Best way to deal with the flies/maggots?

[Taesolieroy]

It seems with every batch I get of crickets, there are flies within a couple of days having an orgy fest in the bin. I maintain cleaning every couple of weeks and I don't open the bin until I'm outside to chase all the flies out, move the crickets into a temp bin, pressurewash the entire bin with the hose and completely change the eggcrates food and water dishes.

They seem to keep coming back. :/

Is there a way to deter or reduce the chances of the flies coming back and having a field day in the bin? I can't afford the time to clean them out more than a week at a time with work and whatnot with odd hours. I don't want to run the risk of getting the dermestid beetles because if they get out, they'll destroy the house carpeting and anything else organic! Perhaps there's a safe powder or something I can put in the bin to discourage them?

I know some other folks have stated they've had problems with these little pests before, I just don't know if any have come up with solutions beyond frequent cleaning.

 

[katie_]

Thats disgusting.
Maybe change who you buy your crickets from?

 

[Taesolieroy]

I've been trying different suppliers and it still happens XP Something about the flies is killing the crickets faster than I can keep the tank clean so each time I do clean I get to see their disgusting white maggots writhing around in what's supposed to be my gecko food :/

 

[lecko167]

Are you keeping them inside? I have to keep mine inside, because if I keep them outside they get maggots.

 

[Taesolieroy]

They are inside in the hallway between my room and bathroom, so it's a real headscratcher how they're getting in.

 

[Taesolieroy]

Bit of an update since it's been a while, but I think I found the main source of why flies keep coming in....

I opened my latest shipment from the supplier (won't name specific names because this has happened with each supplier I've gone through), and found a few flies zipping out. Not to mention they package the extra egg crate you order in with the crickets for the sake of saving space :/ So the flies are laying eggs and the crickets are fouling otherwise perfectly good egg crate.

I think what I'll be doing for a while now is opening their bin outside, scooping the crickets I need out, that way any flies that zip out don't stay in the house to come back to their nest hub. That.. and I'll be going to home Depot and Hobby Lobby for leftover crating :/ I'm not pleased in how 'hygenic' the crickets are arriving in.

On a plus side I finally got a hold of some phoenix worms and the geckos love them, but downside is I think my Natesa is becoming more favorable to worms - she's not eating as many crickets anymore. Not complaining much though, I probably could move my geckos onto a mealworm diet to save on space since I already supplement their meals with a mix of wax, butter and now phoenix worms in the first week of the order.

 

[Russellm0704]

Main reason I feed mealworms and supers. Crickets are not easy to keep alive. At least not for me

 

[Taesolieroy]

I've not had much issues keeping them alive aside from the cleaning factor, it's the flies and their squirming maggots that get on my annoyed side. If I do move to mealies for my geckos, they're not getting ones that are too big for them to properly bite into a pulp, all my girls are good enough to mouth even a wax worm enough to make sure it's thoroughly crushed to do anything inside.

 

[Russellm0704]

Never had a problem with geckos getting hurt from supers. I will never even worry about mealies.

 

[Taesolieroy]

Eh, a few horror stories with the evidence behind them are enough to put me off of supers >_>

 

[Taesolieroy]

Another quick update, I caved in and bought a 10 gallon terrarium (and a supposed 10 gal lid but it's too big!!! >:\ Not enough to produce holes for crickets to escape in but I'm still not pleased about it. It'll have to do for this experiment.) after work today and I'll be transferring the crickets into there with fresh food and water cubes as well as what untainted scrap cardboard rolls and boxes I can find until I can get fresh egg crate.

I'll be monitoring it this week to see if it will affect the fly count as I'm getting real tired of having these buggers buzz my face as I'm trying to do art..