Frustrated Fruit flies coming from Guinea pig droppings?

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I hope you can get a handle on this. I occasionally have an issue with fruit flies and use the apple cider vinegar trick, but I have the bug zapper that gets rid of everything.

 

[Sloxchy]

I hope you can get a handle on this. I occasionally have an issue with fruit flies and use the apple cider vinegar trick, but I have the bug zapper that gets rid of everything.

I hope so as well, the apple cider vinager thing worked a bit but the flies stopped after a week of it. I even got those little apple fly traps which nothing. Nothing left to say then that there were laurve in the cage when I cleaned but it was only 2 with some baby flies which are all in the damn trash. This daily cleaning thing is working a lot better than I expected.

 

[augustina]

Outstanding news!

 

[Sloxchy]

Update: Hello, just wanted to update the situation. The flies are now out of my room, they were in the bathroom but I found the issue to that. Though sadly they’re in the kitchen, not sure why but they’re lingering around. They just sit on the cabinet doors and don’t move.

 

[ItsaZoo]

Hopefully they won’t survive much longer and will be gone. Glad they’re out of your room.

 

[augustina]

I did a little more research to try and identify exactly which species of fly we both seem to have had. Not successful there, but did learn that many types of fly which live on feces, i.e., poop, can also live on rotting vegetable matter and possibly in dirty drains.

I'm pretty sure the flies living in the guinea pig cage were not classic drain flies. They might be something akin to phorid flies which can reproduce in either environment.

If there's no obvious decaying vegetable matter in the kitchen, it might be worth trying some of the DYI drain cleaning methods in this article:

How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies

Get expert advice on improvements to your home, including design tips, how much you'd expect to pay for a pro and what to ask when hiring experts.

www.forbes.com

There's also special gels you can buy, but I've not had experience with drain beasties, so don't know if they are effective.

Until the kitchen flies are conquered, (sorry to say) you'll need to stay alert to any possible re-infestation of the cage.

 

[Sloxchy]

I did a little more research to try and identify exactly which species of fly we both seem to have had. Not successful there, but did learn that many types of fly which live on feces, i.e., poop, can also live on rotting vegetable matter and possibly in dirty drains.

I'm pretty sure the flies living in the guinea pig cage were not classic drain flies. They might be something akin to phorid flies which can reproduce in either environment.

If there's no obvious decaying vegetable matter in the kitchen, it might be worth trying some of the DYI drain cleaning methods in this article:

How To Get Rid Of Drain Flies

Get expert advice on improvements to your home, including design tips, how much you'd expect to pay for a pro and what to ask when hiring experts.

www.forbes.com

There's also special gels you can buy, but I've not had experience with drain beasties, so don't know if they are effective.

Until the kitchen flies are conquered, (sorry to say) you'll need to stay alert to any possible re-infestation of the cage.

There is cut up fruit in the kitchen but it’s across from where they’re hanging around. The cabinets they’re hanging around is next to the sink so I’ll look into that. Also when I was looking up the type of fly that was the one that resembled it the most, again thank you

 

[Sloxchy]

Update: I tapped on the cage and there were 4 flies in there, going to have to clean it out again.

 

[Sloxchy]

 

[augustina]

There is cut up fruit in the kitchen but it’s across from where they’re hanging around. The cabinets they’re hanging around is next to the sink so I’ll look into that. Also when I was looking up the type of fly that was the one that resembled it the most, again thank you

From the University of Florida: Adult drain flies can live about a week. Eggs hatch in about two days.

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/URBAN/FLIES/drain_fly.html

My adult flies seemed to die off faster than that but the eradication principle should be the same:

Clean out where they're breeding. Be aware more eggs can be laid so long as adult flies are around. Continue regular cleaning for at least a few days after you've seen the last adult to make sure there are no remaining eggs or larvae.

Sorry the problem is not over yet but it does seem you've made progress.

 

[Sloxchy]

Update: So I wanted to do a little update on the situation, I’ve been cleaning the cage and now they’re back into the cage which I’m not sure why. They’re out of the kitchen and other rooms.

 

[augustina]

Sorry for the late response.

If you've made the kitchen and other rooms less hospitable, it's not terribly surprising that any existing live adult flies are circling back to the guinea pigs where they can find fresh poop for egg laying in between the cage changings.

I think the flies will die off eventually and the daily changings will prevent new flies from maturing. How long it will take before all the adults die off would vary according to the exact species.

The Univ of Florida article (mentioned above) said one week. Orkin says two weeks (in the Understanding Drain Flies section) here:

How to Identify Drain Flies | What Causes Drain Flies | Orkin

Drain flies are attracted to moisture inside drains or sewers. Before an infestation clogs your drains, call Orkin to remove & prevent drain fly infestations.

www.orkin.com

My flies died off much more quickly than that but it was almost certainly a different species from yours. Apparently, there are many species within the umbrella term, "drain flies".

I think you're on the right track with the cleaning routine. If you see any fly activity back in the kitchen, I'd flush the drain again (assuming that's what got them out of the kitchen).

If you see decreasing numbers in your room, without the flies reappearing elsewhere, then your current routine ought to work.

