gnats buggin me

[kolomomma]

Hello everyone,

Does anyone have these annoying little gnats in their invert's cages? Does anyone have suggestions on how to get rid of or prevent them? They seem to like the fruit in my hissers' cages and also my millipedes to a lesser degree. Sometimes I find them in my kitchen and (gasp) on our toothbrushes. Help!

Thanks!
Christy.

 

[arachnocat]

I got those too once. They are really annoying. Just make sure you always change the food and keep the tank clean. The kind I had came from some bad potting soil I had put in the tank so you might want to change your substrate or freeze it to kill them. A few fly stickies near the tank will help too till you get rid of the buggers.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Get a nepenthes pitcher plant. Works nicely for me.

 

[bugmankeith]

The maggots live in the soil, feeding on rotted plant roots and decaying matter.
The gnats reproduce profusely!

 

[nepenthes]

Iheartmantids, I think Pingucilas work better, they love gnats!

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Did you mean Pinguicula? I didn't think of that . . . I know that Lori's sundew works nicely.

I just think Nepenthes look really cool. I looked in one of the pitchers and saw at least five small dipterans.

 

[nepenthes]

Yea i forgot how to spell it i usually just say Ping's lol

Droseras work good too, but Ping's are all over those Gnats! I had a massive fungus gnat infestation I set the ping by the pot they were in and BAM it was covered in tons of sad little gnats.

 

[kolomomma]

Thank you for all the ideas, but where do I obtain these carnivorous plants? I have somewhat of a black thumb, but I will try anything. I had a drowned gnat in my cereal this morning. That's just wrong! Is there a website where I can get these plants? I live in so.california.

Thanks!

 

[padkison]

Fly strips ($2 at Lowes) and drying out the substrate worked for me.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Yes! www.cobraplant.com

No, I don't endorse these guys, I just love the carnivorous plants I've bought from them.

The Pings that Nepenthes mentioned are commonly called butterworts. For a lot of gnats, I'd reccomend those or sundews. I get nepenthes 'cause they look so darn cool.

Edit: darn, padkison posted at the same time! I meant to reply to number 8.

 

[arachnocat]

California Carnivores is pretty awesome too. It's definitely worth a visit if you ever come up this way.

 

[Scott C.]

Mate any house spider common to your area, and let the eggsacs hatch in your invert room......
My bedroom is full of spiders now, including the T cages. The fly problem is not so much of a problem now.
Just another method addition,
Cheers,
Scott

 

[nepenthes]

If you do decide to go the "organic" way


go to www.terraforums.com they have lots of help for any questions

(IM THEIR!) OR you can PM me and any one ealse who has CP knowladge (who have spoken about it at least)

 

[kolomomma]

Wow, you learn something every day. I never knew sites like that exsisted. I guess that's the benefit of a forum, right? Thanks for all the help guys. These gnats days are numbered.