# How to get rid of gnats for good



## gtc (Jun 20, 2013)

I used to have a problem with gnats in my indoor enclosure. Gnats love moist coco coir or moist topsoil (and plants). I've read people here recommend changing or baking substrates to get rid of gnats, however I have like 12 blocks of coco coir in my indoor enclosure and that sounded like a lot of work. I just put up with the gnats for while and got rid of them totally by accident. 

I'm not sure this will work for others, but it worked great for me. My enclosure has been gnat free for months:

I used to only have a 160W MVB in the enclosure. When I added an additional UVB tube on the other side of the enclosure for more light for my tort the gnats disappeared after about 4-5 days. It seems that gnats cannot stand bright light, or maybe its the UVB that bothers them? 

light setup in my enclosure: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-69233.html

Has anyone else experienced the same thing?


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## wellington (Jun 20, 2013)

I have experienced having the gnats. I bake my coir, which does seem to keep them away. However, I like that your idea works. Thanks for the info. Always nice to learn new things that helps keep tort keeping easier


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## Tech13 (Jun 20, 2013)

No gnats yet, but I only introduced coir about a week ago. About 1/2 of Tech's enclosure is coir, and that is the warm side. I still have cypress mulch on the cool/darker end. I didn't bake my coir and wonder if I should? When you bake the coir, is that to partially (or fully) dry it out after reconstituting it? Or are you killing eggs of flies that are already in it? I finally have proper humidity (60% daytime-he is a greek) in his enclosure and I don't have to wet it as much. To bake it would defeat my purpose. He likes sleeping on the drier (cypress mulch) side, though.


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## gtc (Jun 21, 2013)

Tech13 said:


> No gnats yet, but I only introduced coir about a week ago. About 1/2 of Tech's enclosure is coir, and that is the warm side. I still have cypress mulch on the cool/darker end. I didn't bake my coir and wonder if I should? When you bake the coir, is that to partially (or fully) dry it out after reconstituting it? Or are you killing eggs of flies that are already in it? I finally have proper humidity (60% daytime-he is a greek) in his enclosure and I don't have to wet it as much. To bake it would defeat my purpose. He likes sleeping on the drier (cypress mulch) side, though.



You bake it to kill the eggs.


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## mainey34 (Jun 21, 2013)

I freeze. Freezing is safer, cleaner and easier by far. And does the job.


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## gtc (Jun 22, 2013)

mainey34 said:


> I freeze. Freezing is safer, cleaner and easier by far. And does the job.



Good to know in case they come back. For now just covering the whole enclosure with uvb is working. At what temps and for how long?


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## bgama (Sep 15, 2013)

Hello everyone, I'm the owner of leopard tortoise named Lulu. Pretty new at this and I did about 6 months of research before I decided to get my Lulu. While doing research, the problem about nasty Lil bugs never crossed my mind. 2 months ago, I suddenly had an infestation of gnats in both my indoor and outdoor enclosures. I changed the dirt in both and pulled out any plants I had and planted new grass and weeds in separate containers. The problem was still there. I ended up letting the outside enclosure completely dry and pulled out any plants and the gnats slowly disappeared.
My indoor one, on the other hand still had a problem! I could not let that one dry out so I thought I had to just "live with it" 
1 month later, they where gone! Lol, like magic. Sorry I kno this is a long story, but I'm just so excited to share since I never once heard of this when I was having a problem.
2 days ago I replaced the grass in her enclosure that I grow in separate containers and today I noticed tiny bugs come out of the dirt when I sprayed the grass. Oh no I thought, not again!!! 
After hours of research, these Lil bugs are a blessing! They are Hypoaspis Miles, turns out these Lil suckers eat all the annoying bugs that we can't stand. They are even sold especially for that purpose. Lol, now I know why all the gnats disappeared.


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## SANDRA_MEISSNEST (Sep 15, 2013)

I like ur story,im happy that those lil buggers ate them all 

Sent from my ZTE N9120 using TortForum mobile app


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## LisaTurtle (Sep 15, 2013)

I had a problem with gnats to - I replaced my substrate and added a bunch of potato bugs/pull bugs. They keep the enclosure clean now and I haven't had a problem since.


*pill bugs


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