HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have seen two tiny flies in the tank tonight. Do you think they are fruit flies? Is there something I can do to rid the tank of these?

I get those around the food dish when it's warm. Just change the food dish daily, that's all that I did. We found that we were bringing them in on the bananas so I started putting them in the fridge after that. They're just an annoyance.

Sounds like fruit flies to me. I get them occasionally. They just want the food, and probably won't hurt the crabbies. I just change the substrate and start changing the food out more quickly.

Oh, that makes sense. I started the Nutrisystem diet last week and have bananas in the house which I don't normally buy. I bet that is where they came from. Can the fruit flies hurt my hermies? I recall reading somewhere that you can put some type of yellow sticky pest strip in the tank to catch them - does anyone know it this will work and/or what type of strip should be used?

I'd be careful hanging them on the inside of the tank -- they're really sticky and I had a hermie get stuck on Velco adhesive one night as she was "scaling" the wall. I found that as long as I kept the bananas refrigerated and the food changed fastidiously, the fruit flies eventually all died off. You could also try the sticky stuff outside the tank around the perimeter.

Fruit flies don't feel attracted to the yellow sticky traps. But many other flies do. The best place to put those traps is under the lid of the tank where the crabs cannot reach it (the ones I buy are stick on both sides).Fruit flies love alcohol. Put some red wine into a bowl next to the crabitat and add some dish liquid to break the surface tension (the flies won't be able to sit on the surface of the wine anymore).

Jedediah and Melin gave us lots of good info on fruit flies in the past. I made a trap that I hang inside my tank, you can see it here http://www.crabbytalk.com/?p=2When it's really warm and I've had fruit in the tank, I might see a fly, but for the most part this has done the trick.So thanks Jedediah!

I think so. Another think that works, but looks gross is a piece over overripe fruit in a jar with acover of saran wrap. Put a few holes in the saran wrap with a needle so that the flies can get in, but not out again.