Venus Fly Traps to Rid of Bugs

[ColeCham333]

So I have some little flying bugs that i beleive to be gnats that have taken over the chameleon room! On the windowsill the other day i saw about 30-50 dead ones. Is it possible I can get a venus fly trap or some other carnivorous plant that I can keep in the room to attract and kill these suckers?

 

[jamest0o0]

Venus fly trap won't do anything, they don't eat gnats. Your best bet is getting rid of them at the source, do you have substrate in your cage?

I had the same issue, I can give you a few tips if you want.

As for carnivs, look into Mexican butterworts and maybe sundews

 

[ColeCham333]

Venus fly trap won't do anything, they don't eat gnats. Your best bet is getting rid of them at the source, do you have substrate in your cage?

I had the same issue, I can give you a few tips if you want.

As for carnivs, look into Mexican butterworts and maybe sundews

No I don't have any substrate in the cage. And I'd love some tips if you have any!

 

[etclement]

Venus flytraps can only catch as many bugs as they have traps, which is not a lot in most cases. Most carnivorous plants also must be hibernated. A Nepenthes species pitcher plant will catch any type of bug as long as it has pitchers available and will not need to be hibernated as they are tropical. Just make sure the pitcher isn't big enough to harm the cham!

 

[jamest0o0]

Pitchers aren't all tropical from my understanding, I've only done light research on them though.

Where are the gnats coming from, you plant pots? One thing that immediately helps is getting large buckets of water(or apple cider vinegar works even better) and just lay them around. Over time gnats will drown by the hundreds in there. I also use yellow sticky cards hung up around my cages. My plan for carnivorous plants is to have them on shelves around my cages like a carnivorous plant moat lol. Your soil is most likely the issue though, what are you using?

 

[etclement]

Pitchers aren't all tropical from my understanding, I've only done light research on them thoug

Only the Nepenthes pitcher plants are tropical, and thus do not need to be hibernated. Sarracenia, on the other hand, are American plants, and needs to be hibernated, much like Venus flytraps.

 

[ColeCham333]

Pitchers aren't all tropical from my understanding, I've only done light research on them though.

Where are the gnats coming from, you plant pots? One thing that immediately helps is getting large buckets of water(or apple cider vinegar works even better) and just lay them around. Over time gnats will drown by the hundreds in there. I also use yellow sticky cards hung up around my cages. My plan for carnivorous plants is to have them on shelves around my cages like a carnivorous plant moat lol. Your soil is most likely the issue though, what are you using?

I replaced the soil it came with with organic potting soil.

 

[jamest0o0]

That's probably the reason. If you can mix it with some sand, and put a layer of rocks and sand on the bottom of the plant pot and top. That way they will have trouble getting through to lay their eggs. The gnats like wet soil, so even if you can replace the soil with something that drains better that would be ideal.

 

[ColeCham333]

That's probably the reason. If you can mix it with some sand, and put a layer of rocks and sand on the bottom of the plant pot and top. That way they will have trouble getting through to lay their eggs. The gnats like wet soil, so even if you can replace the soil with something that drains better that would be ideal.

So putting some sand at the top of my pots won't kill the plants?

 

[jamest0o0]

Nope not at all, you can use a couple inches and some rocks over it.

 

[ColeCham333]

Nope not at all, you can use a couple inches and some rocks over it.

And the water will be able to pass the sand and reach the soil when I water the plants?

 

[jamest0o0]

Yes in our heavily watered enclosures, it should. It'll actually help the soil drainage.

 

[Pitcard]

Find out where the eggs are being laid. I've had a decent infestation before, but it was easily fixable when I realized that I had forgotten to clean out an old cricket keeper. A little housecleaning usually does the trick, paired with some red wine/vinegar traps.

 

[ColeCham333]

Yes in our heavily watered enclosures, it should. It'll actually help the soil drainage.

Awesome thanks