Phorid flies, peruvian and fusca bins??

J

Jimbobtom

Fourth Instar
I've been battling some phorid flies lately. I'm very confused why I keep finding dead adults in my b fusca and Peruvian bins. I have tons of nymphs and the living ones seem to be thriving, but I'll find a few adults dead swarming with flies pretty regularly. Don't seem to be finding any dead nymphs though. Are the flies attacking the roaches or do you think these roaches are just dying from old age? Everything seems in order 80ish temps, moist substrate with dry areas, ventilation, hiding, etc. I have 30 some colonies and I rarely find them anywhere else.

 
Jimbobtom said:
I've been battling some phorid flies lately. I'm very confused why I keep finding dead adults in my b fusca and Peruvian bins. I have tons of nymphs and the living ones seem to be thriving, but I'll find a few adults dead swarming with flies pretty regularly. Don't seem to be finding any dead nymphs though. Are the flies attacking the roaches or do you think these roaches are just dying from old age? Everything seems in order 80ish temps, moist substrate with dry areas, ventilation, hiding, etc. I have 30 some colonies and I rarely find them anywhere else.
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If you could leave out a freshly-perished individual in a location where it is easily observed and see if the flies mess with it, that should make the lifestyle of your Phorid Flies clear as day I'm thinking. :) I would assume that the roaches are simply dying from old age though.

 
Jimbobtom said:
Thank you for responding! So how can one tell a parasitic phorid vs the type that just feeds on dead things?
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No problem! I was saying that if you put out a dead roach, monitor it, and see if the flies mess with it, that should tell you which type of Phorid they are.

 
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All About Arthropods said:
No problem! I was saying that if you put out a dead roach, monitor it, and see if the flies mess with it, that should tell you which type of Phorid they are.
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So you mean the parasitic types will not mess with a dead roach? I've seen these flies go after food I put in as well, even carrots. Of course they prefer the protein. I'm sure they're phorid of some kind because they have the hump backs and run all over the surfaces. 

 
Jimbobtom said:
So you mean the parasitic types will not mess with a dead roach? I've seen these flies go after food I put in as well, even carrots. Of course they prefer the protein. I'm sure they're phorid of some kind because they have the hump backs and run all over the surfaces. 
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I had not thought they would. If you've observed them going after average foods, I guess they would though. Sorry I can't offer any other advice. :(  

 
I once had phorids ride in with dubias from the pet store (tarantula food) and they killed off a half-dozen roach colonies. They even got into the ootheca.

 
I just don't understand, they're blowing up randomly in bins that weren't touched before. They only seem to go after the dead, but wherever they are seems to suffer massive die off. Is there any somewhat easy way to stop this problem. In the past they've seem to run their course, but this has been persisting for some time now. Very frustrating, I have a lot going on ATM and the idea of changing out 40 bins is pretty unrealistic. At the same time, I don't want to see my colonies that I've spent years on die off.

 
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