tiny fly like creatures in my cricket container

[zombiepixel]

It's been a while, thought this was the best place to ask.

These things are really small and black, I don't deal with fruit flies so I don't really think these are them based on the images/descriptions i've found online. They look like a really small fly, but solid black like a beetle.

I completely sanitized the cricket container on Sunday and tonight I found more in there. I also found a couple climbing around in the bottom of one of my silkie containers.

they are annoying, thinking they might be fruit flies I put out a vinegar trap, but I want to get to the bottom of this and where they are coming from.

Any thoughts? Fruit flies?

 

[Thompson]

Probably knats.

 

[Leilaskeeper]

Are knats something to worry about?

 

[AlexPalmer]

Naw everyone gets them. A chameleon cage is the perfect place for flies with the high humidity and plants.

 

[dodolah]

If it is in the cricket container, it might not be gnat.
They are attracted to smell and dirty environment.
I would guess, it's phorid fly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoridae

 

[zombiepixel]

That is probably it Dodolah. It's wierd to because the cricket container already stinks and I cleaned it Sunday, I don't know what is up with this batch of crickets but they have probably been the worst smelling i've ever had.

thanks for the quickness

 

[dodolah]

That is probably it Dodolah. It's wierd to because the cricket container already stinks and I cleaned it Sunday, I don't know what is up with this batch of crickets but they have probably been the worst smelling i've ever had.

thanks for the quickness

I actually have experienced the infestation one time in my Hornworm pod.
I ended up throwing the pod away. Phorid flies laid their eggs on decaying matter. You might not want to feed your chameleon crickets that have been kept in a container infested with phorid flies.

I am not sure if this work..
But, I would dump the crickets in a separate temporary box.
Bleach the infested container and clean it vigorously.
Get a new egg carton.
Then transfer the crickets back to the container.
It might be best to somehow cover the container to prevent the phorid fly to enter and breed again.