Fruit flies or gnats in Roach bin, Help

[Anglwngss]

I have these tiny either gnats or fruit flies in my roach bin. I have no idea how to get rid of them. I've cleaned the bin, changed the egg cartons, only put in a small amount of water crystals daily (the water crystals are gone each evening). The box has no heating whatsoever. It used to sit on a heating pad, but I thought maybe it was too humid and removed it when I found the gnat/flies.

I have no idea what else to do to get rid of these things. Any ideas?

 

[Cinder9]

i just had to clean it out completely and put it in the garage for a couple days and they were gone. if its cold where you are right now u might want to get some extra heat for them.

 

[Anglwngss]

I don't have a garage, just a house. It's been getting 20s and 30s at night, mid to upper 30s during the day. So you think giving them heat would help kill off the gnats? I thought it'd just help them to make more.

 

[Cinder9]

No dont give them heat thatll just make it worse. Theyre attracted 2 the smell so u might have 2 just keep cleaning it. I dont know what else you could do sorry.

 

[suzuki4life]

phorid flies.

the dead roaches, fruit and heavy moisture bring them in. Use water gel, clean the bin constantly and lower humidity moisture and they should go away. I have them in my monitor cage also. Just something you deal with.

Yes they breed better with heat.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

I agree with suzuki4life. You need to clean the bins on a daily basis and change out the egg creates more frequently.

 

[Anglwngss]

Thanks. I'll keep working on it.

The heat question was in regards to Cinder. It sounded like she wanted me to put the bin outside to help kill off the bugs, but the add heat, which was confusing to me.

I haven't been able to find a good picture of these things. I did look up images of gnats, and they are not it. Nor are they true 'fruit flies' or the phorid flies. They are very slow/sluggish when they fly around things. If they land I can squish them with a finger. They are very soft. Anyway, I"ve cleaned it again

 

[Cinder9]

I only meant to add heat so the crickets would stay alive in the cold weather since you said it was cold where you are

 

[Honda99300ex]

I had the same problem, i made a couple fruit fly traps and sat them on top of the bin near the screen vent, both were full of ff's the next day and never had another problem with em.

 

[Anglwngss]

What kind of traps did you make? I tried using white vinegar mixed with sugar and dawn, but they didn't do anything. I also used a Gatorade bottle and put water gel in the bottom, used saran wrap and poked holes in it. The flies got in, but they used the same holes to get back out. (I really didn't think it'd work b/c I thought they'd just use the same holes to escape, but apparently other people have had flies that didn't try to escape). I tried Gatorade mixed with vinegar and dawn, but they didn't like it either. Now.. yesterday, I was drinking apple cider and one flew in, took a while, but he drowned. I moved the cup into the room where they are, and the same fly is the only one it the cup.. Grr..

So, anyway, What did you use?

 

[Honda99300ex]

a member on here actually showed me......i used a large deli cup, and rolled a piece of paper into a funnel with a tiny hole at the small side. put a piece of fruit into the cup, and put the pointy end of the funnel into the cup, and taped the funnel in. worked awesome

 

[Honda99300ex]

kinda like this....hope it helps

http://animalrights.about.com/od/wildlife/ss/HomemadeFruitFlyTrap_6.htm

 

[Anglwngss]

Ahh. Cool I see. I'll try that.

I love the part about 'releasing' the fruit flies. um, yeah right..

 

[dedc369]

for bait put in vinigar with some old fruit they like the rot

 

[hammerhead]

http://s943.photobucket.com/albums/ad275/hammerhead_bucket_photos/Fruit%20Fly%20Trap/
This is one I made awhile ago. Bananas work well for Phoriod Flies. Red wine vinegar works best for fruit flies.