Run in with Phorid Flies

[mike halewood]

Earlier this week I noticed a solitary small fly on the top of my G. Roseas enclosure. Then today I noticed 3 more when opening up the top. On further inspection I saw quite a few more on the substrate.
After spending an hour or so researching what they could be, the most likely suspect was the Phorid fly, and looking at pics they looked about right.

I've since removed Rosie and put her in an other enclosure and took her normal one out side to strip it down. When I took out the water bowl, I couldnt believe my eyes, there must have been 10 or 20 dead flys in there.
So I've thrown away the wood hide, and fake plant. Thrown out the substrate.

This week Im going to setup the enclosure again,
Are there any ways to avoid this happening again?
Im assuming I must have missed some cricket remains and this has attracted the flies. I kept her tank pretty dry with only a water bowl and never misted the side or the substrate.

Is it best to let the substrate dry before even putting into the enclosure?
Or is it ok to put in damp then let it dry over time??

Thanks for reading

Mike

[LanceHutchings]

Are they actually harmful to the Spider itself or are they just an annoying pest to have in the tank ?

Lance

[mike halewood]

That is something Im still not sure about!!

Mike

[Phil Rea]

They are harmful to eggsacs, and they are suspected to be a vector in the transmission of nematodes from T to T Lance.

Invest in some non-pesticide fly paper Mike. That'll help

[Geoff]

After spending an hour or so researching what they could be, the most likely suspect was the Phorid fly, and looking at pics they looked about right.

Are they actually harmful to the Spider itself or are they just an annoying pest to have in the tank ?

I suspect that they're more likely to be Sciarid flies (aka fungus gnats) and that your spider tank might not be their source. Sciarid flies sometimes infest the compost of indoor plants, particularly if the compost's constantly moist and has vestiges of dead foliage on its surface. If you have, or have recently had, such a plant in the vicinity of the tank, it might explain why you found the flies near the water bowl. They shouldn't harm your spiders.

[LanceHutchings]

Cheers Phil

I had them a few years back before I left the hobby ... I found that they were coming in with the crickets in the tubs so its worth having a looking/keeping an eye on them

Now im back with the hobby at least i know the score with them .. always classified them as harmless but a damn nuisance lol


thanks

Lance

[Mike Conabeer]

To be fair, I think you've hit the nail on the head there Lance, I have been getting a lot of problems with these flies & they are clearly coming in with my livefood, I now only buy as much as I can use in one sitting & tend to try to get it as fresh as possible.

Mike.

[Phil Rea]

I've noticed loads of them with crickets too. I only occasionally use crix, as I have 2 roach colonies going, but the last time I bought some I had a box that was swarming with phorids. Needless to say, it went straight in the bin.

It's fairly straightforward to tell the difference between fungus gnats and phorids. Fungus gnat males have hooks at the end of their abdomen (mating appatarus), and will fly away at the slightest provocation. Females have tapered abdomens, and will also fly away. In general, they have long antennae.

Phorid flies are generally 'stouter' looking, and they have a tendency to scuttle about rather than fly away when disturbed (hence their common name of Scuttle flies ). They tend to dart or zig-zag from place to place rather than fly (although they obviously can fly without much difficulty). They have short antennae (actually aristae).

In evolutionary terms, phorid flies are the more 'advanced' fly but they can both be a pain in the bum where tarantulas are concerned

[Mikhail F. Bagaturov]

Here's some general infowhich may be of some help with these flies:

http://tarantulas.tropica.ru/en/node/571#Nat

[Howard Farley (Huk7)]

I noticed loads of these things in with some tubs of crickets the other day, they are horrible things and a real pest.