Lemon juice.

[irishshake]

Could I spray a mixture of lemon juice and water on Zohan's substrate to repel these pesky fruit flies/gnats or what ever they are?

 

[irishshake]

Well ill continue doing this. So far the flies are dying off and my Hermann's does not seem to mind.

 

[jjsull33]

I have no idea if that is ok or not, as I have never though to try/look into that, so I will let other answer about lemon juice.

However I will give you my suggestion of how to get rid of gnats/mite, I put pill bugs/sow bugs, aka rolly pollys, they eat debris left behind by tortoises (the left over food, the poop, etc) and they also eat the eggs of gnats and mites. Plus the best part is they like it dark so they hide most of the time and you rarely see them except when lifting a dish or rock in the enclosure. Another thing to remember if you do choose this route for dealing with gnats, Pill bugs are actually isopods not insects, meaning they have gills (im sure it means other things too) so you will need to keep the substrate damp, at least in certain spots as you don't want your tortoise getting shell rot or being too wet.

-- update --

I don't mean soak the place, just misting once and a while/pouring a bit of water in a corner should do it. The same things you would do to keep humidity in your enclosure for your tortoise anyway.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I use pill bugs too


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[wiccan_chicken]

This is interesting, so if I put pill bugs in my enclosure they would help keep it a little cleaner? I don't have gnats but I do have a lot of tortoise poop I spot clean. I wouldn't leave it all in there, but I think having them in there would be cool. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I started with only a couple of them. They took, be fruitful and multipy seriously. I now have over 3 dozen of pill bugs but a clean enclosure!

I will spot clean, too but they get all the left behind food and poop.

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[irishshake]

Thank you guys for the replies. I will try to find pill bugs instead of risking any other methods!

Thank you again

 

[ascott]

Earthworms are also a good addition to your eco substrate...

 

[jjsull33]

Earthworms are also a good addition to your eco substrate...

a good call, I always do this too, keeps the cage nice and clean, plus helps your plants grow.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Re: RE: Lemon juice.

Earthworms are also a good addition to your eco substrate...

I put 5 in many months ago and have never seen them since... I guess they are still there ??

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[jjsull33]

I would think so, as long as you water and keep it like a garden they should be.