Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How about Carrion flies?? These little humpback devils have been a pain in my @ss all year. I take the trash out every other day(yes I should do it every day)but between the water and the poo I cant get on top of em. Anyone have any chemical recommendations??

Diatomaceous Earth works good. It is these tiny little skeletons of sea creatures that have very sharp edges that damage the exoskeletons of insects.
www.biconet.com/crawlers/DE.html
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

>>Diatomaceous Earth works good. It is these tiny little skeletons of sea creatures that have very sharp edges that damage the exoskeletons of insects.
>>www.biconet.com/crawlers/DE.html
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>>Bob/Chris
>>Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

I was going to buy some to spread on my lawn for fleas. I had chickens with those stick tite fleas. I read up on it and you can even take some fyourself for internal parasites. I've often wondered if it would work on reptiles for internal parasites. It is perfectly safe except for bugs. It is like fine glass that puntures the exoskelletons or skin of tiny critters and kills them. It's basically Silica! I'm not sure how to use it to prevent flies in a snake room though?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

golden malrin fly bait, get it any feed store or farm supply store. The crystals attract the flies, they eat and die.

To keep things tidy put the bait in the bag of your trash can. Stuff works great, we always used it on the farms.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
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Those flies are the biggest pain in my backside. I don't care if I spot clean daily, somehow they end up in my snake room. I swear I don't know where they come from or how they get there. I may try everything that comes up in this post.

Also, they are worse in different cages depending on substrate. Mulch -- they're everywhere, Cypress -- any uncleaned spot they're all over, Paper towels same as cypress, BUT, in my arboreal cages where I use absorbent bed pads because I mist and the snakes stay off the ground, I don't get them at all, even on dirty spots.

Hate these things.
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Brian Suter

www.serpenteer.com

Are these flies so small they can fit through aluminum window screen? Maybe try screening the snake room. Are they hatching in the substrate? They need moisture to hatch and become larva.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

They are pretty adaptive. They land and lay eggs and feed on both food animals and poop. They need water so dessicating them works pretty good but I dont need my snakes without water for extended periods....

They can waltz right through screening like it is a huge open doorway, and the wet poop is all the moisture they need to thrive and multiply. They find their way into anything no matter what because the little bastards are so damn small.

Quick cleanings and the fly traps mentioned are about the only way to keep them from multiplying by the folds in no time. I have also heard of taking a water pan and filling it with cider vinegar, then adding a couple drops of Dawn dishwashing detergent to the surface of it. This coats the surface with a thin coat of the detergent that reduces the surface tension of the water so when they contact the cider vinegar to drink, the detergent basically grabs them and they drown.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Can someone post the actual scientific name for these carrion flies? I have never heard of a fly small enough to get through window screen. Fruit flies maybe, but nothing any bigger than the common mosquito.

Also, where do you guys that have this problem live? Is this a Deep South thing mostly? When I lived in Michigan we had all sorts of nasty flying bugs like eye gnats, horse and deer flies, screw worm flies...but nothing that could get through window screen.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

I think they are commonly known as "Humpbacked Flies" (Megaselia scalaris) or "Phorid Flies" and sometimes called "Drain flies" for their being attracted to them, as well as anything else that smells of decomposition.

Here is a link to more info on these nasty little bastards..LOL!
Link

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thanks for the info. I have never seen these before. I set out stinky traps every summer to attract and kill the common house fly. The traps are Fly-in-Saucer jars with water and rotten cat food or tuna. When the trap meat is still fresh it works great on yellow-jacket bees, then when it decays gets the flies.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

"I have never seen these before"

You are quite fortunate then. Many other snake keepers wish they could say that..LOL!

If I don't CONSTANTLY clean almost as soon as they poop, they will show up very quickly just as sure as the sun rises!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

And for those that dont know what they are looking at the maggots in the poop is a pretty knarly(sp?)surprise.

Yep!, it is quite knarly looking for sure!

Anybody remember the phrase.."it is enough to make a maggot puke"??,....it definitely applies here as well..LMAO!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>Yep!, it is quite knarly looking for sure!
>>
>>Anybody remember the phrase.."it is enough to make a maggot puke"??,....it definitely applies here as well..LMAO!

Gnarly, Gnat and gag a maggot.....C'mon guys......LMAO!!!!
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

Yeah, I "gnow"..LOL!, I was messin with Jeff.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

The only other place I had heard about these flies is on the TV show CSI, where the forensic detectives could pinpoint the time of death for murder victims by the rate of growth of the maggots. Yeeg! That show used to really gross me out! LOL!
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Alot of the flies that you are talking about are a very different type, also called "Carrion Flies", "Blow Flies", aka Blue or Green "Bottle flies". These are all VERY attracted to carrion, and have a very loud, annoying buzzing sound..LOL!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah, I've seen plenty of green bottles and blue bottles. Those are the dog poop flies! LOL! When I was a little kid I thought they were the prettiest things!
Another fly that I have thought is most handsome is the flesh fly:
www.cirrusimage.com/flies_flesh_Sarcophaga.htm
To me they always looked like little lawyers in their pinstriped suits!

My nickname when I was a kid was Bugsy. What other people thought was disgusting I found beautiful in its own way.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

Yeah, I remember those striped one's too.

Disgusting in their own little way too..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

HATE 'EM

U-S-E-F-U-L LMAO

>>How about Carrion flies?? These little humpback devils have been a pain in my @ss all year. I take the trash out every other day(yes I should do it every day)but between the water and the poo I cant get on top of em. Anyone have any chemical recommendations??

A good way to keep them off your eggs is to use a coffee filter or panty hose between the lid and the egg container......
As for them on snake crap....I have no idea except to use the soap and apple cider method.......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

>>How about Carrion flies?? These little humpback devils have been a pain in my @ss all year. I take the trash out every other day(yes I should do it every day)but between the water and the poo I cant get on top of em. Anyone have any chemical recommendations??

A bowl with fruity smelling dishsoap mixed into water. Place a spotlight over it. Doesnt need to be high voltage. Very popular night club for flies, gnats, etc.

I need to do this every spring and summer with the veggie eaters here.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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