odd flies culturing in my lateralis bin

[skips]

I've got several thousand lateralis in a big bin. That is after I thinned out my rather disgusting bin a few weeks ago. I noticed then that there were flies the size of fruit flies culturing in the bin. It was wet then and there were alot more. Now the thing is dry and well vented (I dont want them to breed). I have fewer flies but i'm not sure what they are or what they're living off of. I've got dry dog food/corn meal mix for roach for and polyacrylamide crystals for water. Not fruit or anything though. Is that enough for fruit flies?

Also, I culture D. hydei and D. melanogaster for my frogs. They dont look like either of them and good luck trying to culture either of those on dry substrate and polyacrylamide crystals. This makes me think they're somehting else.

Anybody had this happen? comments? critisims? blatent insults?

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

Typically, we see two kinds of flies infesting roach cultures. The first are just slightly larger than D. hydei and are called phorid flies. They tend to crawl quickly in a jerky, erratic motion, but can also fly.

The second are dark wing fungus gnats. These are smaller bodied than D. melanogaster and also tend to crawl up the side of the bin rather than fly, but also fly somewhat slowly.

 

[gvfarns]

Not a fly expert but I've had some nasty little flies in my lateralis bin. It was when I was using plain water instead of the crystals and it was filthy. There were tiny little maggots wiggling around in there. Very nasty.

I dried out and aired out my enclosure and the flies all disappeared. I guess they don't live long and without being able to reproduce...

From my limited research I decided they were phorid flies. Living on the random decaying matter in there. Could be wrong, though. Basically in my case the flies came because of roach-neglect.

 

[skips]

thanks. I've heard alot about phorid flies, but never really did any reading on them because I never had a problem. Hmm, they might be as big as hydei. I will have to take a much closer look. they do tend to crawl on the container rather than fly.

 

[Matt K]

Probably phorid flies is what it sounds like. in phorids, males can be smaller and females bigger, making some people think there are two kinds (not including the fungus gnat, which is smaller too). I periodically get some phorids and fungus gnats, which I hate the phorids passionately. Hard to get rid of completely in my situation though.... humid and wet cages everywhere.

 

[spiderfield]

I'll put in another vote for Phorids. I actually cleaned out my dubia bin today and found quite a few of those flies, to my dismay, and I had just cleaned it out about two months ago prior. In my case, they're feeding off the dead roaches. I'll try to feed off the older adults, but don't get them all and a few days later i'll see them at the bottom of the bin, turn them over, and find maggots crawling out from under the legs. Totally gross! I'm going to try increasing ventilation in hopes of preventing conditions conducive to Phorid breeding.

 

[Finntroll86]

Interesting enough Phorid flies(Megaselia nigra) wont lay eggs in total darkness. Also they develop slower in lower temps (60f) and faster in higher (75f) if that wasn't obvious.

 

[skips]

I too am leaning toward phorid flies. If I start to see magotts...I will be displeased to say the least. There numbers are diminishing greatly since I vented the lid and changed the substrate to be bone dry. They still havnt gone away though.

As for the above comment, my roach bin is in a closet with no lights. The hall light is almost always off. I think maybe the "will not lay eggs in the dark rule" is a loose one?

 

[Finntroll86]

As for the above comment, my roach bin is in a closet with no lights. The hall light is almost always off. I think maybe the "will not lay eggs in the dark rule" is a loose one?

Well this "rule" comes from the fact that mushroom cultivators(Large commercial not in the closet illegal) use this method of keeping substrates in TOTAL darkness to avoid phorid flies from laying, its a proven method by such producers. Look it up "the Mushroom Cultivator" by Paul Stamets and J.S Chilton.

 

[Moose9]

I get little flies too every once in awhile when my bins get to much moisture. I don't use substrate in my roach bins. I usually see them around the water gel container. I leave the lid off for a few hours to let the bins dry and air out and they tend to disappear.

 

[skips]

Well this "rule" comes from the fact that mushroom cultivators(Large commercial not in the closet illegal) use this method of keeping substrates in TOTAL darkness to avoid phorid flies from laying, its a proven method by such producers. Look it up "the Mushroom Cultivator" by Paul Stamets and J.S Chilton.

Not that I dont believe you. I just...still have them. Substrate is completely dry and in a dark closet. I'm not sure what more I can do.

 

[Finntroll86]

I understand, when i first saw that I had my doubts. But the book said "fact" so I'm guessing it works well for them(knowing they use other methods as well). But looking up online I cant find anything to support it other than the book. I had a major problem with phorid flies when it came to my plants, once one adult popped up the next day 4 more, then 10, then 20, and each adult female begets average of 50 eggs in its lifespan...man it was a nightmare!

 

[flamesbane]

If you are getting roach frass in your water gel, or under the water gel dish, that is probably where the flies are laying their eggs.