Flies in enclosure...

[chandlerledray]

Hey, a while back I noticed there were flies in my tort table, so I changed their substrate and things seemed fine. But as of yesterday I've noticed the flies are back. There are a lot. The substrate I'm using is cypress mulch and I feed them different lettuces, and hays. They have a humid box too, but I don't know if that's what is causing the flies...I'm getting new mulch right now, and I cleaned out the table completely. What else should I do to prevent these annoying little things from coming back?

 

[chadk]

What sort of flies? Big house flies? Smaller fruit flies? Or even smaller? For the fruit flies and to some extent the other smaller flies that like to live in moist substrate, you can put out a glass\jar of apple cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap in it. I've done this my kitchen and wiped out the fruit flies and have had some luck with the smaller substrate flies with this as well. But really, the flies do not really harm anything...

 

[goodsmeagol]

Where do you get your mulch from?

I get occasional flies, I keep a dustbuster beside the cage and will suck up any I see, I find if I get the 1 or 2 I find right away, I do not see anymore for a week or two.
Other then making sure no left overs are in the cage, and making sure to always have fresh water, you may want to change suppliers of your mulch if there is really that many.

 

[chandlerledray]

I think it is fruit flies, they definitely aren't as big as regular flies..they're pretty tiny.
Would that harm the torts though? I have a wooden tort table so I can't really wash it but I can pick up all of the old substrate and vacuum the smaller stuff..
Also, I found a smaller looking cockroach thing on the bottom of the old substrate, he was alive. I don't know how bugs/flies are in the table though, I clean it all the time and put new substrate in often. Could it be because it is a damp area?

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Last mulch I got was from Ace, it was just a big bag of cypress mulch. And then I got a bag from Wal-Mart. And now I just got a new bag from Lowe's

 

[chadk]

Damp + organic substrate and any left over food will pretty much ensure those tiny flies. Put the jar of ACV + drip of dish soap mixed in and see what happens after a few days. Just put it where the tort can't spill it... (wouldn't hurt if it did)