Coco coir fly problem

[erniethetortoise]

I currently have coco coir as my substrate but there are now tons of these flies in my tortoises enclosure and around my house. I also added some top soil to it, could that be causing the flies? Another question i have is i have a large coco coir block but it is very hard to break up is there a specific way your suppossed to break it? thanks in advance.

 

[TechnoCheese]

I currently have coco coir as my substrate but there are now tons of these flies in my tortoises enclosure and around my house. I also added some top soil to it, could that be causing the flies? Another question i have is i have a large coco coir block but it is very hard to break up is there a specific way your suppossed to break it? thanks in advance.

The flies are normal, and will go anywhere hot and humid. Not much you can do about those.
You are putting the block in water, right?

 

[erniethetortoise]

The flies are normal, and will go anywhere hot and humid. Not much you can do about those.
You are putting the block in water, right?

I have been adding some water but it hasn’t really helped, am I supposed to put the whole block in water?

 

[TechnoCheese]

I have been adding some water but it hasn’t really helped, am I supposed to put the whole block in water?

Yes, you are supposed to soak the entire block in water for 10-30 minutes. Make sure you use a big bucket! It expands a LOT.

 

[Tom]

TechnoCheese is right. The flies come from the surrounding environment and will colonize any substrate that is kept warm and damp.

You can try to break pieces off of the big coir block with a claw hammer, but soaking is much easier.

 

[erniethetortoise]

TechnoCheese is right. The flies come from the surrounding environment and will colonize any substrate that is kept warm and damp.

You can try to break pieces off of the big coot block with a claw hammer, but soaking is much easier.

Thanks for the help

 

[Yvonne G]

Sticky traps help a bit:

 

[wellington]

I agree with all the above. I have tons of those flies in a green house in my basement. The flies seem to come from dirt/peat moss. The coir I only used to get the real tiny ones that were the size of fruit flies and would just die off. Th ones I have now look like little house flies. The fly strips help and you can also get other types of fly traps to help control them.