Substrate and Fruit Flies

[eldondominicano]

Hello All,

I, being the brainiac that I am thought that organic garden soil was the best option for my T's.. No pesticides right? Instead I have fruit flies.. Of course I am officially switching to compost free soils now lol. Any recommendations for getting rid of these buggers?

Note that the fruit flies though apparent, have caused issues only for me, not any of the T's that have this mixed with other substrate in their enclosures..

Thanks

P.S. I really only have access to Miracle grow's organic potting soil. Is that something I can use instead for future reference?

---------- Post added 01-08-2015 at 09:25 AM ----------

That is aside from the garden soil

 

[purevl]

Put a small amount of apple cider vinegar in a bowl, cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap, use a fork to poke some small holes in the plastic wrap. The fruit flies will make their way thru the holes to get to the vinegar, not be able to find their way back out, & drown in the vinegar.

 

[eldondominicano]

Put a small amount of apple cider vinegar in a bowl, cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap, use a fork to poke some small holes in the plastic wrap. The fruit flies will make their way thru the holes to get to the vinegar, not be able to find their way back out, & drown in the vinegar.

Woot Woot! Thanks for the advice.

 

[cold blood]

Organic potting soil sounds great, but the organic method of adding fertalizers is to add manure of some sort....you do not want that.

 

[-=}GA']['OR{=-]

Are you sure they are drosophila {fruit flies}? They could be Phorid flies. especially if there is manure or other organics in the mix. Do they have red eyes, or do they look more like these?:


http://ecopestcontrol.com/phorid-fly-pestid/

 

[eldondominicano]

Are you sure they are drosophila {fruit flies}? They could be Phorid flies. especially if there is manure or other organics in the mix. Do they have red eyes, or do they look more like these?:


http://ecopestcontrol.com/phorid-fly-pestid/

I just looked at your link. They do not look like that at all thank God. I have had them on and off for a little while now and no signs of nematodes as well in any enclosures. Thanks for the link btw.

 

[-=}GA']['OR{=-]

No problem. I hate phorids, they can wreak havoc in a collection.

 

[eldondominicano]

No problem. I hate phorids, they can wreak havoc in a collection.

Any tips with reference to phorids that I should keep attention to? Besides what you have given me

 

[-=}GA']['OR{=-]

They are attracted to any decaying organic matter that has a good moisture content. They LOVE dead crickets and are sometimes transmitted in with your crickets. They look similar to fruit flies as they have a stocky appearance while flying. A big difference is that they are also called "scuttle" flies due to their fondness for running and darting along substrate rather than flying. This behavior is readily apparent and that's one way you can tell the two apart, aside from the fruit flies having red eyes.

If you have phorids the best thing to do is find the source and clean and dry up the area of infection. The maggots are very sensitive to moisture and will dry out and die if the moisture is removed. Everybody gets them from time to time,as they are an introduced species from South America. They were brought here to parasitize and control fire ants in the southern states, and they are naturalizing in most areas. They will come into your house in the summer through holes in your screens etc.

Another unfortunate effect of phorids is they are targeting honeybees as well and have been implicated in CCD, colony collapse disorder. They parasitize the bees and control the bees actions, thus affecting the overall production of the hive.

Yet another example of an introduced species that does it's initial intended job {fire ant control} reasonably well, but disrupts life elsewhere.

 

[eldondominicano]

They are attracted to any decaying organic matter that has a good moisture content. They LOVE dead crickets and are sometimes transmitted in with your crickets. They look similar to fruit flies as they have a stocky appearance while flying. A big difference is that they are also called "scuttle" flies due to their fondness for running and darting along substrate rather than flying. This behavior is readily apparent and that's one way you can tell the two apart, aside from the fruit flies having red eyes.

If you have phorids the best thing to do is find the source and clean and dry up the area of infection. The maggots are very sensitive to moisture and will dry out and die if the moisture is removed. Everybody gets them from time to time,as they are an introduced species from South America. They were brought here to parasitize and control fire ants in the southern states, and they are naturalizing in most areas. They will come into your house in the summer through holes in your screens etc.

Another unfortunate effect of phorids is they are targeting honeybees as well and have been implicated in CCD, colony collapse disorder. They parasitize the bees and control the bees actions, thus affecting the overall production of the hive.

Yet another example of an introduced species that does it's initial intended job {fire ant control} reasonably well, but disrupts life elsewhere.

Thanks a lot, when I get home tn I wil look for these features and characteristics and hope that even if that's the case to do as you recommended. Is it possible to allow the substrate to dry out without physically having to take any of my T's out?

 

[Smokehound714]

Are you sure they're fruit flies, and not fungus gnats? fruit flies hover around, fungus gnats prefer to run around on moist substrate.

Most phorids are actually harmless scavengers, and people tend to associate them with parasitizing their specimens simply because of their presence.

 

[-=}GA']['OR{=-]

Check it out first at home and then go from there. If you think it's phorids you will have to get rid of their breeding source first. ie dead crickets or boluses etc. What tarantulas do you have? You can dry the spiders out as long as they have a source of water like a water dish.

If it is phorids I would be more aggressive in my approach and rehouse the animals to prevent further breeding of the flies. If they get established well they can be a real pain to get rid of.

---------- Post added 01-08-2015 at 12:31 PM ----------

Are you sure they're fruit flies, and not fungus gnats? fruit flies hover around, fungus gnats prefer to run around on moist substrate.


Most phorids are actually harmless scavengers, and people tend to associate them with parasitizing their specimens simply because of their presence.

Yes, I forgot to mention fungus gnats. They are a lot different looking than fruit flies and phorids. They are very lightly built compared to fruit and phorid flies.

