Fruit fly infestation?

Cowin8579

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 22, 2010
Messages
193
I have an interesting problem, with possibly fruit flies? The overall peat poss in my B. jacksoni enclosure became excessively moist, and despite my attempts to dry it out.. remained on the moist side. Due to many feedings, I dump in appropriate sized roaches and don't have time to watch.

A week or so ago, when I opened the lid many knats or fruit flies popped out of the enclosure. I suspect they are eating detritus. They also had laid little worm pupae on top of the lid. Rather gross. I dried out the enclosure again, and the pupae died.

Now they are in my roach bin. I don't know what exactly they are eating in there. There was a fast population boom when I put a banana in there, which didn't last long with the roaches either. I can only guess they are eating cat food? Or Detritus?

I don't know what to try except to put out fly tape. Any other ideas? Also, is this typical fruit fly behavior?

Thank you for your time.
 

ZephAmp

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
530
How do they move? Do they land on things and skitter around and then take off, do they hover around in front of you, or do they fly into things and flail their legs around?
 

Midknight xrs

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 25, 2010
Messages
132
I've had the fruit fly issue with my roaches. the happen to grow with fruits like banana's and citrus best. What i would do to minimize them is clean your roach enclosure to remove any left over citric acid and then make sure that the fruits are kept in a small, removeable bowl or something similar like a piece of tin foil to keep the juices from running. As for the ones in your cage, they may have traveled in with the roach and with the humidity and water levels high enough, they can continue to populate.
 

Cowin8579

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 22, 2010
Messages
193
Hmm, thank you both very much. These flies land and crawl a bit, verses buzzing and swirling.. if that makes any sense. The good news is, although I'm looking at one of these flies as we speak, this certainly could be worse.
 

ZephAmp

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
530
Most likely phorid flies.
They breed on dead roaches and in anything moist with nutrition in it.
My advice is to clean your cages very often for a bit and feed mostly dry food with misting for water for now.
 

Nomadinexile

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
Messages
2,674
Don't forget to add Isopods. I have them in all my roach cages, and they help keep things clean. Doesn't mean you don't have to clean them out every so often, and you still have to do basic maintenance, but they help a lot.

Also, I bring in spiders from outside and let them eat any that escape. Rapid wolf spiders and jumping spiders work great for that. :)
 
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