Gnat/baby fly in sling enclosure?

[Leila]

So I was doing a quick little afternoon check on my Ts just now, and I noticed a very small flying insect inside one of my N. chromatus slings' enclosures. I checked the other sling enclosures, and there were no foreign insects in those.

As far as I can tell, there was only one gnat(?) or baby fly(?) in the N. chro's condiment cup.

Should I be concerned?
Does anyone know why that insect would be present?

 

[YagerManJennsen]

This has happened to me more than once. More than likely the fly just flew in through the airholes. Was there a bolus in the enclosure?

 

[Leila]

This has happened to me more than once. More than likely the fly just flew in through the airholes. Was there a bolus in the enclosure?

I gave the sling 1/3 of a medium, chopped up cricket 2 days ago. I removed what was not consumed after 24 hours. No cricket remains left in the enclosure after that.

 

[Venom1080]

i think i know what youre talking about.. i believe those things are actually good, but my gosh theyre so annoying..
i think @EulersK has gotten rid of them before.

 

[G. pulchra]

Those are predatory gnats, I doubt your T will make it through the night

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Those are predatory gnats, I doubt your T will make it through the night

True! u_u

 

[EulersK]

It is likely either a fungus gnat or a phorid fly. Look up on Google Images to see which you have.

One fly is harmless, but one fly turns into hundreds very quickly. Fungus gnats are harmless and are only an irritation to you, but phorid flies can actually kill spiders. It's important to know which you have. Luckily, phorid flies are very easy to eradicate - let the enclosures dry out and their larvae will die overnight. The larvae of phorid flies are quite large, up to 5mm in length. You can't miss them. The larvae of fungus gnats is next to invisible to the naked eye.

If they start becoming a problem, I'd suggest getting some springtails. It won't solve your fungus gnat problem, but the springtails vastly outcompete fungus gnat larvae. Once you get fungus gnats, you'll always have them. There's really no getting around that.

 

[boina]

It's very likely a fungus gnat. They have the annoying habit to turn up and stay since the larvae live in any kind of soil. They are practically impossible to get rid of.

Phorid flies are a whole other and rather complex topic. There are actually thousands of different species - really. Most live in rotting matter and are about as annoying and harmless as fungus gnats. Others are parasitic. Most are parasites of ants and bees and you won't encounter these. Very few are parasites of spiders. Since parasites are usually adapted to one specific host I'd doubt that the general true spider parasitic Phorid fly around where you live would consider infecting (i.e. laying eggs inside) a tarantula. The only way to get tarantula parisitizing Phorid flies is by buying an infected WC spider, I'd think. You would notice that, too, since the infected spider will likely die, and would have to die to release the flies in the first place. I'm not even sure if there are any species of phorid flies parasitzing tarantulas, although I wouldn't rule ist out.

tl;dr: Even if it's a Phorid fly it's 99% harmless.

 

[Moakmeister]

A gnat isn't a baby fly, a baby fly is a maggot. A really small fly isn't a young one, it just means it didn't get very much food as a larva.

 

[Leila]

A gnat isn't a baby fly, a baby fly is a maggot. A really small fly isn't a young one, it just means it didn't get very much food as a larva.

Dude, I know that.
There is a slash between the two words which signifies "or" in this case...as in: "gnat OR baby fly..."

 

[Moakmeister]

Dude, I know that.
There is a slash between the two words which signifies "or" in this case...as in: "gnat OR baby fly..."

Oh, wait... yeah, I don't know why I thought you said that. I guess I was reading it wrong.

 

[darkness975]

So I was doing a quick little afternoon check on my Ts just now, and I noticed a very small flying insect inside one of my N. chromatus slings' enclosures. I checked the other sling enclosures, and there were no foreign insects in those.

As far as I can tell, there was only one gnat(?) or baby fly(?) in the N. chro's condiment cup.

Should I be concerned?
Does anyone know why that insect would be present?

Like @EulersK said, you need to figure out whether it is a fungus gnat or phorid fly. Fungus gnats are annoying but harmless. Phorid flies are a potential concern.

 

[EulersK]

It's very likely a fungus gnat. They have the annoying habit to turn up and stay since the larvae live in any kind of soil. They are practically impossible to get rid of.

Phorid flies are a whole other and rather complex topic. There are actually thousands of different species - really. Most live in rotting matter and are about as annoying and harmless as fungus gnats. Others are parasitic. Most are parasites of ants and bees and you won't encounter these. Very few are parasites of spiders. Since parasites are usually adapted to one specific host I'd doubt that the general true spider parasitic Phorid fly around where you live would consider infecting (i.e. laying eggs inside) a tarantula. The only way to get tarantula parisitizing Phorid flies is by buying an infected WC spider, I'd think. You would notice that, too, since the infected spider will likely die, and would have to die to release the flies in the first place. I'm not even sure if there are any species of phorid flies parasitzing tarantulas, although I wouldn't rule ist out.

tl;dr: Even if it's a Phorid fly it's 99% harmless.

Are you sure that all photos flies are parasitic? I ask because I've had springtail cultures decimated by phorid fly infestations. And I don't mean that they were out competed, I mean that springtails were just gone and were replaced with larvae. Are the larvae or flies predatory?

 

[boina]

Are you sure that all photos flies are parasitic? I ask because I've had springtail cultures decimated by phorid fly infestations. And I don't mean that they were out competed, I mean that springtails were just gone and were replaced with larvae. Are the larvae or flies predatory?

Well, most Phorid flies are scavengers... but there are so incredibly many different species and they can feed in all kinds of ways. I was thinking of parasites because I doubt very much that even a large Phorid fly poses a treat to a tarantula by way of being a predator... to a very, VERY tiny sling maybe...
But yes, there are Phorid flies that are predators and they certainly could have eaten your springtails.