Pesky little gnats!

[garrettcc]

hello everyone, we’ve had Romeo, our rescued panther for about 2 weeks now. We took him to the vet because his eyes weren’t opening well and they also were inflamed. He wasn’t eating much and just being lazy. Got him on some antibiotics and multivitamin shot and he is good to go! Eating and being very active thankfully. My new problem is pesky little gnats in the inclosure. I’ve been doing a lot of research trying to figure out the best way to get rid of them and read quite a few ways that people get rid of them but not sure the best. So, what’s your idea to get rid of these little boogers? I don’t believe they’ll harm Romeo but they are annoying to me and I’m sure to him too.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

They probably wont' harm him. In fact, he might eat them as a little snack! What are the humidity levels? They are probably fungus gnats, and they come from live plants or damp soil. Someone I know had a problem like this with hermit crabs. They had to clean everything out and get entirely new substrate. Not too bad. If your live plant is too old, this tends to happen. You may just want to repot anything in soil.

 

[garrettcc]

They probably wont' harm him. In fact, he might eat them as a little snack! What are the humidity levels? They are probably fungus gnats, and they come from live plants or damp soil. Someone I know had a problem like this with hermit crabs. They had to clean everything out and get entirely new substrate. Not too bad. If your live plant is too old, this tends to happen. You may just want to repot anything in soil.

Well he will like them! I’ve read potting the plant in coconut substrate and play sand helps. The plants are fairly new, I have 3 different plants in the enclosure. The soil does say damp and the humidity now is in the 60s to 75

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

That sounds about good. If you have any more problems, there might be some kind of fungus growing in the soil. They are definitely annoying, but they can be gotten rid of quite easily.

 

[kinyonga]

How do the insects move? Have you seen them just in the plant area or in the place you keep the crickets too? How do they move? With a jerky motion?

 

[Fireborn]

Get a sundew if you can find one. It attracts them like crazy.

 

[garrettcc]

How do the insects move? Have you seen them just in the plant area or in the place you keep the crickets too? How do they move? With a jerky motion?

They stay right above the plant. They just kinda fly around and then if I spray they freak out. They aren’t near the cricket enclosure.

 

[garrettcc]

Get a sundew if you can find one. It attracts them like crazy.

Wow a sundew! Should I put it in the enclosure?

 

[Graves923]

You can put the sundew in the enclosure at night or in between mistings. That plant wont tolerate the constant misting in the long term that our cham cages endure. You can also try puting a small amount of apple cider vinegar in a cup and cover the top with plastic wrap. Poke several small holes in the plastic wrap and leave in the cage for a few hours. The gnats will make their way in and hopefully get stuck in the vinegar and the plastic wrap will make it hard for them to get back out.

 

[garrettcc]

You can put the sundew in the enclosure at night or in between mistings. That plant wont tolerate the constant misting in the long term that our cham cages endure. You can also try puting a small amount of apple cider vinegar in a cup and cover the top with plastic wrap. Poke several small holes in the plastic wrap and leave in the cage for a few hours. The gnats will make their way in and hopefully get stuck in the vinegar and the plastic wrap will make it hard for them to get back out.

Awesome! I ordered two sundew plants and I’ll put them in at night and let them eat all they want! I’ll also try the vinegar if this doesn’t work. Thank you for the advice!

 

[GregJD]

We had gnats near our cricket enclosure. We used clear flypaper near it, and we put a couple pieces around the room to catch the smarter ones.It actually convinced my roach-a-phobic wife to turn to GBR for a feeder (we lovingly refer to them as green banana "bugs"). You may not see them near the crickets, but I'd definitely put some fly paper near there.

Put fly paper near where you find the gnats. It's not expensive and it is easily removable. The clear, flat kind works best for us.

Nothing is worse than drinking the last swallow of a drink only to find yourself chewing on the unwelcome guests.

 

[garrettcc]

We had gnats near our cricket enclosure. We used clear flypaper near it, and we put a couple pieces around the room to catch the smarter ones.It actually convinced my roach-a-phobic wife to turn to GBR for a feeder (we lovingly refer to them as green banana "bugs"). You may not see them near the crickets, but I'd definitely put some fly paper near there.

Put fly paper near where you find the gnats. It's not expensive and it is easily removable. The clear, flat kind works best for us.

Nothing is worse than drinking the last swallow of a drink only to find yourself chewing on the unwelcome guests.

The absolute worst is to get the last sip and notice gnats!! I’ll grt some fly paper today and put it around the enclosure as well. Thank you!

 

[Mitch77]

I've used the apple cider vinegar with the plastic wrap with holes in it as graves 923 above stated, i added couple drops of dish washing soap as it keeps them from flying away when they touch it , worked really well for me.