This is true to an extent. I have witnessed phorids eating into the chelicerae of tarantulas that took too long with meals. The flies laid eggs on the prey and the maggots ended up eating the prey and in turn into the tarantula. Once maggots get rolling there is not much you can do. My friend lost several spiders this way. He had a bad phorid infestation that took a long time to abate.

 

[eldondominicano]

Check it out first at home and then go from there. If you think it's phorids you will have to get rid of their breeding source first. ie dead crickets or boluses etc. What tarantulas do you have? You can dry the spiders out as long as they have a source of water like a water dish.

If it is phorids I would be more aggressive in my approach and rehouse the animals to prevent further breeding of the flies. If they get established well they can be a real pain to get rid of.

---------- Post added 01-08-2015 at 12:31 PM ----------




Yes, I forgot to mention fungus gnats. They are a lot different looking than fruit flies and phorids. They are very lightly built compared to fruit and phorid flies.

This is true to an extent. I have witnessed phorids eating into the chelicerae of tarantulas that took too long with meals. The flies laid eggs on the prey and the maggots ended up eating the prey and in turn into the tarantula. Once maggots get rolling there is not much you can do. My friend lost several spiders this way. He had a bad phorid infestation that took a long time to abate.

I've got many different kinds, specifically the ones that seem to have flies around are one of my H. Macs, and one of my Avics. I use water dishes for all my T's and ill check to see if they are fungus gnats, These fly though, and they have florescence in their wings like that of fruit flies. In any case I will be looking into this in detail. I get rid of boluses, and don't exceedingly feed my T's with larger food (Dubia roaches). Im planning on rehousing the Avic anyway tonight for other reasons, and I believe initially that is where this all started. Thanks again for the help

 

[-=}GA']['OR{=-]

No problem....good luck and let us know what you find out. A good way to pick off adult flies is with a vacuum cleaner! lol.

 

[eldondominicano]

No problem....good luck and let us know what you find out. A good way to pick off adult flies is with a vacuum cleaner! lol.

LOL! Sounds like an awesome solution, get the job done with the satisfaction of vengeance. Of course in a totally non-weird way that is. Yes I will keep you posted as to what kind of demon I'm dealing with

---------- Post added 01-08-2015 at 05:20 PM ----------

FUNGAL GNATS!!! That's what I'm dealing with.. How would these have come about?

 

[-=}GA']['OR{=-]

LOL! Sounds like an awesome solution, get the job done with the satisfaction of vengeance. Of course in a totally non-weird way that is. Yes I will keep you posted as to what kind of demon I'm dealing with

HaHa! Ya it is satisfying to destroy these little bastidds! No remorse! LOL!

---------- Post added 01-08-2015 at 04:24 PM ----------

Do you have houseplants?

 

[eldondominicano]

HaHa! Ya it is satisfying to destroy these little bastidds! No remorse! LOL!

---------- Post added 01-08-2015 at 04:24 PM ----------

Do you have houseplants?

No I don't. The only thing I can think of is where I got the avic... This pet shop was dingy and there was wood bark in the enclosure with the T.

 

[cold blood]

No problem....good luck and let us know what you find out. A good way to pick off adult flies is with a vacuum cleaner! lol.

Just keep it away from the spiders:wink:

Check it out first at home and then go from there. If you think it's phorids you will have to get rid of their breeding source first. ie dead crickets or boluses etc. What tarantulas do you have? You can dry the spiders out as long as they have a source of water like a water dish.

If it is phorids I would be more aggressive in my approach and rehouse the animals to prevent further breeding of the flies. If they get established well they can be a real pain to get rid of.

---------- Post added 01-08-2015 at 12:31 PM ----------



Yes, I forgot to mention fungus gnats. They are a lot different looking than fruit flies and phorids. They are very lightly built compared to fruit and phorid flies.

This is true to an extent. I have witnessed phorids eating into the chelicerae of tarantulas that took too long with meals. The flies laid eggs on the prey and the maggots ended up eating the prey and in turn into the tarantula. Once maggots get rolling there is not much you can do. My friend lost several spiders this way. He had a bad phorid infestation that took a long time to abate.

I have had phorids pop up on occasion and never really had much difficulty getting rid of them...like you said, clean and dry and they are usually gone quickly...so far they have been quite minor and infrequent. I appreciate your info, I had previously never considered them much more than an irritant.

Good luck on a quick annihilation of those gnats Eldon!

 

[-=}GA']['OR{=-]

I should have mentioned keeping the vac away from the spiders! HaHa! that would suck, literally!

Your welcome, I hate those damn things! I am kind of a clean freak, so anything like mites, phorids, and gnats gets me aggravated.

Fungus gnats are more of an annoyance than anything. It very well could be the avic enclosure being the source. I would just change out the substrate and start over. You can alway use the vac extension to pick off the random gnat.

 

[Sana]

I should have mentioned keeping the vac away from the spiders! HaHa! that would suck, literally!

Your welcome, I hate those damn things! I am kind of a clean freak, so anything like mites, phorids, and gnats gets me aggravated.

Fungus gnats are more of an annoyance than anything. It very well could be the avic enclosure being the source. I would just change out the substrate and start over. You can alway use the vac extension to pick off the random gnat.

Strangest suggestion ever if you're going to use a vacuum... Take a straw and a roll of tape and make the straw into an extension of the hose on the vacuum. I usually use electric or duct tape. I actually use this trick on strange spots on a car engine while doing a rebuild. In this case though, the straw is slightly flexible and small to get to odd spots, with the added benefit of extra length to keep your hands farther away from a T that is likely to be a little upset about the noisy invasion.