What are the little bugs

[Trouta]

Hi Guys, trying the whole breeding cricket things for my lawson and beardies, im noticing every time i lift the lid on the tub of crickets ( the pinhead tub ) these little flying creatures fly out of the tub What are they?? There very very tiny and dont no how they get in there as the tub lid is meshed for fresh air or maybe they can, dont no if they getting in or they are coming from the tub itself, just wanting to no if anyone else has noticed these and what they are and if good or bad for the baby crickets
Cheers Guys

 

[Stuart]

What are you feeding the crickets and how often? I found I had the same thing with too many green veges and moisture. Turns out they were a fruit fly variation and they are usually accompanied by tiny maggots.

They didn't seem to harm anything at all.

 

[Trouta]

Hi SniperCap thx for the reply, yes we have noticed a bit of mould in the soil, we feed them, well place fresh food in the tub daily which consists of Carrot, Zuchinni, Oranges and Gutload, its only with the babies, the adults dont have any soil in there tub which is probally why, we just place the baby tub on top of the snake/lizard tank over the heatlamp side to try and create warmth. Live and learning all at once with this stuff, only just getting it going now, the babies seem to take forever to grow, still very tiny, so we are not doing anything wrong as in bringing in a variant of fruitfly from our setup??

 

[Thyla]

Hi Guys, trying the whole breeding cricket things for my lawson and beardies, im noticing every time i lift the lid on the tub of crickets ( the pinhead tub ) these little flying creatures fly out of the tub What are they?? There very very tiny and dont no how they get in there as the tub lid is meshed for fresh air or maybe they can, dont no if they getting in or they are coming from the tub itself, just wanting to no if anyone else has noticed these and what they are and if good or bad for the baby crickets
Cheers Guys

fruit fly looking things? Common pest in ARC's cricket production. Harmless to reptiles, crickets and humans alike but in decent numbers can be annoying. I think they would already be in adult stage when shipped to you.

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Hi SniperCap thx for the reply, yes we have noticed a bit of mould in the soil, we feed them, well place fresh food in the tub daily which consists of Carrot, Zuchinni, Oranges and Gutload, its only with the babies, the adults dont have any soil in there tub which is probally why, we just place the baby tub on top of the snake/lizard tank over the heatlamp side to try and create warmth. Live and learning all at once with this stuff, only just getting it going now, the babies seem to take forever to grow, still very tiny, so we are not doing anything wrong as in bringing in a variant of fruitfly from our setup??

They are laying eggs in the soil that is being heated. This is enough for fruit flies to thrive. I would eliminate the soil (is it leftover from a laying substrate?) and start fresh and make sure you fumigate the room or spray some fly killing stuff around the joint. Then make sure you keep the surrounding environment dry except for your water source (suggestion is a damp sponge every 2 days). Giving them fresh fruit every day is good but if they're not eating it all, it's probably way too much. Also make sure you REMOVE OLD FRUIT as this is a great source for bacteria, fungi, diseases and mold (and laying site for fruit flys too?). Good luck with your pest problem

Regarding their growing rates. If they are all growing slow and at the same speed, I wouldn't be too concerned, this is probably their natural pace. If you are getting bigger and smaller ones from the same day's hatching for example, that means you have inconsistent conditions in the tub (temperature might be heat mat only and not heating air within the tub). Crickets do take a while to start off, but once they get to the "small" size, then they put on weight very fast until they're adults.