Phorid Flies? Help! :(

[EddieWood]

Hi, im new here and this is my first post so my apologies if I posted in the wrong category or something but to the point

Occasionally I find these small flies in the room where I keep my T's and after a search around ive read multiple horror stories of 'phorid flies' laying eggs on t's and the maggots eating them. So my question is are these flies im finding 'phorid flies'? And are they capable of killing my t's?

I live in the uk and in the room there are: 6 tiny lp slings, 1 avicularia versicolor sling, a 2 inch trinidad chevron, a 2 inch costa rican tiger rump, 4 inch sub adult brazilian white knee and a 5 inch chilean rose. Theres also a bearded dragon on there. I feed everything on varying size crickets

I managed to catch one in a vial and I got the best picture I could, heres a link: http://i42.tinypic.com/2psljzq.jpg

Its still in the vial if any of you have questions and thanks for any help

 

[Kazaam]

You mean those small flies that prefer running over flying?

I see them each year during the summer, as long as there aren't millions of them it shouldn't be a problem.

Edit: also consider getting a flesh eating plant, they help a lot.

 

[EddieWood]

Thanks, just wanted to make sure they wont kill any of the t's, I see them rarely, just one every now and then, if theyre more of a nuisance than a threat to the t's ill just hang up some fly traps and leave them to it

 

[MarkmD]

Welcome to the boards.

I wouldn't worry, as long as their isn't loads of them surrounding your T's it will be fine.

 

[EddieWood]

Thank you for the welcome and the reassurance

 

[Kazaam]

I've found that Pinguiculas work the best against these flies.

 

[Poec54]

The best control measures are keeping the bolus' and dead crickets promptly cleaned up and not keeping the substrate moister than it needs to be. You can also try hanging some non-chemical fly tape in the room.

 

[Kazaam]

These little $&^#*s are attracted to even the tiniest waterbowl, while that might help it will usually not remove them completely.

 

[goodoldneon]

Given their size, are you sure you've made a positive ID? I get the occasional fruit fly, and we recently had a bit of an infestation that resulted from the use of organic potting soil (for indoor herbs).

 

[josh_r]

Yes, that is a phorid fly and yes, it is possible for them to kill a T. I have noticed that keeping your cages clean and free of dead crickets and food bolus will keep the phorid fly numbers down as they tend to be attracted to this stuff. When phorid fly numbers get out of control and they have no other food source, or when a T is molting, sometimes they do attack the T. I have personally never had this happen to any of my animals that I know of. But I have had friends who have had some nightmarish experiences with phorid flies. They suck man. Best way to keep them under control is to be clean.