I am finding fruit flies, but where are they coming from?

[gambite]

For the past several weeks, I have been finding fruit flies coming from the area where I keep my T's and scorps. However, it is always just one here and there. I am getting worried, because I really dont want an infestation of them. What could be causing them? I dont have any fruit or high-sugar foods lying out, though I do have some veggies slowly rotting for some isopods. I also find them inside the enclosures with large enough air holes. Could it be the from the isopod container?

 

[sick4x4]

i dont belive they are FF's they might be gnats...do you have any humid enclosures?

wayne

 

[desertdweller]

I have the same pesky flies/gnats, so tiny as to almost not be seen. I have tons of plants and many moist/humid T tanks where they just love to play live and breed!!!! I have used fly strips and that reduced the populations by about 80-90 %. My final solution is to find some Daddy Long Legs to web at the top of my minax tank where she will not bother them and they will eat the remaining buggers! Good Luck!

 

[gambite]

Yeah I have several humid tanks. That was my first thought but.... what are they eating? How can I prevent them without using more bugs?

 

[Talkenlate04]

I gave up trying to ride those buggers for good. And I have never had any real trouble with them and my Ts. I think they bother us more then they bother any of our Ts. I don't see to many, and I still try to kill them when I see them, but I am not really worried.

 

[sick4x4]

isopods usally curtail it some but with any humid enclosures, its more about prevention of outbreaks than it is about eradication..kind of the price you have to pay...isopods in tropical set-ups work at eating the eggs and eating food balls left behind but they never really get completely gone, sorry mate...

 

[gambite]

Alright, I will have to keep an eye on it. I am in a dorm, and an outbreak of them would be very bad. Any good ways to catch/kill them?

 

[sick4x4]

unless they are becoming an epidemic killing strays when you find them is the best way..besides no-one thinks a fly paper trap sprawled near a set-up is kool, especially in a dorm...

 

[jbrd]

You could try a small shallow cup of orange juice with a drop or two of dish soap to keep the buggers from flying away. My wife uses this method with some success.

 

[Moltar]

They may be phorid flies. Phorids are attracted to dead, decaying insects and very moist environments. I had some come in on a batch of crickets and i've been battling them ever since. i think they're almost gone but i've thought that before. Phorids are just a wee bit larger than your average fruit fly and seem... wingier. In addition to hanging out in your cricket house laying eggs in their dead carcasses they'll be seen near drains and toilets laying eggs there.

If they are in fact phorids try being super-fastidious about removing dead crickets or roaches, pour some bleach down your drains every so often and scrub up under the rim of the toilet really well. I've also gotten pretty good at "clapping' them out of the air when they fly by. To me this is just another reason to have a roach colony.

 

[clearlysaid]

You could try a small shallow cup of orange juice with a drop or two of dish soap to keep the buggers from flying away. My wife uses this method with some success.

I do something similar when I get them in my many, many house plants. I use apple cider vinegar, sugar, water and dish soap mixed together in a little bowl. The little buggers love that stuff but get stuck in the solution... I haven't had problems w/ little flying buggers since I started using it last July.

 

[jbrd]

I do something similar when I get them in my many, many house plants. I use apple cider vinegar, sugar, water and dish soap mixed together in a little bowl. The little buggers love that stuff but get stuck in the solution... I haven't had problems w/ little flying buggers since I started using it last July.

My shallow cups i use seem to evaporate to fast to be really effective? what size dish do you use?

 

[clearlysaid]

My shallow cups i use seem to evaporate to fast to be really effective? what size dish do you use?

Um... it's prolly about 2" deep but not very wide...prolly just a bit bigger than a 4oz deli cup. I call them condiment bowls as that's all that can really go in them... dipping sauces and stuff. Haha...

What I like about the mixture is I can always refresh it with more water and it won't lose its bubbles.

 

[arrowhd]

I had a similar problem with what I believe were gnats. I let all of my enclosures dry out more than normal and within 2 weeks or so they were gone. Good luck.

 

[UrbanJungles]

If they don't readily fly away when you swat or chase after them they are phorids...they move with a stop and go motion and don't take to the wing too easily. Fungus gnats are the smaller, very excitable tiny ones that hardly sit still for a second.

Phorids are most common and are usually attracted to dead/decaying organic material. Like Wayne said, isopods and a clean bedding change will work wonders to reduce numbers.

 

[IdahoBiteyThing]

flies

Fungus gnats (the little tiny flies from your houseplants) can be controlled with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, commonly used as a biological control for mosquitoes. You can find it in most garden stores and just use it to water your houseplants, it kills the larvae down in the soil.

Fruit flies will most definitely find your decomposing millipede stew a suitable breeding ground, and the various vinegar recipes work great.

Don't know what kills phorid flies.

My 2 cents.

 

[cacoseraph]

goodness, i would not introduce B. thuringiensis into your collection. the various subspecies can attack a frightening array of inverts and are generally fatal. i dunno what B. t. israelensis is built for but it seems a little like cleaning up fallen leaves in your front yard by pouring gasoline on them and lighting them


i use fly strips. non bated non toxic fly strips. just make sure you put them away from where your head can reach, they are very annoying to get stuck to. and it is farily gross when a strip has a good fly load on it.


if they really bother you one thing i have read about that works quite well is to make sure all your cages only vent through microscreen. you need to use fairly dense screen, though, or something will be able to sneak in

 

[UrbanJungles]

if they really bother you one thing i have read about that works quite well is to make sure all your cages only vent through microscreen. you need to use fairly dense screen, though, or something will be able to sneak in

If you use microscreen the flies will just resort to teleportation into your cages.
Grrrr..I hate those things.

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

At work, the major source of phorids comes from our cricket shipments. I was finally able to control it by keeping the crickets on a very dry substrate (crushed walnut) and keeping everything really clean. No boluses or cricket bodies in cages and they won't have a reason to stick around.

 

[cacoseraph]

crushed walnuts might also be slightly toxic, which would probably mess with vermiforms much more than leg walking, hard shelled (relatively) crickets

might make mutant/terato babies if the crix lay eggs in it. might do nothing noticeable.

 

[UrbanJungles]

Thing is, we turnover about 3,000 crickets weekly so they don't really stay long enough to be affected. Before the new shipment of crickets is put away the small amt of substrate is thrown out, the barrels cleaned and dried before the crickets are placed back in with fresh substrate and food & water.