Gnats??? Fruit flies??

[AdamStage]

Hello, I noticed today when I was spot cleaning my sully tub a couple little flying bugs. They looked like fruit flies to me. I have never seen them and the only thing that I have changed is I added Sphagnum to the enclosure. Has anyone ever experienced this? I completely cleaned the tub out and have all fresh coir and sphagnum peat and I will be watching closely.

 

[ILoveTortoises2]

LOL everyone seems to be having this problem lately.

 

[AdamStage]

Really? Huh that's strange. Any idea why? I am at a loss as to what happened.

 

[ILoveTortoises2]

I would try to keep his enclosure as clean as you can. If you feed your tort in the mornings after he is done I would go and pick up any he dropped and then maybe put the food away till a few hours then put some back out then again pick up everything ect. I have seen a lot of posts out here about Fruit Flies. I also had them and I don't have them anymore THANK GOD because it was nasty. You said they are in his water?? Like little white things that move around in the water right? If so that is exactly what I had. Just clean t VERY well change the soil, EVERYTHING. I even put my hides that I have in the enclosure and put them in the dishwasher so that IF I missed anything the dishwasher deff got whatever was left behind.

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

I discovered an awesome home made trap for these guys....

Take a regularly drinking glass, place some fruit or a few teaspoons of apple cider vinegar inside. Cover with kitchen plastic wrap and seal with a rubber band. Take a stake knife and poke a bunch of holes, not too big.

Place where they are currently swarming, and give it a few days. Overnight you will notice a massive decrease in numbers. Clean and reset the trap, as they have a 3-4 day breeding cycle.

 

[ILoveTortoises2]

Well I tried the Apple Cider Vinegar and I thought it worked for the first time but the I noticed it didn't work after. I had those EVERYWHERE in my place and nothing happened

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

I mix it up. Try one time with melon rind, another with banana peel, etc.

Make sure the holes are not too big or they crawl back out.

 

[ILoveTortoises2]

I mix it up. Try one time with melon rind, another with banana peel, etc.

Make sure the holes are not too big or they crawl back out.

Melon Rind? I'll try this out see if it works because I know I was told to use the apple cider Vineger and a little dot of dish soap and it worked the first time but after that it seemed not to work that great. So I will deff try this out this way.

 

[lisa127]

When I had this problem, it quickly became apparent that they love coconut coir bedding.

 

[Saleama]

Well I tried the Apple Cider Vinegar and I thought it worked for the first time but the I noticed it didn't work after. I had those EVERYWHERE in my place and nothing happened

I had an infestation that spread to my entire apartment. What I did, was take a smooth sided tuperware type container and place about a half inch to a full inch of white vinegar mixed with some peach or apple juice. I placed the container on the floor under my tortoise and turtle habitats and placed a UVB coil type light bulb in a reflective dome hood about 3 inches over the container. Within a few days I had caught about 1000 of the little bug(ger)s. I still have some in my habitats and they get on the TV every so often, but not nearly as bad. I also heard that you can make a Lemon grass oil water mixture and spray it on them and it will kill them but not hurt the animals. I would make sure to get completly organic oil and ask an expert on this though as I have not been able to verify it.

 

[Millerlite]

I want to homedepot and bought a small zapper that was like 15 bucks and they have this coconut bait stuff. Works great I just keep it near my tortoises and box turtle enclosures and clean it every so often, I must say after getting it and running it a few weeks almost no bugs left

Kyle

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

I want to homedepot and bought a small zapper that was like 15 bucks and they have this coconut bait stuff. Works great I just keep it near my tortoises and box turtle enclosures and clean it every so often, I must say after getting it and running it a few weeks almost no bugs left

Kyle

Nice

 

[lisa127]

You can also just put about a cup of apple cider vinegar into a bowl with a drop of dish detergent mixed in. The flies are attracted to the apple cider vinegar and the detergent suffocates them in the water.

I stopped using coconut coir bedding and have not had a problem since.

 

[Millerlite]

I want to homedepot and bought a small zapper that was like 15 bucks and they have this coconut bait stuff. Works great I just keep it near my tortoises and box turtle enclosures and clean it every so often, I must say after getting it and running it a few weeks almost no bugs left

Kyle

Nice

Yeah I tried almost every other diy traps and they worked, but never enough to kill almost all the flies gnat things. The gnats I had were not really fruit flies so vinegar and sugar traps didn't work very well. The zapper tho is worth the money. It's the smallest one. Think it's like a foot by 6 inches give or take

 

[AZtortMom]

I have the problem too. I just bought a huge orange rod fly trap thingy from ace hardware and hung it from the ceiling above their enclosure. It's pretty ghetto, but it works great. I also change out their water every day and it keeps all the flying bugs down too. Just my 2 cents.. [WINKING FACE]

 

[AdamStage]

I am going to try and get away from the coconut coir and see what happens because I use peat and mulch with my Russians and have never had the problem it has just been with my 2 babies and I have been using coir. My wife told me about the Apple cider vintages too, it does work.

---

Yeah as far as having them in their water that hasn't been a problem for me. I just find them running around the coir and flying occasionally. I am going to use Sphagnum/peat and I will let you all know how it works out. Thanks

 

[lighthiker2]

I tried sphagnum substrate and am also experiencing tiny gnats. I just secured a small trap to one of the corners... We will see what happens. I routinely remove uneaten materials each night: perhaps i have been missing some so will start taking out a bit of underlying substrate more often and am changing back to more coir.