Fruit Fly Larva in enclosure
- Thread starter kgx2
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Pepper
Arachnosquire
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- Mar 27, 2018
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If youre sure theyre fruit flies, no they cant hurt your slings, and might save you from having to feed them.
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Are you sure that they're fruit flies? Phorid flies will readily enter enclosures and breed on any decaying organic material, including bits of dead feeders. Mostly they're a nuisance - but I think they can potentially hurt your pets as well. I'm pretty sure they killed one of my tarantulas a few years ago, following a bad molt. He had lost a couple of legs in the molt, and near as I could tell by looking at it afterward, the phorid flies laid eggs in the stumps where the legs had been - then the maggots ate him alive from the inside.
If your slings will eat them, that's great - it will eliminate the maggots (whatever kind they are) and keep the slings fed at the same time. But if they're allowed to mature, mate, and lay eggs then you could end up with a problem.
To control them, be sure to get all feeders/feeder parts/boluses out of your substrate so they don't have anything for the maggots to feed on - and nothing to attract the adults to lay eggs on.
If your slings will eat them, that's great - it will eliminate the maggots (whatever kind they are) and keep the slings fed at the same time. But if they're allowed to mature, mate, and lay eggs then you could end up with a problem.
To control them, be sure to get all feeders/feeder parts/boluses out of your substrate so they don't have anything for the maggots to feed on - and nothing to attract the adults to lay eggs on.
So I've seen mention of the Phorid Flies and I honestly can't be positive but I'm fairly certain they are/were fruit flies. They seemed to be attracted to the fruit fly traps I created to get rid of them. I'm in Florida and it seems we always end up with an out break every so often so it's very annoying. I don't think the slings would eat them as these were extremely tiny larva/maggots that would likely be to small for even my smallest slings to make much of a meal out of. Most of my 12 slings are 1/2" or less currently and mostly Brachypelma species. I crushed most of them that I see crawling on the enclosure which seem to have stopped finally. I think they were going in to lay their eggs in the moist/damp substrate more than trying to feed on anything. Is a molt something the larva/maggots could eat or be interested in?