Little black flies

[cdsnuts]

I've always fed my mantis crickets (I'm new to this) but recently there have been small flies originating inside my mantis's enclosures? I can't figure out how they got there? They're too big to get inside through the netting...could it be they came out of something I'm feeding them? Could the crickets be carrying some type of bug?

Perplexed.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Maybe they are fruit flies.

 

[nirotorin]

They may have laid their eggs on the netting, or flown in while you had your back turned during cleaning, or feeding.

 

[cdsnuts]

Definitely not fruit files. I'll try and get a pic.

There are too many of them to have just flown in. And they're in two of the five enclosures.

 

[cdsnuts]

Maybe they could've been in the substrate i've recently added to the bottom of the enclosures? Its made from coconut husk.

 

[hibiscusmile]

That's prob it.

 

[nirotorin]

Well they're pretty hard to keep out of stuff. It only takes one to lay a mess of eggs.