haylee345
Member
I noticed a bug infestation a few months ago in my indoor enclosure, so I went and gathered a lot of rolie polies/pill bugs to hopefully eat the eggs. Now I have twice as many bugs. The mites are tiny and white, and they gather under my leopard tortoise's food. I see them crawling on her too but she doesn't seem to notice.
The population of teeny tiny flies keeps increasing, too. I change out some fly tape about every week because it gets covered in them. I'm really hoping not to have to change out substrate because I probably have 100lbs of it wet. Plus it'd cost maybe $30 to buy everything new, and it just sounds like so much effort. I've read good things about orange guard, or maybe diatomaceous earth food grade. Her substrate is very wet underneath, although the top layer stays mostly dry. Should I take her out for a few hours, crank the heat lamps up, and try to dry it out and heat it up? I could maybe get the whole thing to 105F. What about keeping a potted basil plant in? The last one only lasted a couple weeks before wilting, but Abigail didn't seem to mind the smell. Or cedar is supposed to repel bugs maybe... I have some scrap cedar wood I could prop up or something but I know tortoises aren't supposed to like it. Here are a couple pictures so you know what I'm dealing with.
About 3in of coco coir, sphagnum moss, and fir bark in a 3ftX4ft enclosure.
And a picture of Abigail because she's adorable.
The population of teeny tiny flies keeps increasing, too. I change out some fly tape about every week because it gets covered in them. I'm really hoping not to have to change out substrate because I probably have 100lbs of it wet. Plus it'd cost maybe $30 to buy everything new, and it just sounds like so much effort. I've read good things about orange guard, or maybe diatomaceous earth food grade. Her substrate is very wet underneath, although the top layer stays mostly dry. Should I take her out for a few hours, crank the heat lamps up, and try to dry it out and heat it up? I could maybe get the whole thing to 105F. What about keeping a potted basil plant in? The last one only lasted a couple weeks before wilting, but Abigail didn't seem to mind the smell. Or cedar is supposed to repel bugs maybe... I have some scrap cedar wood I could prop up or something but I know tortoises aren't supposed to like it. Here are a couple pictures so you know what I'm dealing with.
About 3in of coco coir, sphagnum moss, and fir bark in a 3ftX4ft enclosure.
And a picture of Abigail because she's adorable.
