kills fly larvae ?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I cann

You mean for substrate? Considering your situation, I think plain old top soil is your best option. It's dirt cheap and the most natural thing to use. You could even use garden soil (depending on where you live and how clean the soil is). Tree bark for substrate is just wrong. As for cheap options for hides, you can use terracotta pots. Just carefully knock out the bottom. and use the curved sides. Just be sure to chip off any sharp edges. Personally, I prefer cork bark as it is cheap and it doesn't rot. Looks nice, too! But I understood that it is relatively expensive in the US.

Cannot use garden soil my mom throws down stuff to kill ants , I missed a neighbor threw out lots of pots once but they were mostly plastic. Wish id had grabbed some .

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I cann

You mean for substrate? Considering your situation, I think plain old top soil is your best option. It's dirt cheap and the most natural thing to use. You could even use garden soil (depending on where you live and how clean the soil is). Tree bark for substrate is just wrong. As for cheap options for hides, you can use terracotta pots. Just carefully knock out the bottom. and use the curved sides. Just be sure to chip off any sharp edges. Personally, I prefer cork bark as it is cheap and it doesn't rot. Looks nice, too! But I understood that it is relatively expensive in the US.

Cannot use garden soil my mom throws down stuff to kill ants , I missed a neighbor threw out lots of pots once but they were mostly plastic. Wish id had grabbed some .
My p striata is losing some weight and still alive , she was just so fat!
Still tons of flies I removed her from basement. So they don’t attack or annoy her .

 

[PidderPeets]

I've gone through struggles with these flies before. You need to find their food source/egg laying area and remove that, then deal with the remainders until they die off completely.

I've had to cut my losses with small feeder colonies that got infested before by putting the container into fine mesh butterfly enclosures and just letting everything die out. They can't get into or out of the fine mesh, so they're left in there to die and they can't get out to find a new source to infest. It might be more of a hassle with a larger feeder colony, though it could still be done with the larger mesh enclosures they make. You'd risk taking a pretty significant loss, but when I've had to do that with roaches, there's usually at least a few survivors. It sucks, but sometimes you have to do what's necessary.

For the stragglers, I use glue traps, apple cider vinegar traps, and I let the Pholcids that live in my room take care of the rest. They have significant population booms when the flies get out of hand

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I've gone through struggles with these flies before. You need to find their food source/egg laying area and remove that, then deal with the remainders until they die off completely.

I've had to cut my losses with small feeder colonies that got infested before by putting the container into fine mesh butterfly enclosures and just letting everything die out. They can't get into or out of the fine mesh, so they're left in there to die and they can't get out to find a new source to infest. It might be more of a hassle with a larger feeder colony, though it could still be done with the larger mesh enclosures they make. You'd risk taking a pretty significant loss, but when I've had to do that with roaches, there's usually at least a few survivors. It sucks, but sometimes you have to do what's necessary.

For the stragglers, I use glue traps, apple cider vinegar traps, and I let the Pholcids that live in my room take care of the rest. They have significant population booms when the flies get out of hand

We’re or what type of screen mesh do you buy. ? Any pictures I probably need to cut enclosure lid so as to fit mesh . Or buy new containers ?