snailpeekoutofshell
Member
Hello! It's been awhile since I posted...
I've been making progress on my outdoor enclosure for my Russian, but I've come across true hell. It started a couple months ago, just a few caterpillars here and there and I was upset about them eating all of the new Testudo mix I had just planted because it was all sprouts. There wasn't much, so I picked them all out by hand and thought that was that. As the sprouts grew into more full plants, I continued to pick the caterpillars here and there, but I figured perhaps having natural life in my garden for my tort could be beneficial to the overall ecosystem in his enclosure. However, I have slacked this past week in plucking them out, and now they are everywhere. Every day I let him out a few moths fly out from the enclosure and I know they've left more babies. Nearly every leaf I checked had 1-3 caterpillars, and there seems to be new babies every day. I'm worried about him possibly eating them unknowingly while he's grazing..
I've also made the mistake of leaving his water dish full and it's attracted roaches as well... so there's that. It's been a long and quite annoying learning process. When we had a garden many years ago there were butterflies and praying mantises and I was surprised to see them in the desert. Although I'm not growing any flowers, for some reason I foolishly expected the same... but all I have is caterpillars and roaches. I do love plants, but I really only have experience with pest-less indoor plants in a quite small and controlled area...
Is there a way I can get rid of these caterpillars besides plucking them one by one that's safe for my tortoise? Perhaps there is another bug I could introduce to eat them? Something small and cute like a rolly polly... or a lady bug... I have some diatomaceous earth, but I've read that it doesn't do much against caterpillars. It will be quite some time before his enclosure is finished, so I have a good amount of time to figure this out, but I expect whatever the answer is to take some time... even if it's painstakingly plucking each individual caterpillar.
Edit: I should also mention that since I live in the desert and none of my neighbors have gardens, the outdoor enclosure has literally just become a moth breeding ground. There is nothing else to attract them.. and I thought just now to ask if maybe planting another garden elsewhere in my backyard could attract them there instead, but true horror would be double the caterpillars.
I've been making progress on my outdoor enclosure for my Russian, but I've come across true hell. It started a couple months ago, just a few caterpillars here and there and I was upset about them eating all of the new Testudo mix I had just planted because it was all sprouts. There wasn't much, so I picked them all out by hand and thought that was that. As the sprouts grew into more full plants, I continued to pick the caterpillars here and there, but I figured perhaps having natural life in my garden for my tort could be beneficial to the overall ecosystem in his enclosure. However, I have slacked this past week in plucking them out, and now they are everywhere. Every day I let him out a few moths fly out from the enclosure and I know they've left more babies. Nearly every leaf I checked had 1-3 caterpillars, and there seems to be new babies every day. I'm worried about him possibly eating them unknowingly while he's grazing..
I've also made the mistake of leaving his water dish full and it's attracted roaches as well... so there's that. It's been a long and quite annoying learning process. When we had a garden many years ago there were butterflies and praying mantises and I was surprised to see them in the desert. Although I'm not growing any flowers, for some reason I foolishly expected the same... but all I have is caterpillars and roaches. I do love plants, but I really only have experience with pest-less indoor plants in a quite small and controlled area...
Is there a way I can get rid of these caterpillars besides plucking them one by one that's safe for my tortoise? Perhaps there is another bug I could introduce to eat them? Something small and cute like a rolly polly... or a lady bug... I have some diatomaceous earth, but I've read that it doesn't do much against caterpillars. It will be quite some time before his enclosure is finished, so I have a good amount of time to figure this out, but I expect whatever the answer is to take some time... even if it's painstakingly plucking each individual caterpillar.
Edit: I should also mention that since I live in the desert and none of my neighbors have gardens, the outdoor enclosure has literally just become a moth breeding ground. There is nothing else to attract them.. and I thought just now to ask if maybe planting another garden elsewhere in my backyard could attract them there instead, but true horror would be double the caterpillars.