Hundreds of Gnats

John J said:

Okay I'll look for these bigger blocks and replace the substrate tomorrow, I'll soak all the blocks break em down and throw em in. If you don't mind whenever you have time, can you share a picture of your desert tortoise enclosures or indoor enclosures of any species so I can get an idea of how your running your setup if that's okay? And what are your thoughts on adding pill pugs to eat the larvae in the substrate over time? What garden center have you found those big blocks? None around me has big ones in fact, they're selling small one for 30 bucks! Cheapest I can find is a garden center out in Long Beach that sells em for 8.50 a block which is out of the way for me but I go anyways because I must haha.

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The_Four_Toed_Edward said:

Is it possible that the enclosure it self is rotting and thus providing them a good environment?

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John J said:

That's a possibility, although I don't know if the degradation process happens that quick. The enclosure is now 4 to 5 months old with only a few boards exposed and all wood was freshly bought from home depot. Ide say 80% of the wood has pond liner stapled into it that meets and overlapping layer of painters tarps that runs of the vertical dimensions of the enclosure with polycarbonate sheeting as paneling, fitted into the wood mold. So when I clean out the substrate tomorrow and replace it I will check the integrity of the wood and see if there is any trapped moisture under the moisture barriers! Thanks for the idea!

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The_Four_Toed_Edward said:

It was just a thought!

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Tom said:

I'm up in SCV. I get mine from Green Landscape nursery, or I order it on Amazon. I get my 2.0 cubic foot bags of orchid bark there too for $12. Its worth a drive if you are ever up this way.

Here is one found on a quick search:

Amazon.com : UBICON Coco Coir Block - Organic Garden Soil for Indoor & Outdoor Gardens and Greenhouses; Each 11 Pound Block Gets About 20 Gallons, Excellent Aeration, Retains Water : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : UBICON Coco Coir Block - Organic Garden Soil for Indoor & Outdoor Gardens and Greenhouses; Each 11 Pound Block Gets About 20 Gallons, Excellent Aeration, Retains Water : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

Don't get "chips" or "fiber". Get coir or "coco peat".

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mark1 said:

if the enclosure is big enough something like this his may help.......

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Tom said:

I've never seen it anywhere near that bad. I wonder what the difference is. You could feed hordes of baby chameleons with all those!

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John J said:

What's crazy is they are all gone now! One Day it was Jumanji and the next, calm. I attribute this I think to the organic material at the very bottom of the Coco coir I never changed out it was a small bag of soil. As you have stated before that that's not a good idea at all I neglected to change out the coir in its entirety because I thought the tortoises wouldn't burrow down that deep but that was not good thinking at all. It was still wet all down in the bottom in that layer while all the coir was dry on top. That's the only thing I can think of that would supply all of those gnats with nesting ground after I dried the enclosure of for a while. But now, it's all entirely fresh 100% Coco coir and no gnats. The fir bark didn't seem like it was decomposing either.

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John J said:

...and the war is won lol, for now.

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Tom said:

No sir. The battle is won. That war will rage on forever...

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John J said:

Just a quick update. I replaced all the substrate and there are hardly any more gnats! Once I employ these mitigation tactics now hopefully I will not have that happen again, I'll post a few pictures of the process and what it looked like, a gnats that were caught in a 30mimute session at the peak of their population.

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Alice Sulcatia said:

Congrats, John! Well done! Well done! So happy for you and your torts. How are your youngsters taking it? How are the plants in quarantine doing?

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John J said:

The plants are doing good and standing tall after getting uprooted and than transplanted and watered. I didn't actually see anything in there but I'll be watering it with that mixture for a day or two more than wait a week for all larvae to be dead.bitbwas just the one tortoises enclosure my supposed girl penelope that had the gnats! I've woken up during the week of the outbreak before the lights went in to investigate the gnats activity levels in the dark and they were indeed active, just not so much so when the lights are on. But they seemed to cluster in regions away from Penelope's burrow and I never saw any on her when she came out, although they were everywhere else including the basking region. I had her basking outside in the mornings until temperatures would rise in the enclosure and drive the gnats to go away wherever they did and become inactive, so all in all she got through it well. I worried myself sick over the whole thing and the idea that the bugs were infuriating for her or something. I know I would be! She reestablished her borders and looked around a lot after the new soil was in there, and the change of plants but she seems to be settling in quickly, and in a week I'll have her original plants back in there if they check out!

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