LITTLE BUGS in enclosure(white plant eating really tiny)

awesomecs

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the intro says it all I have a really hot light is that it?
 

Dosu

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Uhh, bugs usually thrive when there's humidity, warmth, a food source (the plants) ect. There's really not much ways to prevent it. If you use orchid bark or something similar then maybe every 2 weeks put it in boiling water for a while to kill any insects/eggs. If you use cypress mulch then try baking it every once in a while to kill insects/eggs or if you have coco coir maybe try putting it in boiling water too every once in a while. This is just my opinion, I've never actually tried any of these methods since I didn't get bugs yet so idk if these methods will 'ruin' the substrate or not.
 

GRohr

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Sep 22, 2015
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I find that spot checking for poop and cleaning up the leftover food really helps keeps the bugs down. I also remove the top layer (maybe an inch or so) of substrate every month to every two months and replace it with new stuff. I ran into a gnat problem for a while from not cleaning the soil on a couple of plants I got from lowes, that was super annoying, never again haha.
 

Careym13

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It is really hard to get rid of them completely unless you change out ALL of your dirt. They are harmless little bugs though and feed on left over food that your tortoise leaves behind. You can add pill bugs into your enclosure, they will feed on the white bugs.
 

awesomecs

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It is really hard to get rid of them completely unless you change out ALL of your dirt. They are harmless little bugs though and feed on left over food that your tortoise leaves behind. You can add pill bugs into your enclosure, they will feed on the white bugs.
thanks ill get some pillys (I heard they are one of the only t
hings that can live with torts is this true)
 

awesomecs

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I find that spot checking for poop and cleaning up the leftover food really helps keeps the bugs down. I also remove the top layer (maybe an inch or so) of substrate every month to every two months and replace it with new stuff. I ran into a gnat problem for a while from not cleaning the soil on a couple of plants I got from lowes, that was super annoying, never again haha.
yeah but they eat the plants in her elclosure and tiny bits of food that get stuck on the dirt lol
 

awesomecs

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Aug 30, 2015
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It is really hard to get rid of them completely unless you change out ALL of your dirt. They are harmless little bugs though and feed on left over food that your tortoise leaves behind. You can add pill bugs into your enclosure, they will feed on the white bugs.
happy bday and now that I did not get rid of them theres thoudsands are you sure the are safe btw I do not want to hurt her with pesticides
 
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