Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello-
I'm incubating colubrid eggs in vermiculite substrate - I keep that snake room at 80 degrees and so they are just in a shoebox rack in the room.
The problem that I have is with the millions of little flies (like fruit flies) that are swarming the boxes. A couple of eggs have gone bad and been swarmed with the maggots. Does anybody have a good way to deal with this problem short of an airtight incubation box?
-Lee

it sounds to me like they are attracted to that bad egg. i know the flies are attracted to moisture, but if they are there in force and laying eggs, there has to be something there for the maggots to eat ie dead eggs. i have never had flies attack my healthy eggs like that. the eggs i have currently incubating are in an airtight container. i just open it once a week to refresh the air and add water every two weeks( it never needs much water)

if they dont go away with the removal of the dead eggs you will probably have to carefully change that medium try a few hanging flystrips around the room too.

hope this helps, maybe someone who has had more of a problem with this will chime in and have more insight into this
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1.1 Gargoyle geckos
0.0.1 crested gecko
1.1 leucistic leopard gecko
0.0.1 asian golden tree frog
1.0 oriental firebelly toad
0.1 european firebelly toad
1.0 albino betta
1.0 orange tabby
0.0.1 asian painted frog
1.0 broad headed skink
0.0.1 fowlers toad
1.1 red eyed tree frog
1.1 red eared sliders
476.769.47 feeder crickets

One thing you could try to keep them out would be to use screen/pantyhose to cover any holes in your shoeboxes. Best of luck
Roxanne