Hello!

I am having some fruit flies and ants issues in with my crickets. I've been able to move the cricket bin from place to place to temporarily get rid of the ants, but I have no idea what to do to get rid of the fruit flies. If anyone has any idea what can I do? or if you have dealt with this type of thing before... Thanks for your help!

lol, I think your tropical location makes it more of a problem for you than any of us aer used to. Have you tried moving the crix to a closet or someplace where the flies won't find it so easily?

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

I know.. LOL.. those little flies get everywhere.. The don't seem to harm the crix, but it's so yucky when I find the larvae LOL... I'm a bit worried about the ants, though... and again, they get everywere too... and I can't use insecticide for obvious reasons.. LOL

Hey, I sent you a couple of pictures through YahooIM.. did you get them? LOL

Don't know yet. I could't get access to a puter with yahoo messenger this time. The VB CHAT is open though.

What is it that the flies and ants are going after in the crix cage? The gutload? What do you use to feed your crix?

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+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

I'm pretty sure it's the gutload. Dog food (BTW, Odie's bowl gets infested with ants every now and then too.. but he insists it must be full ALL the time.. hehe), hamster/gerbil mix, rat/mice blocks, carrots, potatoes, bananas (lol.. too many bananas around), any other vegetable I find at the moment, and the same vitamins/calcium I give to Cleo. and a sponge with water. I think that's it...

I bet its the bananas more than anything else. They're a fruit fly MAGNET. Try a different fruit maybe. Fruit should make a smaller portion of their diet anyway. Collards, mustard greens, and bok choy are some nice calcium-packed greens you could try.

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+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

If you smear vaseline around the top edge of the crix container ants should have troubles getting in. At least it works from the opposite way with people who breed ants and try to keep them from escaping.

And the bananas are probably causing 80% of the fruit flies to appear so I would try something else, cucumber skins last a while in my crix box.

why don't you try one of those fruit fly traps? I did a google search last week on "fruit flies" and the trap came up. It's used mainly for the kitchen to keep fruit flies away from produce, but i'm sure it could do you some good. just go to googl.com and type in "fruit flies" look though and you should be able to find it.

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

I made one of them fruit flies traps last summer and it worked great, caught loads of them, I get a lot attacking the birds fruit...

Hello,
I did a quick search and found this little contraption that you can make at home. It may be what Gecko was referring too. Its very simple, and bananas are a bait choice. lol

Just make a funnel out of paper and hold it together with tape. Then insert it into the jar, and toss in a piece of banana. Make sure the funnel isn't right on top of the banana. The flies will be able to escape easier if it is. Leave it up 2 inches or so.

The diagram shows one made. lol

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