Flies/gnats in terrarium.

Tokoloshe

Avid Member
Hey all, been battling a small fly/gnat infestation over here.
I believe they came in with the plants...
Does anybody have any ideas on how to get rid of the little buggers?
They are flying everywhere...
:mad:

T.
 
Hey all, been battling a small fly/gnat infestation over here.
I believe they came in with the plants...
Does anybody have any ideas on how to get rid of the little buggers?
They are flying everywhere...
:mad:

T.

I am sorry I can not provide any helpful information. All I can say is: 'I am in the same boat'
 
try repotting the plant, washing the roots, and/or pouring soap water on your plant's soil (multiple times).
If all else fail, i believe there is some organic bacteria culture that feed on gnat's eggs (they claim it's safe for other animals. I never try it, though).
Gnats are an opportunist insects that thrives when you have pots soil that constantly wet.

are your plants bottom sitting in the water?
 
Thanks guys, so po'ed I just rebuilt the big terrarium a few weeks ago! It seems that the gnats are in all my cages right now...any other ideas before the big strip down starts?
 
The soapy water works well.
I recommend using Dawn dishwashing liquid.
spray the soil with a diluted mixture once or twice a day. It will not hurt the plant at all.

-Brad
 
I started my pygmy tank last year-around July, and had ton of gnats. But after about 4 months, no more gnats! Not sure what happened.
 
Nope-they ignored them. Someone told me once that the babies would eat them, but the adults don't seem interested! Sure would have made it easier if they liked 'em!
 
You can buy a culture of spring tails. I put these in when I started the tank and I still have a few, but no where near the amount I would have had. It will take a while though to establish the colony, plus they help clean up left over poo. See the chameleonnews.com article June 2005. I bought mine from blackjungle.com or any poison dart frog site.:)
 
I would be interested in knowing if springtails would too...although I have a lot in there and haven't seen a decline in numbers...?

Please keep the ideas coming, I have been chatting with folks at nursery's, frog forums etc...but no luck except for the mantid eggs I found at my nursery. :D
 
get a bucket fill it with water and your choice of gnatrol or pyretherin concentrate

dip your plant bucket(not the foilage) in it two to three good times and let sit outdoors til dry
repeat the next day and then one week later
if you really want to be sure you can do it again a week after that.

We treat this way because when you treat you are only killing the larvae(or maybe its you are only killing the adults) leaving the others to come up and continue reproducing

either way you must treat a few times to completely eradicate all cycles of life, from the preggo females down to the morphing larvae

before you replace your plant with your cham, you will want to flush thouroughly

these fungus gnats are annoying as could be and damn fast but are pretty much harmless to everything except your plant roots


the main thing they are hinting to you is you don't have enough flow in your soil and your plants are probably not drying out fast enough enough. these bugs need water for survival so if your misting is frequent that is most likely your problem. so maybe a more porous mix that will allow better water flow, such as mixing soil and coco coir 80/20 ratio and maybe raise your plants off the floor
 
get a bucket fill it with water and your choice of gnatrol or pyretherin concentrate

dip your plant bucket(not the foilage) in it two to three good times and let sit outdoors til dry
repeat the next day and then one week later
if you really want to be sure you can do it again a week after that.

We treat this way because when you treat you are only killing the larvae(or maybe its you are only killing the adults) leaving the others to come up and continue reproducing

either way you must treat a few times to completely eradicate all cycles of life, from the preggo females down to the morphing larvae

before you replace your plant with your cham, you will want to flush thouroughly

these fungus gnats are annoying as could be and damn fast but are pretty much harmless to everything except your plant roots


the main thing they are hinting to you is you don't have enough flow in your soil and your plants are probably not drying out fast enough enough. these bugs need water for survival so if your misting is frequent that is most likely your problem. so maybe a more porous mix that will allow better water flow, such as mixing soil and coco coir 80/20 ratio and maybe raise your plants off the floor

so, is the gnatrol safe? is flushing will completely remove gnatrol trace in the soil? (my veiled love to ingest soil).. I am a bit worry.
 
yes gnatrol is relatively safe!

the component in it was created by israeli scientist, its a bacteria that feeds on the larvae or something like that

washes out in a rinse

plus on top of that, your chameleons don't really go into the rootzone, so as long as you flush it good you'll be absolutely fine
 
I got little fruit flies in mine over the summer because I would feed my chameleon fresh papaya and figs off our tree. He apparently dropped one once and it was lodged where I didn’t see it, then came the fruit flies. I still have a couple and can’t seem to get rid of them. As of now they aren’t multiplying. *knock on wood*
 
Back
Top Bottom