Fly Problem!

VinceC

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
100
So i have 4 different terreriums for my T's and just recently iv noticed that all 4 have little "fruit flys" in them. Not a ton by any means but if you look carfully u will spot 1 or 2 in each tank. I keep the terreriums really damp due to having 4 swamp dwelling species (including a T.Blondi). Iv never had this problem befor so my question is why is this happening and how do i stop/prevent it further?

additinal info: Substrait is coco fiber, and there are no live plants. all four are glass fish tanks with mesh lids.
 

codykrr

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 22, 2008
Messages
3,112
been dealing with this in my blata lateralis tub! driving me nuts, and I have tried everything I can think of. they are most likely phorid flies.
 

jake9134

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
91
Have some of these in my T room also, Can't figure out how to eradicate them all bc the source is probably my dart frog tanks. The frogs have no problem eating them which controls their numbers inside their tanks, but for inside my T room I have several white fly traps hung up near a light source and some by the vents to my high humidity cages to catch as many as possible.
 

catfishrod69

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
4,400
i have a few getting in with some of my things...i would suggest hot glueing some screen over all vent holes...try and keep anything that has loose lids stacked to keep the lids tight...and watch out because with that high humidity, soon you will have maggots....try and kill those flies as soon as you see them
 

BenjaminBoa

Arachnosquire
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
117
I had a problem with them in my A. metallica tank. Of course my eco earth was never damp, but one of the mini flower pots I had a pothos in started spawning these little black flies. I killed them when I saw them and changed out the bedding. After that I actually put in one of my venus fly traps. Pitcher plants and venus fly traps seemed to do great at eating the flies before they could lay their eggs provided at least one head was open. They'd also take care of any earwigs or anything else crawling into the tank. Unfortunately.. I decided to try feeding my metallica a hand full of grasshoppers. She wasn't interested by how slow the hoppers were and the grasshoppers ended up eating several leaves from my pothos and most of my venus fly trap :/ I actually found one head that had shut on the grasshopper and the hopper had eaten himself halfway out before dying.. I thought pothos was poisons to eat.. guess not. A trap we use at home is you take a water bottle, hang it from the base in an area where the fruitflies/ gnats are often seen. roll a piece of paper into a funnel and place it inside the nozzle of the empty bottle so that the cone part sticks up into the bottle. Then place some sort of bate inside, however a simple flashlight ontop of the bottle at night makes a perfect light- bait. The things fly in and can't usually figure out how to get out.
 

BQC123

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
May 8, 2010
Messages
413
Likely to be phorids, or fungus gnats. I place sticky traps around the problem areas, and even hang fly paper. Usually in a couple weeks the problem is solved, though it may be tough if they are not leaving the enclosures..
 
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