If the number of flies increase again, despite all your efforts -- it might be time to get professional advice.

At any rate, a professional exterminator may be able to identify the exact species and give you a better estimate of the adult fly’s life span.

 

[Sloxchy]

Sorry for the late response.

If you've made the kitchen and other rooms less hospitable, it's not terribly surprising that any existing live adult flies are circling back to the guinea pigs where they can find fresh poop for egg laying in between the cage changings.

I think the flies will die off eventually and the daily changings will prevent new flies from maturing. How long it will take before all the adults die off would vary according to the exact species.

The Univ of Florida article (mentioned above) said one week. Orkin says two weeks (in the Understanding Drain Flies section) here:

How to Identify Drain Flies | What Causes Drain Flies | Orkin

Drain flies are attracted to moisture inside drains or sewers. Before an infestation clogs your drains, call Orkin to remove & prevent drain fly infestations.

www.orkin.com

My flies died off much more quickly than that but it was almost certainly a different species from yours. Apparently, there are many species within the umbrella term, "drain flies".

I think you're on the right track with the cleaning routine. If you see any fly activity back in the kitchen, I'd flush the drain again (assuming that's what got them out of the kitchen).

If you see decreasing numbers in your room, without the flies reappearing elsewhere, then your current routine ought to work.

If the number of flies increase again, despite all your efforts -- it might be time to get professional advice.

At any rate, a professional exterminator may be able to identify the exact species and give you a better estimate of the adult fly’s life span.

All good, I did call to find out if someone could come out to check and they wanted money for that. You’d think that cleaning the cage everyday would’ve kept them out (which did the first week) and then for all of them to come back into the cage. I cleaned last night and the population doubled. There are some in the kitchen now, there’s no material/waste for them to eat. I’m really confused on what’s going on.

 

[augustina]

If the guinea pig cage is the only place where the flies are breeding, a hypothetical scenario could go like this:

Say the life-span of the adult flies is nine days, and you cleaned the cage every day for seven days, then there is still time for remaining adult flies to lay more eggs.

If the eggs can hatch and mature into adults in seven days, but the cage isn't cleaned out again until the eighth day after the last eggs are laid, then you will have more adult flies.

Unfortunately, we don't know exactly how long or short a period of time it takes for this particular species of fly to hatch and mature, or exactly how long they can live as adults.

Now, consider if the flies are breeding in two places, e.g., the kitchen sink as well as the cage.

BOTH places will have to be cleared out of eggs and larvae before the last laid eggs can mature into adult flies. Otherwise flies breeding in the sink can re-infest the cage, then flies breeding in the cage can re-infest the sink.

When I had the similar fly problem, I'm very sure my species of fly had an extremely short life cycle because of how quickly the adults were gone after I started daily cleaning: almost gone after the third day, completely gone after the fifth day. Also, I'm completely sure they were only breeding in one place -- the cage.

I'm really sorry if I misled you about how easy this would be when I first responded to your post. I just assumed your situation was comparable to mine.

If money can't be found for exterminators, consider what has worked so far. How did you get rid of the flies in the kitchen? Do it again, and keep doing it while at the same time keep cleaning the cage. Consider any other places they might breed. From the Univ of Maryland:

“They (the flies) may also breed in areas of sewer leaks and back-ups, dirty garbage cans, saucers under potted plants, clogged storm drains, and in condensate pans under refrigerators and air conditioners.”

https://extension.umd.edu/resource/drain-flies

I can't say how long you would have to keep this up, or exactly how often it would need to be done, without knowing the particular fly specie's life-span through all stages. And we’re assuming they are only breeding in the two places. If found anywhere else, that will have to be cleaned regularly as well.

God bless and please let me know if you have more questions.

 

[Sloxchy]

I do have to say that I did do one of the drain suggestions which was 1 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup of salt and baking soda for the bathtub and they still go in there but it’s only 2-4 at a time. For me the hatching seems to take a day or less, when they were gone that one week it was pretty instant. I did notice that some were huger than others that I’ve seen which I’m not sure if that’s just the adult form or not. The kitchen sink is a garbage disposal and is used very often along with being using for a washing machine. What I’ve been doing which doesn’t seem to really work is just to clean the corners of the cage where they mess and leave the middle alone- I am halfway through my bag of bedding and it’s my only one so that’s why I’m doing that rather than cleaning out the entire cage. If I do that then I won’t have any bedding by next week, yes it’s kinda unconventional but it’s all I have until next month. Their water bottle is now leaking like crazy so the wood shavings are getting wet and so that’s attracting them more. Last thing I have to mention is when they were out of my room they were in the kitchen and if they weren’t in there they were in my moms room on her Elvis rug which is on the wall. I don’t know why but they really love the color black, not sure if that happened with you where they went after anything black, like there’s a rug in the bathroom and it’s black so I had to take it out once because when I went in there; there was at least 20 just hanging around on the rug.

Sorry if most of this is overwhelming with unnecessary information, just want to make sure I’m giving as much information as I can.

 

[Sloxchy]

Update: The flies are unbearable at the moment, cleaning the cage seems to not be as effective as before. Any one have any tips on fixing a leaking water bottle?