Bugs

[AzAngel]

Hello friends,

I have a large overabondance of tiny little white bugs in my torts indoor enclosure. I have read that they are harmless so I have been ingorning them. Today I noticed his waterdish was full of them so I think the white bug colony is getting to healthy. Is there a good way to control them? Is it a good Idea to put a pill bug or two in the tank to help control this?

Bowser's mommy

 

[RosieRedfoot]

I have the same issue. Usually it happens when Rosie drags her food behind something and it gets funky before I find it and these bugs seem to thrive off the juices from old fruit, poo, etc.

I have been taking out all the soil/mulch when it gets too bad and either freezing it (or throwing in the compost pile) and adding new. I'm hoping to get a pill bug colony going since these fruit flies and white crawling bugs are starting to bug her (no pun intended)

 

[ZEROPILOT]

There are an abundance of nutrients in your substrate. Either food or poop or both. You might want to dump it out and start over again.
A certain level of bug activity is going to happen but an over abundance means that things are dirty.

 

[AzAngel]

How often do you change your substrate? This substrate is only about 30 days old. I do remove any waste matter as soon as I see it.

 

[Careym13]

What do you mean by overabundance? To me, that would mean the bugs are everywhere in the enclosure. When I get them, they are just around/under the food and water areas. They aren't usually anywhere else. Are they everywhere or just in certain areas?

 

[jlpicc]

Question on this: I only just noticed a variety of bugs in my indoor enclosure. They are not over abundant, but there's a few types here and there- is this okay? I'm torn between it being dirty and it being a little ecosystem...

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I'm all for a little ecosystem forming. An overabundance of one species isn't good, but if you have many, they usually have a way of keeping themselves in check. Adding pill bugs(rolly-pollies/isopods) and earthworms can help turn over the substrate faster and keep some of your other unintentional populations down.

 

[DawnH]

We have a Sulcata, cats, chickens, dogs - tons of animals and I "treat" our yard every three months with FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth. You can find it at most feed stores. Please note that there are two types, one is a caustic pool cleaner, the other is FOOD GRADE and is safe. Get the correct one. It works for fleas, fire ants, pesky bugs, etc. I sprinkle it at the BASE of my plants and on my grass/ in Tuleos enclosure every three months. You can do a search on the forum for more info and/or also read more here:

http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

 

[Myroli]

If there are no bugs is that bad? Because I haven't seen any except the occasional gnat/fly only one at a time and only like 4 times since I got him in February

 

[johnsonnboswell]

As long as the bugs in the water dish are not worms from the animal, I would not worry.

No bugs, no worries.

 

[Bogie=babyDINO]

I hate those little bugs. They make me feel like I'm keeping my tort in a dirty environment.