# Lizards > General Lizards >  These flipping FRUIT FLIES are driving me CRAZY.

## Moofins07

I'll try and be quick here: I own a crested gecko. Many people know an excellent way to give a crestie an "all-in-one" diet is to give them the powdered gecko food which you mix with water.

Here's the problem: it attracts fruit flies like MAD! I have them all over the place and refuse to continue feeding my gecko this diet (which I feel horrible for, since he's stuck eating dusted crickets) until I figure out what to do.

Did I just get a bum brand? I can't recall the name of it to help you guys out, but have any of you had this problem before? The fruit flies love to lay their eggs in the mixture and a bajillion disgusting larvae are the result of it. It also makes his enclosure REEK. As soon as I removed the dish and cleaned it, NO smell, whatsoever.

I'm so frustrated, because to get rid of the flies entirely, I'll have to spray my home, which is DANGERDANGERDANGER to pets unless you remove them for more than an hour, which I can't do. GAH.  :Mad:  :Rage:

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## angllady2

They do make fruit fly traps, I've seen them before.

My only other suggestion is to change the food dish more frequently to try and keep the numbers down.

Gale

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## mainbutter

To keep fruit fly numbers down:

Leave the dish in overnight only.

I have had this problem as well, and in fact recently got rid of my dubia colony because their food and/or poop attracted insects like crazy.

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## KristynhasBALLS

I feed my crested gecko Repashy Crested Gecko Complete Diet powder and I don't seem to have a problem.  I clean the dish like every other day and add new food. 
To get rid of them naturally try Lemongrass essential oil, 10 drops to 2 ounces of hot water and a spray bottle  :Very Happy:

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## Teclis

Haha, some flies managed their way into my Anole's cage and he took them out. I sat there for 10 minutes watching him stalk and eat them.

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## Stacykins

When fruit flies become a problem, I fill up a small cup about halfway with apple cider vinegar and a bit of dish soap, top the cup with plastic wrap and secure it with a rubberband. Poke a few holes in the plastic wrap and pop it near the terrariums. The fruit flies head towards the apple cider vinegar, but get trapped and drown. Really cuts their numbers quickly!

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## suzuki4life

> They do make fruit fly traps, I've seen them before.
> 
> My only other suggestion is to change the food dish more frequently to try and keep the numbers down.
> 
> Gale


I am betting they were phorid flies

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## suzuki4life

> When fruit flies become a problem, I fill up a small cup about halfway with apple cider vinegar and a bit of dish soap, top the cup with plastic wrap and secure it with a rubberband. Poke a few holes in the plastic wrap and pop it near the terrariums. The fruit flies head towards the apple cider vinegar, but get trapped and drown. Really cuts their numbers quickly!


doesn't work very well with phorid flies.

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## WingedWolfPsion

I also feed Repashy CGD, but I breed fruit flies deliberately to feed to my little lizards, so... <lol>

But the wild, flighted fruit flies, it's really quite simple.  Close the windows, and change the food out every other day.  The fruit flies will not have enough time to reproduce, and should go away fairly quickly.
Be sure you dispose of the old crested gecko food down the drain, and not just toss it into a garbage can where the flies will gladly complete their life cycle.

If that doesn't work, then your real problem is, WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM.  They're obviously not coming from the CGD, so where are the flies breeding in your home?  Or do you need tighter window screens?  Because if you have fruit flies breeding elsewhere (such as in your kitchen) you need to deal with them there.  You can't blame the CGD for attracting flies without realizing the flies have to be attracted FROM somewhere.

Don't feed your geckos nothing but dusted crickets just because you don't like fruit flies.  Crested geckos need CGD, not just crickets.  If you cannot handle the problem some other way, you should re-home the animal.  Don't compromise his well-being for the sake of a few harmless nuisance flies.

The CGD is not to blame.  If you didn't have that, then the flies would be after your tomatoes, or any fresh fruit you left out, or banana peels in the garbage, whatever.

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## Jeremy78

I'm with winged wolf.

Breeding cresties for 2 years, never seen a fruit fly. I change food every night and clean dishes every day. The food spoils overnight anyway. If you have larvae in the food you are definitely leaving it in there too long.

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