Katchy Question

[SueAndHerZoo]

I searched and read a lot of posts about the Katchy for gnats and just received mine in the mail. I had assumed that I would keep it in the bottom of the chameleon cages (would rotate it from one cage to another each night but then realized I probably can't do that with a mister going off a few times overnight. Does anyone keep their Katchy INSIDE the enclosure without problems or do I have to keep it outside (but near) the cham cages? My bioactive bottoms are swarming (literally) with gnats and I'm not sure they'll leave all the good stuff they're munching on to go outside the cage and get trapped. Wondering if I should return it before I even open it or try seeing what I catch by leaving it outside the cage. Or has anyone tried throwing a plastic "shield" over it while keeping it IN the cage?

Sue

 

[EmilioTheAnkify]

I feel like katchys are like band aids.

I have mine near my free range setup that has a humidifier going. And no issues. But I wouldn’t put it under the mister.

Get more isopods n springtails. They will eat the fungus that the gnats are living off.

 

[MissSkittles]

I keep a Katchy in my chameleon room and it works well to keep the number of gnats down. I would not put one inside of an enclosure. You can also get some drosera capensis (aka sundew) plants to catch gnats, but due to them needing a very wet nutrient poor soil mix, it wouldn’t do well to be planted directly in your enclosure. What you can put in your enclosure is a mantis ooth. When the baby mantids hatch out, they will eat as many soil gnats as they can (before getting eaten by your chameleon).

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

Thank you both for your replies. I agree with the "bandaid" analogy because what I really need to do is find a more permanent solution to keeping the numbers down, rather than catching and destroying them as they continually breed and hatch. But wow, I had no idea they had gotten so bad! I've always seen a few flying around and figured it was just part of having reptiles, but when I stirred up the bioactive bottom a bit to plant something in there, I couldn't believe how many had been living down there! I had the Katchy on last night for two hours and the sticky pad is full so the device definitely works (I had it on a stand between the two cages).

Today I will order more isopods and springtails (is there any problem with having too many of those?) And I will look into finding a mantis ooth but I can't say I've ever seen them advertised in a bug store yet (even though I had never looked for one before).

Just another learning step in reptile keeping... as soon as you solve one issue, two others crop up! I'm waiting for some MistKing accessory parts to arrive so I can rebuild the mister heads to cover more area, and my IV tubing just arrived so I can improve my drip flow from the evil Big Dippers.

Sue

 

[MissSkittles]

Thank you both for your replies. I agree with the "bandaid" analogy because what I really need to do is find a more permanent solution to keeping the numbers down, rather than catching and destroying them as they continually breed and hatch. But wow, I had no idea they had gotten so bad! I've always seen a few flying around and figured it was just part of having reptiles, but when I stirred up the bioactive bottom a bit to plant something in there, I couldn't believe how many had been living down there! I had the Katchy on last night for two hours and the sticky pad is full so the device definitely works (I had it on a stand between the two cages).

Today I will order more isopods and springtails (is there any problem with having too many of those?) And I will look into finding a mantis ooth but I can't say I've ever seen them advertised in a bug store yet (even though I had never looked for one before).

Just another learning step in reptile keeping... as soon as you solve one issue, two others crop up! I'm waiting for some MistKing accessory parts to arrive so I can rebuild the mister heads to cover more area, and my IV tubing just arrived so I can improve my drip flow from the evil Big Dippers.

Sue

I get mantis ooths from eBay. They are seasonal, but I checked and some are currently available.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

I get mantis ooths from eBay. They are seasonal, but I checked and some are currently available.

Thanks, ordered them from a seller on EBay a few hours ago. Tonight I order more Isopods and springtails.
Sue

 

[absolutbill]

I have a reptile room with 3 cages and a Katchy. The Katchy is outside of the cages, and does a good job of grabbing the escaped gnats. Whenever I had an issue in the cages I would wait until lights out and the chams were totally asleep. Then, I would open all the doors to the cages and shut the door to the reptile room. The gnats will be even more attracted to the light on the Katchy and it worked wonders. I'd leave it like that for 15 min or so then go back in and shut the cage doors. However, ONLY do this if you have a door to the room that they are in that you can shut. Good luck!

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

I have a reptile room with 3 cages and a Katchy. The Katchy is outside of the cages, and does a good job of grabbing the escaped gnats. Whenever I had an issue in the cages I would wait until lights out and the chams were totally asleep. Then, I would open all the doors to the cages and shut the door to the reptile room. The gnats will be even more attracted to the light on the Katchy and it worked wonders. I'd leave it like that for 15 min or so then go back in and shut the cage doors. However, ONLY do this if you have a door to the room that they are in that you can shut. Good luck!

Thanks for the tip! My jaw drops every morning when I look at the Katchy to see how many it caught.... it's mind boggling that I had that many in the cages and didn't know it! I've also put those yellow sticky decals on the outside of the cages near the Katchy and a few on the outside of the Katchy and it's picking up all kinds of stragglers, too! The mantis are being delivered this week, as well as some dairy cow isopods and more springtails. We'll conquer this latest challenge yet, and then wait apprehensively for the next reptile challenge!
Sue